D
Dr. Jai Maharaj
Guest
The Divider
By Jacob Laksin
FrontPageMagazine.com
Thursday, February 21, 2008
A critical plank of Sen. Obama's presidential campaign has
been his appeal for national unity. In speeches crafted to
bridge partisan divides, he has assailed the "drama and
division and distraction" [1] of Washington politics and
urged Americans to rise above their differences. Whatever
one makes of this approach, and substantively it leaves a
great deal to be desired, there is little doubting its
success thus far. Whether in southern states like South
Carolina, with their large black electorates, or majority-
white states like Iowa and Wisconsin, Obama's message has
found popular purchase. So it is not a little ironic that
the cross-racial bonhomie engendered by the Obama campaign
is threatened by the woman closest to the senator: his wife
Michelle Obama.
That was most apparent in Wisconsin this week, where the
tension between Obama's soothing, post-racial politics and
his wife's more astringent views flared out in the open. As
Sen. Obama traversed the state to make his final pitch to
the voters, Michelle Obama spent the week chiding them for
their past folly. Speaking in Milwaukee, she said, "For the
first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country
because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."
It was a jarring statement. Did the candidate's wife really
mean to suggest that the country had been hopeless until
her husband emerged as the Democratic frontrunner? Indeed
she did, and just a few hours later, she reiterated the
point in nearly identical terms. "For the first time in my
adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country -- not just
because Barack has done well, but because I think people
are hungry for change. I have been desperate to see our
country moving in that direction and just not feeling so
alone in my frustration and disappointment." There was no
mistaking her message: Until it found the wisdom to rally
around her husband, America had been a source of constant
disappointment for Mrs. Obama.
When her remarks justifiably aroused outrage, the
unenviable task of explaining [2] them away fell to the
senator himself. On the one hand, Obama said, his wife's
words had been taken "out of context." But at the same
time, Sen. Obama continued, "she's pretty cynical about the
political process, and with good reason, and she's not
alone." And sure enough, it was this cynicism that landed
her in trouble in the first place.
Yet it's hard to see what Michelle Obama has to be cynical
about. Though it is true that she was born on the South
Side of Chicago, there is no shortage of Americans who
start from humble beginnings. The difference is that,
unlike many, Michelle Obama is also a child of privilege.
In a recent interview [3] with Newsweek, Obama reveals that
she got into Princeton University not on the strength of
her grades, which she admits were unexceptional, but thanks
to her brother Craig, a star athlete and gifted student who
preceded her to the school. As a "legacy" candidate and a
beneficiary of affirmative action, Michelle Obama was
granted an opportunity that others more accomplished were
denied. Nor, according to friends quoted in the article,
did Obama object when she was later accepted to Harvard as
part of the school's outreach to minority students. "She
recognized that she had been privileged by affirmative
action and she was very comfortable with that," her friend
recalls.
Comfortable, perhaps, but certainly not content. A more
humble personality might have appreciated the unearned
advantages she had been afforded. Michelle Obama seems
instead to have developed an abiding sense of racial
resentment. This resentment finds its most bitter
expression in her 1985 Princeton senior thesis,
conveniently blocked from public viewing by the school
until after next year's presidential election, titled
"Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." In it,
the young Michelle LaVaughn Robinson paints a grim portrait
of her future prospects, warning against "further
integration and/or assimilation into a White cultural and
social structure that will only allow me to remain on the
periphery of society; never becoming a full participant."
Regardless of the opportunities that had been offered her,
Obama continued to see herself as a victim of a racist
white society, trapped in the divide that her husband's
campaign now seeks to breech.
It would be unfair to assume that Michelle Obama's writings
as an angry and alienated undergrad are a reliable guide to
her current views about race and her country more
generally. After all, contrary to the grim prognosis in her
Princeton thesis, Obama went on to succeed in the white
"social structure" she had deemed so forbidding. She has
held jobs at top corporate law-firms in Chicago, earned
six-figure salaries, and seen her husband, himself of
African descent, all but clinch the nomination of the
Democratic Party. If that is not enough to make her a full
participant in American society, nothing is.
