Obama Too Black To Fail
Posted: Monday, July 27, 2009
by Joel Hirschhorn
http://www.delusionaldemocracy.com
Here is the dirty secret the rich and powerful running the plutocracy, nor the mainstream news media, will openly acknowledge. The nation's first African American president cannot be allowed to be a disaster.
If this were to happen the world (and history) would surely condemn American democracy; it would also set race relations back for a long time. As we watch president Obama try to solve a host of monumental national problems, notably health care reform, which also require congressional actions his place in history is at stake. Even Republicans and conservative Democrats, in the end, must know that Obama can and will be made to compromise and settle for token reforms and solutions, because he cannot be allowed to utterly fail
But the kind of success he is heading for personally is no real success for the nation.
Aside from some issues, the most radical and angry partisans on the right only seem capable of attacking Obama on the basis of his place of birth and citizenship, though they seem the kind of people who in private bemoan his blackness. Such is his black protective shield.
Naturally, Obama knows his advantage. Like banks that the government has bailed out because they are too big to fail, Obama knows that history dictates he is too black to fail. So he can be more audacious than a conventional white president, which explains his willingness to tackle so many huge national problems simultaneously early in his presidency. However, a bold agenda is far different than achieving successful major reforms. On the domestic and foreign fronts he can be seen as taking more chances, but the outcomes can also be timid and disappointing, especially with politics as usual, with corporate interests still exerting so much influence over Congress. In the worst scenario, he becomes the black president that tried rhetorically to reform the system and is praised just for trying even though he accomplished little because of excessive compromising. Politics as usual prevail, where race and words more than actions define Obama's historic importance. That is failure.
So far, Obama and his senior staff seem to accept the notion that he cannot be seen as flaunting his black power. This reluctance is why so many of his positions greatly disappoint progressives and many liberals that see themselves more as independents than Democrats. They bought his campaign change rhetoric and glory in his black achievement. What is less appreciated is the unwritten kind of contract between Obama and the plutocracy, a sharing of power rather than a deep conflict from a challenge to the status quo through uncompromising serious reform.
True, maybe Obama may achieve moderately more change than a conventional white president, but to see him as a true reformer willing to buck the political and corporate plutocracy is nonsense. A different kind of first black president, someone who was less a product of the establishment political system, might have strived to be a true revolutionary by using his blackness as a political strength, but not Obama. Which is why other, more edgy and gutsy (and authentic) black politicians (think Jesse Jackson) never reached the White House. Obama could have transformed himself after winning the presidency to a more militant black president, but instead he keeps playing to the middle and the establishment, still seeking meaningless bipartisanship. He is not fighting American tyranny that is political and economic in nature. He is no Nelson Mandela either.
In sum, Obama seems wired to settle for less. This is how he got ahead. In so many ways he lacks black rage, which is explained by the biographical fact that he never lived as a normal African American fighting against all odds to succeed. He never lived the urban ghetto life. He never wallowed in poverty. He never suffered because he was black. He joined the establishment. He learned to play politics with all its corruption and sleaziness.
He succeeded more through personality, a smile and gift for public speaking rather than courageous and innovative attacks against the system. He succeeded because he made himself so acceptable to whites rather than threatening them, just as he did with political and corporate powers.
Obama's blackness is like a grand hand-tailored suit that he wears with pride and elegance. He knows it protects him but he does not take advantage of it like a weapon to achieve genuine progressive goals, to fight the establishment, both political and corporate. He has presidential power, but not black presidential power.
What time will reveal is whether the country desperately needed black presidential power to achieve all that was sorely needed. I use black power in the sense that Bobby Seale used it in his 1996 book Seize the Time: "In our view it is a class struggle between the massive proletarian working class and the small, minority ruling class. Working-class people of all colors must unite against the exploitative, oppressive ruling class. So let me emphasize again -- we believe our fight is a class struggle and not a race struggle.
As advanced in Waiting 'til the Midnight Hour by Peniel E. Joseph in 2006: By igniting and sustaining debate on the nature of American society, the Black Power movement created what other multiracial and minority groups interpreted to be a viable template for the overall restructuring of society. I see no evidence that Obama embraces that lofty goal.
