Why Is It Important?

Oliver Willis:

I simply cannot communicate with words to you how big a deal this is.

I can only use my own family as a barometer and like most normal people they rarely talk politics. Ever since Obama got in the race, and especially after Iowa, it constantly comes up. And this is from my grandparent’s generation, my mom’s and my own. I’m pretty sure the same thing is going on in black families from coast to coast now. John Kerry, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, were all great guys and black Americans were glad to vote for them (I sure voted for all three) but it just ain’t the same. To paraphrase an exchange I’ve had several times with a friend of mine (who is white):

Friend: Dude, can you imagine?
Me: I know.
Friend: The president’s name will be Barack Obama?
Me: I know.
Friend: And he’s black.
Me: I KNOW.

And then I get a crazed smile.

People talk about how this is an historic year, when the Democratic nominee will either be a black man or a woman, either of which will be the first in history (and likely the first to be President). I am sure something similar was going on in the minds of Hillary supporters when it looked like she had it all locked up, but being an Obama supporter working with African-American people in Philly a lot, it's their emotional reaction that I see the most.

That reaction is a sort of pleasant daze, tinged with a goodly amount of disbelief and sometimes fear that it's all a trick. It's not just the prospect of Obama being the nominee, I don't think. It's the realization sinking in that a good chunk of white people are on his side, and so to a certain extent on the side of all black Americans. I think the day-to-day reality for most black people is that whites predictably will support other white people. I could be reading too much into this, but whites enthusiastically supporting a black politician for President when a perfectly good white alternative was available is just a bit stunning.

Comments

[Charles D]

I hope you and Oliver are right, but there's every possibility that the next President will be the 2nd senile nut case to be elected in the last 30 years. Let us never underestimate the ability of the Democratic Party to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

[Tiny Tyrant]

"a perfectly good white alternative was available"

reminds me of that line from Better Off Dead when the two phone repair fellas spot Cusack lying in the back of a rubbish truck, one of 'em says in disgust, "fancy throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that!"

i'm all for the first of anything good and this is the best chance to date, but still, there is so much to lose.

i don't believe Obama can do it. but he must. this is some gut wrenching stuff.