But all evidence indicates that her views remain unchanged.
In a February 2007 appearance with her husband on 60
Minutes, for instance, she said that "as a black man, you
know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station." Not
the least of the problems with the charge was its
conspiratorial suggestion that blacks were being targeted
on account of their race. And in one tragic sense they
were, though not, as Obama's statement seemed to imply, by
whites: According [3] to the U.S. Department of Justice,
between 1976 and 2005, 94 percent of black victims were
killed by blacks. Empirically baseless, Michelle Obama's
warning nonetheless revealed how deeply she had absorbed
the narrative of black victimization in America.
It does not follow that the mixed messages of the Obama
campaign -- his hopeful and forward-looking, hers sullen
and intransigent -- will slow its current momentum. The
rapturous crowds who flock by the thousands to the
senator's campaign stops seem unlikely to stand for any
criticism of their candidate. (Sometimes literally:
fainting [5] has reportedly become a common occurrence at
Obama rallies.) Before them, neither Obama nor any member
of his campaign can do wrong. General election voters, on
the other hand, may look less sympathetically on the
prospect of a First Lady who would carry her unrequited
grievances to the White House.
"We are the change we seek," Barack Obama is fond of saying
on the campaign trail. To the extent that the phrase has
any meaning, it is that the United States is fundamentally
a noble country, with an active and engaged citizenry
seeking do right. Sen. Obama has certainly persuaded his
supporters to believe that. Now if only he could convince
his own wife.
[1]
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/obamas_speech_to_virginias_jef.html
[2]
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080220/D8UTP1H80.html
[3]
http://www.newsweek.com/id/112849/page/7
[4]
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm
[5]
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GWYA%2CGWYA%3A2006-05%2CGWYA%3Aen&q=fainting+obama+rallies
More at:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=4DDA33E3-EA81-410E-82DA-4138B9FB1C80
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
DISCLAIMER AND CONDITIONS
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
By Jacob Laksin
FrontPageMagazine.com
Thursday, February 21, 2008
A critical plank of Sen. Obama's presidential campaign has
been his appeal for national unity. In speeches crafted to
bridge partisan divides, he has assailed the "drama and
division and distraction" [1] of Washington politics and
urged Americans to rise above their differences. Whatever
one makes of this approach, and substantively it leaves a
great deal to be desired, there is little doubting its
success thus far. Whether in southern states like South
Carolina, with their large black electorates, or majority-
white states like Iowa and Wisconsin, Obama's message has
found popular purchase. So it is not a little ironic that
the cross-racial bonhomie engendered by the Obama campaign
is threatened by the woman closest to the senator: his wife
Michelle Obama.
That was most apparent in Wisconsin this week, where the
tension between Obama's soothing, post-racial politics and
his wife's more astringent views flared out in the open. As
Sen. Obama traversed the state to make his final pitch to
the voters, Michelle Obama spent the week chiding them for
their past folly. Speaking in Milwaukee, she said, "For the
first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country
because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."
It was a jarring statement. Did the candidate's wife really
mean to suggest that the country had been hopeless until
her husband emerged as the Democratic frontrunner? Indeed
she did, and just a few hours later, she reiterated the
point in nearly identical terms. "For the first time in my
adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country -- not just
because Barack has done well, but because I think people
are hungry for change. I have been desperate to see our
country moving in that direction and just not feeling so
alone in my frustration and disappointment." There was no
mistaking her message: Until it found the wisdom to rally
around her husband, America had been a source of constant
disappointment for Mrs. Obama.
When her remarks justifiably aroused outrage, the
unenviable task of explaining [2] them away fell to the
senator himself. On the one hand, Obama said, his wife's
words had been taken "out of context." But at the same
time, Sen. Obama continued, "she's pretty cynical about the
political process, and with good reason, and she's not
alone." And sure enough, it was this cynicism that landed
her in trouble in the first place.
