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Marveling at Barack Obama's current gusher of national celebrity, and at his apparent ability to sidestep venerable mainstream
hesitancies about charismatic black politicos, has become a cottage industry of pundits lately.
Everybody, it seems, wants to know how "Obamamania" came to be, and whether it will last. And everybody's got a theory as
to why the new junior senator from Illinois seems to be going where no black political figure has gone before -- perhaps,
some breathlessly suggest, to the presidency.
To me, the most interesting theory for Obama's meteoric blast through the presumed "black" ceiling -- one I've run across
in The Nation, on NPR, and in other places -- is that he is not "black" in the ways that have traditionally scared the pants
off the white mainstream. Although he is African American, he is not a descendant of slaves; his father was a "black as pitch"
Kenyan, in Obama's words, and his mother a "white as milk" native of Kansas. This alone -- or so the theory goes -- frees
Obama from the millstone hung round the neck of most black candidates who court the white mainstream, namely the baggage of
being viewed as a presumed angry seeker of retribution for slavery and an apologist for the misdeeds of the impoverished progeny
of ex-slaves. Nothing, after all, sends white voters fleeing faster than the prospect of being stalked -- for their votes
or for their wallets -- by a pissed-off black man with justice on his mind.
Obama, born in Hawaii to an East African and an American Midwesterner who he says is a distant relative of Jefferson Davis,
assuredly had no part in the bitter business of being an ex-slave. Further, having spent early years in Indonesia, having
attended both Muslim and Catholic Schools, and having a half-Indonesian half-sister married to a Chinese-Canadian (Obama's
wife, Michelle, has reportedly called their family a "mini-United Nations"), he is as global a figure as any campaign manager
could ask for. From this standpoint, Obama is a blessedly non-threatening prospect to many whites who are sick and tired,
and frightened, of our own nation's ongoing baggage from slavery. Like a black American with a thick British accent, he is,
to many whites, not really one of "those blacks" -- you know, the troublesome natives.
Or, like I said, so the theory goes. Personally, I do think this goes a long way toward explaining Obama's open-armed welcome
among white audiences who might shun Jesse Jackson or Cornel West and run screaming from Al Sharpton. His largely populist
politics aside, Obama is more the Colin Powell type in his public persona. He speaks rigorously proper English with no "black"
accent. He is conservative in dress, bearing and tone. He is light-skinned (please, let us not pretend this does not matter
when it comes to many whites' (and blacks') high regard for certain black males). He is studiously mainstream in his rhetoric,
with none of that preachy blackified singsong stuff that gives some white voters the jitters. He is, actually, the perfect
African-American political candidate for mass white appeal: a populist who, while black, is not "one of them."
But Obama is also more than that.
If his safe-black-man persona has given him an easier path into the heart of the mainstream, his character has also given
him the singular and admirable nerve to do what few Democrats of any ethnicity have dared: to stand up and act like a progressive.
American voters have hungered for years now for candidates who are willing to wade in and take it on the chin for what they
truly believe. The Obama who won an Illinois senate seat with 70 percent of the vote was one such bold contender. Not to say
I told you so, but I told you so: I, and many long before me, have been saying in print for quite some time that Americans
want to vote for candidates who are not afraid to lose. Voters want leaders who actually believe in something. One of the
reasons George W. Bush nearly won the popular vote in 2000 and did win it in 2004 was that he projected the (deceptive but
effective) image of a straight-shooting believer. His victory was a tribute to the utter desperation of voters for something
that looks and feels like principle in their leaders.
Obama had that for real. And it's a winning quality in a politician of any color.
Whether he still has that quality, however, after a short time in the moneychangers' club known as the U.S. Senate, seems
to be an open question. While he still sounds populist themes with power and flourish before cheering crowds, I'm now hearing
some suspiciously mealy-mouthed Obama positions on campaign contributions, immigration policy, and other issues. In a recent
NPR interview, he sounded as glib and obfuscatory as any corporate-underwritten Senator Silverhair. Fact is (and please excuse
the comparison), as was the case with a newcomer named Bush who exploded onto the national scene six years ago in a flash
of media fascination, we still don't know a lot about this guy.
So let's stay tuned and see what subsequent episodes reveal about the man named Obama: who voters think he is, who he actually
turns out to be, and what role, if any, the theater of race plays in the outcome.
© 2006 Bruce A. Jacobs (Posted 12/14/06)
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