By Lawrence Henry on 1.25.08 @ 12:08AM
How Obama might become the first Barack president.
In Monday's Democratic debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a
moderator asked Senator Barack Obama if he agreed with novelist
Toni Morrison's 1998 assertion that Bill Clinton was "the first
black President."
Obama chose wit and deadpan for his answer, saying he would have
to see the former President dance "before I can accurately judge if
he is, in fact, a brother."
Obama blew a tremendous opportunity, what has come to be called
a "Sistah Souljah" moment, recalling Bill Clinton's own 1992
upbraiding of the rap artist's anti-white rhetoric.
Nowadays, all anyone remembers is Morrison's writing that
Clinton was "the first black President." In fact, she said much
more.
"Clinton," she wrote in a 1998 article in the New
Yorker, displays "almost every trope of blackness:
single-parent household, born poor, working-class,
saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from
Arkansas."
Taken in context, this is no compliment. It's an insult. In
Morrison's formulation, to be black means poverty, helplessness,
and victimhood. And if Obama had called the debate moderator on
that point, he would have called out and exposed the Clintons'
racialist strategy which aims to marginalize his, Obama's,
effectiveness in the current election.
OBAMA IS too timid by half. What would it mean to call out the
Clintons on this "first black President" nonsense? No mistake, it
would take a lot of courage. Obama would first have to say that the
term implies no compliment. He might have to imply that Bill
Clinton, far from being cool, more resembled a careless, sloppy
horndog.
He would have to recall that, when Morrison wrote those words,
she went on to sympathize with Clinton as a victim of the white
power structure. And why? Because he had gotten caught canoodling
with a White House intern. Obama would have to recall the way the
Clintons played on the public's sympathy for a scoundrel caught
out.
He would need, in short, to recall everything that has been
deemed untouchable by the Clintons and by their minions in the
mainstream news media. At the same time, he would call into
question the perspicacity and competence of Toni Morrison, an icon
of black culture, and a woman, to boot.
TOUGH TASK. Obviously the Clintons know exactly what kind of spot
they've put Obama in with all this racialist rhetoric. To call out
the Clintons properly, Obama would have to be willing to look like
a bad guy.
It would take an immense act of courage to carry it off. On
Obama's side, he has the verbal facility to be able to do it.
Eventually, he may have no choice. The only other choice will be to
lose with Hillary's cackle ringing in his ears.
topics:
Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, NATO
