America’s best lawyer/DJ/writer/pundit, Will C., sent this from the Washington Post. Makes some excellent points – particularly the part about Hillary pointing out racial disparity in AIDS-afflicted women – and I wonder whether some of the topics and plans Obama has been less detailed in discussing (irt Edwards, H-Rod) relate to the “tightrope” the writer details.
Obama’s Tightrope
By Amina Luqman
Friday, July 6, 2007; Page A15
The world felt topsy-turvy as I watched the presidential debate held at Howard University last week. Up seemed down and everything was out of sync as the front-runners for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, spoke. In this debate, as in others, we watched Obama remake the traditional persona of the black candidate and someone else take what might have been his place.
From the outset, it was clear that Barack Obama wasn’t going to be Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. For every rhythmic alliteration Jackson would have offered, Obama gave us pauses and sentences in paragraphs. For Sharpton’s quick wit and scathing candor, Obama offered even tones and grave calm. There was no push toward applause-filled endings. He begged for contemplation and understanding. Simple became complex, demands became propositions and “they” became “we.”
The average black American onlooker can’t help feeling proud but also just a little hurt watching Obama. Proud of his ability to traverse minefields on a national political landscape and hurt by what America demands of black candidates seeking public acceptance and trust. During the debate, black Americans in the audience sat, hands poised, yearning to applaud a black candidate able to articulate our passions and sense of injustice. We wanted to hear that he understood and loved us — not in the general, “we the people” sense but in the specific. Yet we know that with each utterance about injustice, each puff of anger or frustration about racism, we lose the very thing we seek: a viable black candidate. The closer Obama comes to us, the further he would be from winning the nomination and the presidency.
That is a reality of race and national politics in America. Part of Obama’s appeal to white America lies in his hopefulness. It’s in the way he looks toward a brighter future, and it’s in his promise to bring us all along.
Yet the subtext of his appeal is in what he does not say. It’s in his ability to declare that things must get better without saying who or what has made them bad. It’s how he rarely chastises and how he divides blame and responsibility evenly; white receiving equal parts with black, poor equal parts with rich. The “we” Obama has created leaves blank the space traditional African American candidates would have filled with passion or a clear articulation of the state of black Americans. It’s left some black voters unfulfilled and some white voters with a sense of acceptance and absolution from past wrongs and present-day injustices.
We are all watching Obama’s tightrope walk, his attempts to appeal to the white majority while maintaining some semblance of integrity regarding the plight of black Americans. It’s a heavy burden. In contrast, Hillary Clinton is on relatively sure footing. Obama must tilt away from clarity and passion about issues disproportionately affecting blacks while Clinton is free to perform the black candidate’s role. In last week’s debate, it was she who took on the traditional black candidate’s persona, she who was both passionate and rhythmic in her cadence. Her endings built to crescendos. Be it real or pandering, Clinton can openly connect and show solidarity with black Americans in ways that Obama cannot.
There is no better example than Clinton’s comment about the disproportionate effect HIV has on black communities. She said that if “HIV-AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country.” For Obama to have said the same words in the same fiery manner could have been political suicide. By forfeit, Clinton essentially becomes the black candidate; it’s not a space America would allow Obama to fill.
Not long after Obama announced his candidacy, the buzz in the media was, “Is Obama black enough?” Many black Americans privately laughed at this question. We know that it takes only a slip of the tongue about slavery’s legacy or reparations, a hiccup about institutional racism or paying special attention to the needs of black Americans, and suddenly the love would be gone. We know that the question has less to do with black America than with whether white America trusts that Obama is not too black for its political taste.
We laugh at the question of Obama’s blackness because we live with a version of Obama’s tightrope dance every day. We do the same dance in our workplaces, with our supervisors, our neighbors and our college classmates. In that way we know Obama couldn’t be more like us, he couldn’t be more black. We along with Obama know that even the most skilled tightrope performance may not be enough to ensure that you land on your feet.
Amina Luqman is a freelance writer. Her e-mail address is amina.luqman@yahoo.com.
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“Be it real or pandering, Clinton can openly connect and show solidarity with black Americans in ways that Obama cannot.”
Which Clinton? If Hillary, then I would disagree.
I also think it’s important to remember that this is the earliest primary season in history–the most money will be spent, the most television hours uselessly filled, the most huffing and puffing about a candidate’s ability to connect to this community or that community. And it is here that Hillary’s weakness is most easily seen–she yearns to create some sort of a viable personality for herself that is able to send positive missives to every community. Even in the creation of this ‘personality’ her micromanaging, her strategizing, her Nixonian control comes across. Regarding race, it was Obama who was invited to speak at Selma, not Hillary–Hillary’s inclusion was a stipulation of her husband. If he spoke, she must be allowed to speak too.
Hillary has experience, it’s true, but I’m seeing more and more that her experience, her record, does not correspond to what she says. “I have always believed,” does not always correspond to what I’ve said I’ve believed in the past.
And in these useless polls, (because they are pretty useless and ugly), Obama’s numbers have been rising dramatically with blacks; poll numbers and campaign donations are enough to send Hillary into overdrive, which may explain her ‘passion and cadence’ at a debate which hardly anybody watched because there were 50 other candidates that don’t really matter (Sorry).
“Be it real or pandering, Clinton can openly connect and show solidarity with black Americans in ways that Obama cannot.”
Which Clinton? If Hillary, then I would disagree.
I also think it’s important to remember that this is the earliest primary season in history–the most money will be spent, the most television hours uselessly filled, the most huffing and puffing about a candidate’s ability to connect to this community or that community. And it is here that Hillary’s weakness is most easily seen–she yearns to create some sort of a viable personality for herself that is able to send positive missives to every community. Even in the creation of this ‘personality’ her micromanaging, her strategizing, her Nixonian control comes across. Regarding race, it was Obama who was invited to speak at Selma, not Hillary–Hillary’s inclusion was a stipulation of her husband. If he spoke, she must be allowed to speak too.
Hillary has experience, it’s true, but I’m seeing more and more that her experience, her record, does not correspond to what she says. “I have always believed,” does not always correspond to what I’ve said I’ve believed in the past.
And in these useless polls, (because they are pretty useless and ugly), Obama’s numbers have been rising dramatically with blacks; poll numbers and campaign donations are enough to send Hillary into overdrive, which may explain her ‘passion and cadence’ at a debate which hardly anybody watched because there were 50 other candidates that don’t really matter (Sorry).
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Dear Sir,
We at Mutaher Corporation are manufacturer & exporter of
Hair Cutting Scissors
Thinning Scissors
Cuticle Scissors
Nail Scissors
Household Scissors
Taylor Scissors
Cuticle Nippers
Nail Nippers
Corn Cutters
Nail Files
Shaving Razors
We are small company but we have every new machinery to make the good quality products as per buyer’s requirements.
We manufacturer the products in our factory from forging to packing. We have skilled workers who work according to ISO-9000
and CE Mark requirements. We are selling our products to USA, Europe, UK, Russia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Vietnam. We
have good reputation in the World market. Our products prices are very competitive and quality is very good.
Let’ s speck to our products when it will be in your hands.
We can make the products if you will send us your own samples or pictures.
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Kind regards,
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Proprietor
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