Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money, News, The Economy
I am one of your middle class Americans and, quite frankly, I'm exhausted... I'm exhausted of defending you. I'm exhausted of defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for. And I'm deeply disappointed with where we are right now.
I have been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I am one of those people and I'm waiting sir. I'm waiting. I don't feel it yet. And I thought, while it wouldn't be in great measure, I would feel it in some small measure... And quite frankly Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly: Is this my new reality? (Thelightnc.com)
Let's put this into perspective. The woman's comment is reflective of what millions of Americans are experiencing. They are worried about keeping their jobs, their homes and their livelihoods. They are finding that the political reality of running the White House is not nearly as exciting as the idealistic notion of actually taking over the White House. They are also finding that America is ready to elect a black president, but not quite ready to support one.
Former President Jimmy Carter made the issue plain last night on 'Larry King Live.' On the show, Carter said that Obama is being faced with arguably the most divisive Congress since Abraham Lincoln. He acknowledged that race plays a role in how the world deals with Obama, and that the president is handling the situation as best he can. I agree with that assessment completely, and I've always been impressed with Jimmy Carter as an honest and forthright human being.
To that end, our president deserves to be defended. There are those with illegitimate critiques of Obama that reflect nothing more than the lynch mob mentality that has plagued black people since we first arrived on slave ships.
All the while, Obama is not an innocent victim. Our president has chosen to play the game sometimes in ways that hardly any of us would play it. He has sold at least a part of his soul to elitist cronies from Harvard and Yale who care more about buying their next vacation home than taking care of the American people. He has chosen economic advisors who haven't even taken two minutes to acknowledge chronic unemployment in the African American community (which is nearly double the rate for whites). In many ways, the Obama Presidency has most certainly betrayed us, and to that extent, there is nothing to defend.
Is Obama the best president for black America? No, he is not. Is he the best option made available to us? Yes, he is. Is he doing his best to run the White House? Most of the time. The point here is that defending Obama doesn't mean you love him without holding him accountable. But it does mean that we acknowledge the fact that Obama is dealing with something no president has ever had to deal with before, and for that, he should be commended.
Let's be clear: The Obama Presidency has been a disappointment to millions. But we must ask why we feel disappointed. Some of the disappointment can be directly linked to poor choices by the president, who promised more than he could ever possibly deliver. He has also neglected his base, which fails to be inspired enough to return to the polls to support his fellow Democrats in the mid-term elections. At the same time, much of the disappointment must be linked to the racially-charged animosity created by the Tea Party Movement and Right Wing Republicans who refuse to take orders from a black man. Another angle of disappointment comes from the fact that our economy has not been designed to create jobs for the past 20 years, so Obama's quest for job creation is an uphill battle requiring fundamental shifts in how our nation does business.
The final source of blame for our disappointment is ourselves. We expected too much and thought that one man can change 400 years of nasty racial history. We put all of our hope into a political version of the Black Baby Jesus, posting Obama's picture right next to Martin Luther King on our living room walls. We thought he could make life better for us in one swoop, only to find that he plays the game just like any other president. Obama is a great man, but not nearly as great as we'd like to believe. In fact, I bet he's only human.
The bottom line is that the answer to all of Obama's problems lies with the economy. The solution is simple, but difficult to obtain. If Obama reduces the unemployment rate, he will see his support grow among American voters. One question, however, is whether or not his administration will have any incentive whatsoever to help correct the massive wealth loss in the black community that has resulted from this economic storm. When the recession is over, black unemployment will be about as high as white unemployment is right now, we will still have only a fraction of the wealth of white families, and we will still be out of the loop on government contracts and opportunities for small businesses. So, if the first black president doesn't help us to overcome racial inequality, is his victory anything more than symbolic?
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.