Okay Mr. Obama
This year’s democratic primaries have been quite stimulating, quite surprising, and also quite confusing. Back in May of last year, I emphatically suggested that people should not vote for Barack Obama. My reasons had nothing to do with his merits, but with my fears of what would happen if he got the nod, such as his assassination, or the loss of moderate voters to the Republicans due to his ethnicity.
Today I tentatively recant on my declaration. While I still have fears for Mr. Obama, he is actually the candidate that I support, for reasons not the least of which are endorsement by Dennis Kucinich, who had been my favorite previously but has since dropped out of the race. As he says in all of his rhetoric and lofty speeches (which in spite of my distaste for them I realize are somehow necessary in American politics), Obama really is the candidate who represents “change” and “new direction”.
That the primaries have been so close, and with Obama’s stunning Saturday sweep of Washington, Louisiana, and Nebraska, it got me thinking about whether an African-American president is more conceivable than I previously thought. Maybe what I said about this country “not being ready” back in May is more a reflection of my own isolated cynicism rather than the actual sentiments of people nationwide. Much to his credit, Obama has attempted to steer the public discourse away from his ethnicity, getting people to focus more on his merits as a candidate as they should.
Ironically, his overwhelming support from African-Americans, in how dramatically the vote breakdown differs from the overall national numbers, suggests that his ethnicity was at the heart of their decision. Of course I could be wrong, African-American voters by and large could have done extensive research into both candidates, and it could be just coincidence. Alas, forgive my cynicism for kicking in again here, as I don’t have that much faith in Americans in general to do that kind of research, regardless of ethnicity. The support for Clinton amongst women to me suggests the same kind of thing, except on the basis of gender instead of ethnicity. And that disappoints me.
Hypothetically speaking, if Obama were to win the nomination, and better still to win the election in November, I would be forced to re-evaluate my presumed understanding of race in America. Would his presidency suggest a progressive shift in the way Americans regard each other across ethnic lines? It seems to me that upon his election as president, we would be standing at the cusp of a dramatic change in race relations, and that the pendulum could swing in either direction. Specifically, if he were to win and execute his presidency with the same idealism and conviction that has marked his candidacy, he would stand to create a new African-American icon, one that would compete with the ignorant, violent, and/or lazy stereotype. But were he to be elected, and then the unthinkable were to happen – you know, I really don’t even want to say the word twice – then it could cause one of the greatest breeches in race relations this country has ever seen.
With cautious optimism and more than a little anxiety, I eagerly look forward to how this election will play out…