This post is really an expansion of reason # 8 which focused on Obama's ability to unify the country. When I wrote that post I was focusing on Obama's ability to work with both parties. In this post I am thinking about the relationship that presidents have with the public.
I have been shocked by how easily people have been duped by the Republican party's insinuations that Obama is not really an American. That he is unfit to serve as President because he is a Muslim or an Arab. Colin Powell was clearly offended by this and he beautifully expressed what I have been thinking that while it is true that Barak Obama is a Christian that shouldn't matter. Muslim are Americans too. they have the right to be President. Americans of Arab descent have the right to be president tool I have attached the photo to which Colin Powell referred in his Meet The Press endorsement. It is beautiful and painful. It is also painful to hear people questions Obama because of his "bloodlines." I have always understood that people cannot support Obama because they dislike "big government" that is usually associated with Democrats. (of course GW has given us the biggest deficits and more socialism than any President in my lifetime but that is another point for another post)
Sadly the focus of the attacks on Obama at the McCain-Palin rallies, in their ads, from Fox News or even from my own sweet godson is not on the budget, the economy or even the war. No the preponderance of political ads and news show chats have focused on religion and ethnic heritage. I can only infer that the people who post, view and circulate the youtubes and emails about these topics are overwhelmed with information and change so they fall back on simple, fear based thinking that spoon fed to them by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbagh and others. I am saddened by ignorance and lazy thinking. I understand that racism is most dangerous when it is expressed subtle ways- in statements like, "I am afraid of what Obama has planned for America. McCain wants what is best for Americans". Those staements are more destructive to unity and respect than some dimwit shouting "Boy" or by a bunch of idiots bringing monkeys wearing Obama tags to a Palin rallies.
Obama understands the people who fear "the other". He continues to reach out to them and will do so as President. I think his Presidency could actually help the Bubbas get beyond their fear and grow in their ability to listen to people from diverse backgrounds. If we are going to successfully address the many challenges our country faces everyone must respect view points that differ from their own.
Here is what Obama said in his Philadelphia speech about white people who are frustrated with affirmative action, talk of racism and their perceived lack of opportunity:
"Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union. "
That statement demonstrates the wisdom and compassion that we need.
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