Last night the Democratic Party made US history in nominating Barack Obama as it's candidate for the US presidency. I specify American history to note that there has been black presidents and prime ministers elsewhere in the world. Not to take away from the event, but to put it in a certain perspective. While I disagree with Obama on a number of subjects and political strategy I will give him his due as a history maker.
I wasn't all that impressed by the speech he gave last night. I don't think it was his best and I felt that kucinich was far more lively and by my own biased, much more real about what kind of change needs to happen in the US.
It was interesting watching the movie that introduced Obama. It struck me as particularly odd how the black candidate for president, had a life that, as presented on screen was completely devoid of black folk and black experiences as it relates to African-Americans. In fact, had there not been a picture of Obama or Obama's face was not a part of the movie, One could have easily "mistook" the film to be about a white man from the mid-west. It is clear to me, that the acceptance of Obama by many non-blacks has much to do with who he is not and where he does not come from or out of.
Alice Walker on an interview I was listening to yesterday was making comments about how good it was that Obama was mixed because "we'll all be mixed someday." I've heard these remarks a few too many times. I find such commentary insulting because it carries with it the implication that not being black and just black is bad, passe. It also implies the same thing about Europeans and Asians.
Anyway. US history in the making. A luta continua.
(17 years of informed commentary)
