Obama and Race

Bubblehead: I hadn’t considered shutting down the sun. What a great idea, the perfect solution for global warming.

I first brought up the problem of paradigm shifts in a blog of August 29, 2008 when I suggested that if Obama (a black man) was elected President of the U.S. it would be a fifth great blow to the ego of Western-Europeans because of their fundamental beliefs about white superiority. I wrote about it again when the paradigm actually shattered on November 5, 2008. I wrote about it once again on June 11, 2009, and finally again on August 12, 2009, suggesting the election of a black man would be far more difficult, important, and problematical than most would realize because it struck so deeply at the dominant paradigm Western-Europeans held for so many years. I mention it here now because I think I underestimated the problems it would bring and because I think it may help to explain the strange situation Obama faces at the moment, namely that he is under attack from both sides of the political spectrum and nothing he does seems to please anyone.

First, I cannot understand the unbelievable resistance to anything Obama has attempted to do. At first, when Republicans announced they would be the party of “no,” I assumed this was merely because Republicans did not like Obama’s agenda, but now, when they have turned against proposals they themselves originated, obviously just because Obama now wants them, it became obvious to me there is more to this than I suspected. I also find it difficult to understand the hysterical fit they seem to be throwing over “Obamacare” and socialism. Obama is so far from being a socialist this constant accusation is laughable. And as far as health care is concerned the same people that want to repeal it happily accept Medicare. Furthermore Obamacare has left intact the worst feature of American health care, the absurd control of it by private insurance companies, a result its critics should love. Then there is the refrain on the part of many, perhaps best expressed by Rand Paul and other Tea Party members, “We want to take our country back.” It is not clear at all to me what this can mean. If they mean to take it back from the corporations that now control it (a noble aspiration) they should certainly not be upset with Obama who is more or less attempting to do the same thing. If they mean to take it back from those who damaged it so badly they, again, should not be critical of Obama who is literally being forced to attempt to do just that. A white man has just been arrested for threatening to kill Obama, “for what he has done to our country.” He has done nothing to our country except try to save it in spite of being opposed at every turn by the same people who are accusing him of not doing anything. Much of this kind of criticism seems to cling to the notion that he is leading us down the road to socialism, an absolutely thoughtless criticism when you consider the already socialist aspects of our culture (post office, public schools, Medicare, agricultural subsidies, etc.). Now Republicans are even trying to sabotage the new START treaty, an unprecedented development, again seemingly for no purpose other than to oppose Obama. While we cannot overlook the obvious and blatant racism involved by some of the Tea Party crowd and others, much of which is no longer even being denied, this anti-Obama sentiment (even hatred) seems to me to be a much more fundamental form of racism, one that touches on the very psyche of Western-Europeans. Obama cannot be allowed to succeed in any way because every success would be a threat to their most fundamental beliefs about racial differences and competence. Blacks are just not believed to be as intelligent or competent as Whites, a belief that runs through all of American culture and has been seen at all levels of our society. For years black athletes were not allowed to compete with whites because it was (falsely) believed they were not as good. When the color line was finally broken by Jackie Robinson, blacks were not believed competent to manage clubs, there was great resistance to black quarterbacks for years, and black coaches are a recent development. Of course blacks have been discriminated against for years, are believed to not perform as well as whites on I.Q. tests and other academic endeavors. The history of discrimination against Black people is well known. It has not disappeared entirely even now, and however unconscious even in those who protest they are not racists, it still exists. I believe if you probe deeply into the minds of Western-European White people you will find, however deeply embedded, and however much denied, a fundamental belief in white superiority, not only over blacks but also over Latinos, Asians, and others. In a sense this is understandable I think, as ethnocentrism seems to be characteristic of our species. Most individuals believe their way of life, as well as their ethnic makeup is better than others.

This same insidious belief exists on the “left” and among “Progressives” as well as on the “right,”, although it is expressing itself differently. Obama is criticized for being too much like Bush and continuing Bush policies. He is condemned for not doing enough to bring about the changes he promised, for not closing Guantanamo, doing away with DADT, stopping the “wars,” supporting the banks and Wall Street, caving in too easily to Republicans, refusing to stand up for his beliefs, and in general not providing the leadership he should. Some of these criticisms may well be valid, but it seems to me they do not fairly understand what Obama has had to face in the form of Republican opposition or just how difficult it is to change Washington and Congress. Actually Obama has accomplished a great deal in the way of passed legislation, far more than can be mentioned here, far more than most Presidents have managed in their first two years, and mostly positive for the well-being of the nation. Here the insidious and fundamental belief about blacks has begun to surface as “maybe Obama is just not up to the job, maybe someone should run against him.” Soros verbalized this quite clearly when he recently said just that, and that “if he can’t do the job we’ll have to look elsewhere.” You might argue this is not because of racism but do you think the same things would be said if a White President was in the same position? I doubt it. I don’t know if anyone will challenge Obama in 2012, nor do I know who the Republicans will pick as their candidate, but you can be certain that whoever they pick will immediately become (however unstated) “The Great White Hope.” Republicans have already begun to pick their champion, Progressives may decide (badly) they have to do the same thing. Obama is in an impossible situation. On the one hand Republicans cannot let him succeed without having to abandon their cherished belief in their superiority, on the other hand Progressives are demanding he accomplish the impossible and do it immediately, and if he can’t he isn’t up to the job. I will not be around to see it, but I would not be surprised to see history report that Obama would have been a truly great President if only he hadn’t been Black.

Incidentally, the great white hope will almost certainly not be female, as the basic paradigm, still apparently resistant to significant change, relegates women to the same basic inadequacies as non-whites and children, and they, too, are still fighting for a place at the top. It is interesting to note that younger people, having been more exposed to integration and racial mixing than older Americans, seem not to have internalized the basic paradigm of white superiority to the same degree, and were much more supportive of Obama than older people. Their failure to support Obama and Democrats in the recent election probably stems more from their disappointment in general with what has been accomplished than from a belief in racial inferiority, and perhaps their disappointment at learning their elders tend to have “feet of clay” and suffer from spinelessness.