blog - gObama 2008
Malcolm X - “By any means necessary”speech in 1964
May 19, 1925 - February 21, 1965
(Berlin, Germany - 8.30 p.m. local time)
There is a natural mystic blowing in the air, if you listen carefully then you can hear... A couple of hours and the polls will close in Oregon and Kentucky. Everyone knows that after drawing record crowds (75,000) in Oregon on Sunday - Obama is crossing over big time to middle class America. This is truly a historic moment. The world will take notice that there is one Democratic nominee only - who can not be reduced of being a black candidate. Sounds familiar?
http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/7cb6018d007c5014/tSOMyD/VEsE/
Obama has transcended race and class despite Hillary’s attempts to stop him by focusing on “white working class voters”. It is this paradigm shift, which I hoped to reveal in my interviews 6 month ago but failed. When I started my research across the country - nothing was so clear cut and race was an issue nobody would talk too openly about. The complexities of race were too deep and touchy.
The old school strategies of the conservative white feminist movement (Hillary evokes) come across as out of touch with the complex racial and gender identities of the new school (which Obamania) represents. Anyone who has ever watched a funky Missy Elliot video or pondered about the fact, that most white teenagers want to be some sort of down with (black vernacular) culture has seen this coming since hip-hop crossed over.
Despite being massively hit by the race and class backlash - stirred by his (old school friend) Rev. J.Wright -- Obama has managed to stay clear of the booty traps of identity politics. I guess his campaign staff (around David Axelrod) has done a good job by keeping him above ground zero. Or was it those liberal Democratic American voters, who decided they are ready for more r&b and hip-hop. Mo better blues...?
I think the reason Obama is embraced by so many white folks, is because he brands his complex persona into a successful overachiever that is a direct result of the conflicting racial and class issues that divided America in the past century. And by doing so with a cool swagger, he authentically draws a lot of empathy from voters. Being honest, compassionate and straightforward helps - despite Mike Huckabee who jokes about Obama’s possible assassination. A thought that many share...
In sharp contrast to his noble and simple demeanor (and his analytical skills during his talk on race) was of course Hillary and her husbands camp, who used her “gender card with its history of whiteness” and the nostalgia for the Clinton years to win undecided voters. A strategy that has not worked. Thank God! Obama could seal a generational shift in the raising consciousness of his grass-roots movement with supporters that still believe in the American dream. An audacity that got Malcolm X killed. We might be in for a century of hope...
An excellent essay (on arguments of Hillary’s feminism) is by Zillah Eisenstein - a professor of politics at Ithaca College.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/18/9031/
May 19, 1925 - February 21, 1965
Hillary too white -- Obama not black enough?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
(Berlin, Germany - 8.30 p.m. local time)
There is a natural mystic blowing in the air, if you listen carefully then you can hear... A couple of hours and the polls will close in Oregon and Kentucky. Everyone knows that after drawing record crowds (75,000) in Oregon on Sunday - Obama is crossing over big time to middle class America. This is truly a historic moment. The world will take notice that there is one Democratic nominee only - who can not be reduced of being a black candidate. Sounds familiar?
http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/7cb6018d007c5014/tSOMyD/VEsE/
Obama has transcended race and class despite Hillary’s attempts to stop him by focusing on “white working class voters”. It is this paradigm shift, which I hoped to reveal in my interviews 6 month ago but failed. When I started my research across the country - nothing was so clear cut and race was an issue nobody would talk too openly about. The complexities of race were too deep and touchy.
The old school strategies of the conservative white feminist movement (Hillary evokes) come across as out of touch with the complex racial and gender identities of the new school (which Obamania) represents. Anyone who has ever watched a funky Missy Elliot video or pondered about the fact, that most white teenagers want to be some sort of down with (black vernacular) culture has seen this coming since hip-hop crossed over.
Despite being massively hit by the race and class backlash - stirred by his (old school friend) Rev. J.Wright -- Obama has managed to stay clear of the booty traps of identity politics. I guess his campaign staff (around David Axelrod) has done a good job by keeping him above ground zero. Or was it those liberal Democratic American voters, who decided they are ready for more r&b and hip-hop. Mo better blues...?
I think the reason Obama is embraced by so many white folks, is because he brands his complex persona into a successful overachiever that is a direct result of the conflicting racial and class issues that divided America in the past century. And by doing so with a cool swagger, he authentically draws a lot of empathy from voters. Being honest, compassionate and straightforward helps - despite Mike Huckabee who jokes about Obama’s possible assassination. A thought that many share...
In sharp contrast to his noble and simple demeanor (and his analytical skills during his talk on race) was of course Hillary and her husbands camp, who used her “gender card with its history of whiteness” and the nostalgia for the Clinton years to win undecided voters. A strategy that has not worked. Thank God! Obama could seal a generational shift in the raising consciousness of his grass-roots movement with supporters that still believe in the American dream. An audacity that got Malcolm X killed. We might be in for a century of hope...
An excellent essay (on arguments of Hillary’s feminism) is by Zillah Eisenstein - a professor of politics at Ithaca College.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/18/9031/