Friday, August 10, 2012

Set The Bar Impossbly High—Insist That One's Cultural Identity Never Be Used To An Advantage (unless white)—Dare The Individual To Accurately Frame The Obstacles He or She Overcame To Succeed—Foster Resentment—Rinse and Repeat

Because he (Obama) is a black man, he has an obligation to be grateful to the white people who voted him into office. Because he is a black man, he has an obligation not to use the full powers of his office in such a way as to alienate any of the white people who so graciously voted him into office. Because he is a black man, he has an obligation not to use the full advantages of his office in his effort to get those white people to reelect him as their president for another four years. Because those white people voted him into office, his primary job as president is to make sure his entire presidency is a demonstration of how far we've come as a nation on race, and that means he is not allowed to do anything or say anything that the white people who elected him can perceive to be divisive, because his primary function is to make them feel good about themselves. In theory, at least, all presidents are servants of the people who elected them. In the case of Barack Obama, it has seemed from the start that the idea as applied to him was more than mere metaphor. He is the first president in my lifetime whom the country felt obligated to remind that he know his place.
                              .                    .                    .

He wasn't elected to be president, after all. He was elected as an avatar of American tolerance. His attempts to get himself reelected imply a certain, well, ingratitude.
from Charles Pierce

Great read and sadly true.

The right is terrified that Obama will be perceived as overcoming prejudice to become president..."What racial prejudice?"

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