Letters to the Editor
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Points both ways
It is also to point out the continuing significance of the slave experience to the white American psyche; it's not we who can't get over it.
Really? Then why is his "not-blackness" the main thesis of your piece?
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Gag me.
This is so lame and tired.
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come on
The real racists are those who feel they must endlessly analyze a person's background in order to decide - because they are the Supreme Deciders - whether or not he is "black."
Who cares?
I don't. I'm not fond of Condaleeza Rice or Colin Powell, not because of the shade of my skin, but because of their actions in the Bush administration. Does race subliminally play a part? Maybe. But I don't have the time nor am I about to be paid writing snarky articles for major periodicals to analyze why this might be so. At any rate, I would never vote for a person based solely on skin color or because he made me, as a white person, feel "safe" or "non-racist." What a patronizing assumption.
"Saturday Night Live" did a skit where Hilary Clinton claimed that SHE was half-black. It emerged that the "real" reason she didn't care for Obama was because he thoughtfully studied issues and then made a decision. A candidate who actually thinks? Horrors.
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Lady, give it a rest already
"Black," in our political and social reality, means those descended from West African slaves.
And everyone wonders why this country is going down the toilet so fast? Are you kidding me with this statement?
You're saying he's not black because his father wasn't American, and therefore he's not the descendent of slaves? Where did the slaves come from? Oh, that's right: Africa.
Then you say this:
And what, exactly, qualifies him to be the most powerful man in the world? Hopefully, he will mature into a truly viable leader, but I'm of the camp that says he isn't quite soup yet. Joining me in that camp are black elected officials and powerful ministers and others closely allied (i.e., receiving Democratic money and position through years of loyalty and acticism); sexy Obama might be, but officials like majority whip Jim Clyburn and others who came up through the Democratic ranks won't quickly allow an upstart to upset the apple cart of allegiances won, favors traded and known quantities like Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
Again, another reason why people don't bother voting anymore. Because those who run the two pathetic political machines that are the Democrats and Republicans insulate themselves from reality with garbage like this that they try to present as rational and intellectual thought.
Wake up, please. What qualified George Bush to be the most powerful man in the world? Nothing. But he is.
Reality sucks, sometimes.
Get another job. Your qualifications as a political analyst are questionable at best.
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Debra J. Dickerson...
you disgust me.
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Another arrogant Salon article
Salon writers used to be interesting. It this kind of bullshit elitist drivel that makes me want to cancel my subscription.
Botton line: In the USA, if you grow up looking like Barack Obama then you are subjected to all the racism that comes with being a black person in this country. That is what defines one's experience with regards to race. The dude is an African American male and he is black.
This article is insulting and mostly a way for the author to get off on the attention of writing something stupidly provocative.
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It's not that he isn't black
It's that he's not black enough, right?
Please tell me I'm wrong.
This is really sad.
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Unfortunate disingenuousness
It's patently obvious that when Dickerson says "black" she means "African-American." There are some interesting points to be made as to whether Obama is truly ready to assume the mantle of presidency, who, if anyone, he'll be forced to give special consideration to during his efforts to attain it, and what it says about both him and our culture that he most likely will be chosen as the first black presidential nominee rather than an African-American. What's a pity is that the writer felt the need to obfuscate these points for the sake of shock tactics, ones which, incidentally, attempt to deny Obama his own identity. Cheap and obvious pot-stirring here.
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And that may be precisly why he stands a actual chance
Did it ever cross your mind that Obama might actual appeal to a broad enough ellectorate (yes there are more than just "blacks" and "whites" in this country) that he could get ellected. His appeal is wider than someone who identifies with just the "black" population. His appeal is to every man and woman who has fought for what they have acheived in life. He has transcended color, nationalty and race, and that is why he may just stand a chance.
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It's not because mainstream culture is 'racist'
Ms. Dickerson, it's because 'we', those Others who you and cultural critics such as yourself categorically condemn, simply don't give a shit about these arbitrary distinctions. It's no wonder those such as yourself are so threatened that Obama (who, gasp, is descended from those non-blacks who enjoyed the cushy life of goat-herding, not to mention the many pleasantries that we all associate with colonial east Africa) is that his election would prove that it IS, as you imply, about culture (namely, a culture that has long left Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton behind), not race. That's bad news for racists from both sides of the archaic divide.
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Incredible
This has got to be the worst piece of political "analysis" on Barack I've ever read. A black white people aren't afraid of. Go Tiger Woods and become race transcendent. Hillary is more popular. All of these are questionable, but could be valid if backed up by evidence, which is sorely lacking in this article. And, seconding the other letter writers, the fact that you get to decide that he isn't black is outrageous at best.
Their are no redeeming qualities to this article, and Ms. Dickerson should be ashamed of the quality and superficiality of this piece.
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As A White Person, I Apologize
Can I, as a white man, still support Obama because I like his politics and rue his meteoric, haphazard rise without being a pitiable closet racist still smarting from slavery? Or does that violate the rubric that Ms. Dickerson has so clearly and carefully laid out for all of us? Might we talk about what is to be done in the Middle East, or do we need to bicker about America's laughable racial stigmas some more? But anyway, for what it's worth, I'm sorry I am white and was born in America and have been saddled with this ridiculous political vetting system and a phantom guilt that makes me take this article seriously.