What our new economic meltdown revealed is that we still have a class struggle to win, a wealthy and powerful ruling class that has stolen our government and economy. What a time to have a black power president to restructure society rather than place band aids on terrible problems. Authentic black power activists created conditions that allowed Obama to become president. Sadly, it seems that Obama is willing to glory in its wake but not use it to fight economic and political inequality the way others fought racial inequality.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Very interesting article. I think Obama is exactly what he is supposed to be. No, he isn't Jesse Jackson, which is a good thing since Jesse Jackson is a hack who is only 'powerful' as long as he tries to convince everyone who will listen that 'everyone' is out to get minorites.And no, he isn't Nelson Mandela because this country does not elect people who are such pacifists as Nelson Mandela. Mr. Obama won't become 'militant' because that isn't who he is. Sure, there are some things about his ideology I dislike, yet he is a product of America as it should be, not as the Black Panthers wanted, perhaps, but one where race or gender really don't count for 'bonus points'This column by the perceptive political commentator Joel Hirshhorn is by far one of his most measured and accurate (if still mordantly despairing) accounts of the contemporary political scene. Obama is as good as it gets. With him you get leadership through the carefully crafted personna of high intelligence, moral rectitude, level-headedness. Obama's a sense of direction is predicated by his temperment : qualities of expediency, openess, accommodation, and caution have framed and directed his life. And they have shaped his personal goals as well as his view of himself. Qua Hirshhorn, Obama is not ( and cannot be seen) as being a prototypical "angry" black man. At best he sways between being a conciliator and an accomodationist. As many commentators in the media have expressed Obama is not an ideologue but a pragmatist. In politics being "practical" means being open to possibility no matter how small, no matter how incremental. In politics being able to compromise is seen as a virtue, not a fault. Unfortunately for us as a people the reason we are in this fix as a country is that we are governed by "politicians" (pure opportunistic beings) rather than by "statesmen" (individuals who have a vision not constrained by practical "neccessities" ...this used to be called "idealism") as well as leadership skills. That being said I respond favorably to Hirshhorn's smart assessment that this President is using his "black shield" in just the way the white oligarchy wants him to. With discretion and without rocking-the-boat fanfare that might lead to a rethinking of priorities. This protective shield becomes part of the self-legitimizing narratives spun by those in power to cover up their secretive machinations in the consolidation of authority: that even a "black man" can realize the American Dream. This President is laboring under (and has been shaped) by the economics of influence as has Democracy itself. This is where the power of wealth really shows itself as having the upper hand, always, in this country. In regards to the so called "health-reforms" : is it any wonder that Obama and his team does not and cannot put squarely the issue that is at stake here for the elite system of corporations that benefit on the backs of the poor and the middle class. The key fiscal/humanistic question which is ;"Who is going to ( have to) make LESS money if an equitable health care system is ever to be put into place?" is never brought up directly to the American people. Clearly Obama and his advisors are aware that such a question (an ideological/political/rhetorical mirror) is not to be raised (let alone answered forthrightly) in a formerly democratic country now governed by special interests, a de facto corporate state. Clearly the drug companies, HMO's, doctors would have to come to terms with making less profits were a medical health reformation to take place in this country as has taken place in all other first-tier modern countries in the world.
Great article. Well done.I see your point. I hope as well Obama does not "fail" so far I am impressed he has sure got charisma. Something Mr Brown needs big time.
Thanks Joel, your article captured honor, with it, it placed honor on you also my brother!
I would like to add:
President Obama Belief,
Show me a man that carry love, and I will show you a man that is a power in the community. In Chicago a few years ago a young man attended a Sunday school I know of. When his GParents moved to another part of the city, the little fellow still attended the same Sunday school, although it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he went so far, and told him that there were plenty of others just as good nearer his home.
"They may be as good for others, but not for me," was his reply.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because they love a fellow over there," he replied.
If only we could make the world believe that we loved them, there would be fewer empty churches, and inch-by-inch the hatred would cease. Our leadership will soon evangelize; let love replace duty in our relations, and the world.
Obama, too legit to quit!
Interesting reading, Joel.
This was a great article and spot on.
I remember Ralph Nader making the comment (one that he was unfairly raked over the coals for by the media and journalists), whether Obama would be an Uncle Sam for the people or an Uncle Tom for corporate America.
Well, we can already clearly see which side Obama has decided to align himself with.
Obama might actually be more GRAY than black (black on the outside / white on the inside).
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