It must be tough being the first black president of America. Because it is such a monumental first, it's hard not to focus on race and keep our attention on more important issues. This is exactly what Obama set out to do though for his campaign. Obama has been know to say that if he lost his campaign, it would be because of the mistakes he made, not because of his race. But is Obama actually doing more damage to racism in America than overcoming it?
Obama could possibly do damage to black equality by suggesting that racism no longer creates barriers to black equality. In Street's book, Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics, he notes “White people are just thrilled when a prominent black person comes along and doesn’t rub their noses in racial guilt. White people just go crazy over people like that” (172). By purposefully straying away from the prominent race issue, Obama is saying that racism no longer exists in America, when in actuality there are still many barriers in the road black equality.
Revelation #2 - A Landslide Victory on the Bunny Hill
Many believe that Obama’s rising was a magical, almost astronomical phenomenon. It took Obama less than four years to go from the Illinois State Assembly to one election away from holding the highest seat in the country. So how could such a feat happen in less than four years?
http://rt.com/files/usa/news/world-s-10-biggest-political-sex-scandals/sex.n.jpg
Street talks a lot about the luck Obama had at the beginning of his campaign. Early in his senate race, his republican contender withdrew due to a sex scandal. Because it took so long for the Republicans to find a replacement, "You could argue that if the Republicans had a viable candidate, there would be no Barack" (xxiv) says Ron Walters.
Revelation #3 - Middle-Class Millionaire. Obama's secret funding
https://donate.barackobama.com/
In February of 2008, Obama set the single-month fundraising record of $50 million. This is very surprising to me since Obama, from the start, has been open about declining donations for his campaign from major corporations. He would rely solely on small contributors.
Despite his declining of funding from Washington lobbyists, Obama, at that time, had become a millionaire. This was largely overlooked because of his "declining" of large contributors, and that Hillary was seen as the candidate with money.
Revelation #4 - Obama's Youtube Channel in Competition with Talking Cats
Obama was smart with his campaigning by staying up with the times and connecting to a larger audience. JFK did it with the television, Obama is doing it with the internet. Of course we're not just talking the internet here, we're talking about social networking. Yes, Obama reached out to the social networking world through Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Though it's effective, was Obama's reach to the social network just a marketing campaign? Some would argue that just because he is using YouTube and Twitter and Facebook doesn't mean that his policies are still in order. It's an image enhancer meant to appeal to the social network demographic. I do feel though that there is one problem with this marketing campaign; What do you watch, the talking cats or Obama?
Revelation #5 - A Celebrity Among Us
Obama is a celebrity, plain and simple. Sure, he's our president too, but he's also a celebrity. This I feel is a fairly new phenomenon, where politicians are famous. Not to let the politicians off the hook entirely, but I feel that this is due to television. With the amount of flooding of facial images of one person, over and over again, you're name is bound to reach the world. With a more close look at it, you could even blame the news agencies for turning Obama into a celebrity. Obama and Hilary got more face time on television from the news agencies than all of the republican candidates combined.
http://www.vanityfair.com/
We have faith though. We're used to television enough to get over the famous factor and look at the issues at hand, right? When asked about Obama, some students from the University of Iowa said "Oh, he's just so cool. He's on television all the time and he's just really excellent. Nobody ever heard of him before and then boom - there he is, like… I can listen to him all day" (Street 168). Well, I guess that proves it, Obama is more of a celebrity than he is a president.
Revelation #6 - Democrats VS. Democrats
Many voters during the election were strongly opinionated. It was one of the most heated elections of our time, with one of the biggest voter turnouts so far. However, we might of overlooked that getting more voters voting means more crazy people involved in politics. When asked, many Obama voters said that they would rather vote for McCain than vote for Hillary if she won. The vice versa was also true for the Hillary fans.
http://a.abcnews.com/
This just goes to show you how strongly opinionated we have become in politics. Instead of a joint, participatory democracy, where compromise is almost a necessity in order to accomplish anything, people would rather sabotage their opponent at the cost of four years with McCain.
Revelation #7 - Climate Change. The Polar Bears Can't Hear Your Bells and Whistles Because They're Dead
At the conclusion of Street's book, he talks about some of the major issues Obama would tackle if he had been what he considered 'progressive'. One of the issues Street talked about that caught my eye was climate change. As we all know, climate change is a hot topic circulating around our generation. Throughout his speeches, Obama did bring up and discuss climate change and what America can do to help it.
So far however, Obama has been all bells and whistles. There were many topics that Obama talked about during his campaign to make him seem truly progressive, a break from the 8 years of republican follies. Hope. Change. However, many have criticized Obama for being the most conservative progressive there is. Instead of acting on the policies he so eloquently talked about in his pre-presidency speeches, he just used them as a means to come across more progressive. Better start taking pictures of those cute little guys now before they're gone.
Revelation #8 - Foreign Policy, Trans-continental Hustling
From the start Obama was against the Iraq war. He strongly opposed it during his campaign, and when it was set that we would invade Iraq, Obama wasn't around to place blame on later. He has a clean record with Iraq and that was a strong enforcing point in his campaign. But just because he's anti-Iraq doesn't mean that he is anti-war.
The Democratic Party is far from being the liberal, anti-war, peaceful party that some might think. In fact, members of the Democratic Party have said that "If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see… into the future" (Street 132). I think many voters assumed that because he was anti-Iraq and appears multicultural that Obama was synonymous with peaceful foreign relations.
Revelation #9 - How Can I Be Racist If I Voted For Obama?
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/28/at_harvard_law_a_unifying_voice/
It's funny though how grouped in Obama was with the black American community. In fact, he actually did not rise within black America, but instead went to Harvard and was fairly well off. For the white demographic, Obama supporters tended to be mostly highly educated. I can imagine that they were saying something along the lines of 'I can't be racist, I voted for Obama'. Street talks about this point noting that whites are "calmed and 'impressed' by the cool, underplayed blackness and ponderous, quasi-academic tone of the half-white, Harvard-educated Obama"(82).
Revelation #10 - What's an Obama?
What a catchy name, Obama. Something you really don't hear every day. Well, that is until he became our current president. But what's in a name? Does the unfamiliarity and funniness of the name hold any weight in the election? Many would argue yes.
Despite being black and having enormous luck during his campaign, Obama is successful because he's, well, Obama. There are some things he can control, like his word usage stances on policies, but there are other things he can't, and that's his name and appearance. Lets be honest, Obama is a fairly attractive guy, given our presidential history.
http://www.commondreams.org/
Street notes that Obama uses his "skinny guy with a funny-sounding name from the South Side of Chicago" appearance with the "log cabin" view we normally tend to see in politics in order to create a successful campaign.
