Dr. Sanity’s got a surprisingly flame retardant post (vis a vis Shelby Steele) on the nebulous candidacy of Barack Obama that posits some worthwhile points liberals would do well to consider. Assuming they ever paused for introspection. Which they don’t.

Especially as the nagging backseat chorus of “Are we there yet?” ignores milestone after racial milestone on their way to affirmative actioning their next party nominee:

The Barack Obama phenomenon is about white America. It’s not about Barack Obama and it’s not about black America. There is this need, this driving hunger, to somehow get this race thing resolved, to redeem the country, to get beyond it. That’s [the] phenomenon.

It’s all about atonement and redemption.

Which is interesting because, if you take this feeling to its logical conclusion, then race would no longer be an issue in America (at least on the larger level).

There will never be a moment in this country where everyone is going to collectively spike their no longer aggrieved football in the endzone of racial inequality. The goalposts are not screwed down as tightly as we’d like to think.

That the liberal, white voter thinks they’ve found a political Sidney Poitier that they’re not afraid to bring home to dinner and hold court over how enlightened and tolerant they are that they support a black candidate is expected. It’s equally predictable that they project, with distressing religious overtones, that he’s going to “heal” the country with his empty, bourgy pap and psychically cure them of their own prejudices. That he loves them.

Voting for a black candidate does not mean you’re not a racist. Not voting for a black candidate does not mean you are a racist.

But voting for someone because they are black (or white, or yellow, or brown, or a woman) definitely falls into the category of racist/sexist. Maybe when you can run a candidate without pimping the novelty of their skin color or the badge between their legs then you can at least be honest about what you believe instead of attempting to guilt 51 million voters into balancing your cosmic ledger of perceived racism and sexism.

Posted by Brian @ 9:47 pm
7 Comments and 2 Trackbacks | Permalink | Trackback URI

Comments

:: Trackbacks/Pingbacks ::

1. Obama sets fundraising mark: $32M in one month…

   Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised $32 million in the single month of January, a …

   Trackback by Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — Saturday, February 2, 2008 2:09 am | permalink

   
   

2. Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup - Super Bowl Edition…

    
   Happy Sunday! The Sun is shining, the birds are singing, the Super Bowl will be played (surrounded by way too many commercials and an idiotic halftime show.) Another fantastic day in the USA. These pinups are by Ted Hammond, no need to add the Flag,…

   Trackback by Pirate's Cove — Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:43 am | permalink

   
   

:: Comments ::

1. Does that mean that if you voted for John Edwards, then you’re a fag?

   Just askin’…

   comment by Nigel — Saturday, February 2, 2008 @ 1:34 am

   ---

2. Reading posts like this reminds me of a delicious cucumber salad I had at a nice brunch at a little hole in the wall restaurant in Nashville last summer.

   

   comment by Vinnie — Saturday, February 2, 2008 @ 2:08 am

   ---

3. You are so damn articulate. But are you clean?

   comment by Cranky — Saturday, February 2, 2008 @ 10:35 am

   ---

4. Nig - No. voting for Silky does not mean your gay. It only means that you hate straight people.

   V - Your stomach is the best example of a melting pot. Foods of all different colors, shapes, and sizes come together to live happily in your lower intestine. Unfortunately that moveable feast of diversity still produces a bunch of shit at the end of the day.

   comment by Brian — Saturday, February 2, 2008 @ 11:09 am

   ---

5. I asked the Marketing Manager at work to print up a nice little bumber sticker for my car in the logo and graphic design of the Obama Campaign bumper sticker. It reads “White Guilt ‘08″. I get mixed reactions from it when cars pull up along side me on the road; a lot of thumbs up, and a few middle fingers. I love it! I’ll have to break out the camera and post a pic of it at TGT11.

   comment by Yiddish Steel — Saturday, February 2, 2008 @ 12:19 pm

   ---

6. Do it Yiddish, do it!

   BTW, on the train on my way to Pauley Pavillion for the UCLA/Arizona game (tonight on ESPN btw).

   Vinnie, that Cucumber Salad was pretty good, but that Fried Chicken was the BOMB! Are you hosting Prickfest ‘08? If so, I expect top notch Nebraskan charred animal flesh…

   We ARE gonna do this again, right? Yiddish, your attendance is mandatory or your ass is fired.

   Michele needs to come as well…she’s as big a Prick as any of us…

   comment by Nigel — Saturday, February 2, 2008 @ 4:03 pm

   ---

7. I’ve spent a couple of hours perusing Obama’s website. Has anyone actually gone on there to see what he is saying on the record?

   He’s makes LBJ’s “Great Society” entitlements that are robbing all of us of our future look like Leona Helmsley’s table droppings. No promise left unmade.

   It is nothing short of cradle-to-grave communism.

   He’s also got this crypto-Amnesty song Si, Se Puede “Yes, We Can” where so-called artists are mindlessly repeating words from his speeches like Heaven’s Gate cultists.

   Barack Obama is the first Jim Jones of the 21st Century and the only upside is going to be the mass graves of the people who kill themselves when he loses.

   comment by Brian — Sunday, February 3, 2008 @ 11:36 am

   ---

Leave a Comment

Sorry, comments are closed at this time.