Yet it's hard to see what Michelle Obama has to be cynical
about. Though it is true that she was born on the South
Side of Chicago, there is no shortage of Americans who
start from humble beginnings. The difference is that,
unlike many, Michelle Obama is also a child of privilege.
In a recent interview [3] with Newsweek, Obama reveals that
she got into Princeton University not on the strength of
her grades, which she admits were unexceptional, but thanks
to her brother Craig, a star athlete and gifted student who
preceded her to the school. As a "legacy" candidate and a
beneficiary of affirmative action, Michelle Obama was
granted an opportunity that others more accomplished were
denied. Nor, according to friends quoted in the article,
did Obama object when she was later accepted to Harvard as
part of the school's outreach to minority students. "She
recognized that she had been privileged by affirmative
action and she was very comfortable with that," her friend
recalls.
Comfortable, perhaps, but certainly not content. A more
humble personality might have appreciated the unearned
advantages she had been afforded. Michelle Obama seems
instead to have developed an abiding sense of racial
resentment. This resentment finds its most bitter
expression in her 1985 Princeton senior thesis,
conveniently blocked from public viewing by the school
until after next year's presidential election, titled
"Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." In it,
the young Michelle LaVaughn Robinson paints a grim portrait
of her future prospects, warning against "further
integration and/or assimilation into a White cultural and
social structure that will only allow me to remain on the
periphery of society; never becoming a full participant."
Regardless of the opportunities that had been offered her,
Obama continued to see herself as a victim of a racist
white society, trapped in the divide that her husband's
campaign now seeks to breech.
It would be unfair to assume that Michelle Obama's writings
as an angry and alienated undergrad are a reliable guide to
her current views about race and her country more
generally. After all, contrary to the grim prognosis in her
Princeton thesis, Obama went on to succeed in the white
"social structure" she had deemed so forbidding. She has
held jobs at top corporate law-firms in Chicago, earned
six-figure salaries, and seen her husband, himself of
African descent, all but clinch the nomination of the
Democratic Party. If that is not enough to make her a full
participant in American society, nothing is.
But all evidence indicates that her views remain unchanged.
In a February 2007 appearance with her husband on 60
Minutes, for instance, she said that "as a black man, you
know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station." Not
the least of the problems with the charge was its
conspiratorial suggestion that blacks were being targeted
on account of their race. And in one tragic sense they
were, though not, as Obama's statement seemed to imply, by
whites: According [3] to the U.S. Department of Justice,
between 1976 and 2005, 94 percent of black victims were
killed by blacks. Empirically baseless, Michelle Obama's
warning nonetheless revealed how deeply she had absorbed
the narrative of black victimization in America.
It does not follow that the mixed messages of the Obama
campaign -- his hopeful and forward-looking, hers sullen
and intransigent -- will slow its current momentum. The
rapturous crowds who flock by the thousands to the
senator's campaign stops seem unlikely to stand for any
criticism of their candidate. (Sometimes literally:
fainting [5] has reportedly become a common occurrence at
Obama rallies.) Before them, neither Obama nor any member
of his campaign can do wrong. General election voters, on
the other hand, may look less sympathetically on the
prospect of a First Lady who would carry her unrequited
grievances to the White House.
"We are the change we seek," Barack Obama is fond of saying
on the campaign trail. To the extent that the phrase has
any meaning, it is that the United States is fundamentally
a noble country, with an active and engaged citizenry
seeking do right. Sen. Obama has certainly persuaded his
supporters to believe that. Now if only he could convince
his own wife.
[1]
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/obamas_speech_to_virginias_jef.html
[2]
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080220/D8UTP1H80.html
[3]
http://www.newsweek.com/id/112849/page/7
[4]
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm
[5]
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GWYA%2CGWYA%3A2006-05%2CGWYA%3Aen&q=fainting+obama+rallies
More at:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=4DDA33E3-EA81-410E-82DA-4138B9FB1C80
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
DISCLAIMER AND CONDITIONS
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.