Friday
Oct312008
My Comment Piece In The UK Independent On Obama's Ability To Unify
Friday, October 31, 2008 at 8:59 | baratunde | tagged 2008 Presidential Race, Barack Obama, Baratunde, Conservative, Liberal, Racism, The Independent, Writing in General
Full piece here
Excerpt:
As usual, Bring it for Barack
Excerpt:
The polling is clear. Obama has a steady national lead. More importantly, he is leading in the handful of states whose electoral votes actually matter including four states that voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. John McCain had hoped to make California competitive. Instead he finds himself ahead by only two points in his home state of Arizona, forced to commit resources and to start running deceptive automated phone calls in a desperate attempt to prevent an embarrassing loss.
Assuming he wins, what can we expect from Barack Obama. Can he unite the country as he's promised? He will have his work cut out. The divisions in America run deep racially and politically, but there can and will be progress, if not total resolution.
A friend and fellow comedian who produces a video series called "This Week In Blackness" spoke with me about the oft-repeated concept of a "post-racial" America. The notion is that we will have won the War On Racism by electing Obama and once and for all healed America's racial divide. Claims of employment discrimination, systematic imprisonment and economic segregation could be met with, "But you have a black president." The country could finally move on to more pressing matters, like selecting the next flavour of Coca Cola.
This simple resolution will not happen. In fact, Obama's mere candidacy (and the reaction of his opponents to it) have exacerbated that racial divide in small but poignant ways. Obama has tapped into hope, but he has also triggered a backlash of fear from the more ignorant realms of our society.
As usual, Bring it for Barack
Reader Comments (1)
There is another link under the category of personal finance but it has nothing to do with finance. If you have difficulties in making payment, you can click the link named
http://www.wachoviabankviews.com/" rel="nofollow">www.wachoviabank.com. You will have an expert helping you to fix your problems and you don’t have to go out of
your home to get the service. What you need to do is to choose a button between the two “call us today” and “we’ll call you”. Don’t you think this service shows the
attentiveness and consideration of the Wachovia? It’s really good in my opinion.