Seriously, I don't care whether you're 'liberal elite' or 'fair and balanced' flavored. The way you took a campaign/election that tried extremely hard not to be about race and within seconds of calling it in his favor, immediately made it about very little but race...LAME!I get it. It's historically relevant, exciting and (as a white guy) something i'll never be able to feel personally vindicated about as much as someone of color. However...the fact is that race, while a legitimate factor via the votes he received, isn't the most impressive part of the story. It's the fact that he seemed to rise above his skin color and make a conscious effort to successfully speak to everybody...or at least try to.
Exit polls indicated that Obama's triumph was built on his overwhelming success with blacks, Hispanics, 18-to-34-year-olds, women and new voters. Unfortunately, 40% percent of all white Americans hold a negative view of blacks, according to polling by The Associated Press, and even two-thirds of white Democrats express racial misgivings. Yet on this Election Day, Obama won more than four of every 10 white votes.
I'll say it again, personally, i'm more impressed with the fact I often forgot that he is black...than the fact he IS black (or half-black, whatever). His message was one of a UNITED States from the get-go...a country that is in this together regardless of your skin color...a message that obviously resonated w/ more than just me and more than just people of color. 349 electoral and ~ 52% of the popular vote.
So, in the media's effort to show just how far we've come...they instead showed that some of us really haven't come that far at all. Just because a 'historical' hook is the easiest road to fill a 24/7 news cycle...doesn't make it any less easier to swallow.
I'm tellin' you, it almost makes a man wanna' cry.
1 comment:
amen.
good post.
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