Obama's toughest sell for White House bid may be to other blacks by Stephanie Griffith Thu Dec 21, 4:01 AM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - US political darling Barack Obama has received enthusiastic support for a possible 2008 presidential bid -- except from fellow African-Americans, a group many believed would be among his staunchest backers. ADVERTISEMENT In contrast to the effusive reception Obama has received from white Americans, many US blacks so far have been cool, saying that while they may share skin color with Obama, they do not have a common culture or history. "Obama did not -- does not -- share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves," wrote African-American newspaper columnist Stanley Crouch last month in an article entitled "Barack Obama -- Not Black Like Me." Radio host George Wilson, whose nationally-broadcast talk show tests the opinions of a cross-section of African-American listeners, said response to the Illinois senator so far has been "lukewarm." "He's not getting as much of an enthusiastic send-off from black people as he is from whites," Wilson said. Obama draws enormous, mostly white crowds, even though the first presidential primary election is more than a year away, and is he seen as a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. But Crouch said that the first-term US senator -- the bi-racial progeny of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother -- does not share with most American blacks the painful legacy of slavery, repressive Jim Crow laws, and civil rights struggles. "While he has experienced some light versions of typical racial stereotypes, he cannot claim those problems as his own -- nor has he lived the life of a black American," Crouch wrote in his New York Daily News column. "If we then end up with him as our first black president, he will have come into the White House through a side door -- which might, at this point, be the only one that's open." Political analyst Ron Walters said that Obama is a black whom many whites find reassuring, with his Harvard pedigree and law degree rounding out his half-European ancestry. "If you take this in almost anthropological terms, there's a sense in which whites are more comfortable with blacks who they believe reaffirm them," Walters said. He said other whites apparently view Obama not so much as a black trailblazer but as a multicultural figure, with his racially-mixed parentage and childhood spent in Hawaii and Indonesia. African-Americans however, who are are accustomed to leaders who emerge from the civil rights movement, sometimes appear to struggle to relate to Obama. "For some African-Americans, he has not really affirmed their identity. He has affirmed his own mixed identity, but he has not strongly affirmed the right and the claim of African-Americans in this society to equal treatment," said Walters, a professor at the University of Maryland. Others said Obama is simply an unknown figure to many African-Americans who are almost reflexively suspicious. "There's a feeling that if white folks like him so much he must not be good for us. For some blacks it's a turn-off," said Wilson. If he does run, Obama would be the first African-American candidate for president who does not come out of the civil rights movement. US Representative Shirley Chisholm, of New York, was the first African-American to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson was a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. A CNN poll last week found that 60 percent of Americans said they have no reservations about voting for a black president, although experts caution that polls are not always a reliable measure of racial bias. Some wonder whether whites who now are urging him to run will be as enthusiastic in the voting booth. "There are individuals who say one thing publicly, but time and time again has shown that when ... they're in the privacy of the voting booth, they do something else," said Wilson. Despite the adulation he has received from Democrats around the country, some blacks said it will be nearly impossible for Obama to win the White House in 2008 without massive support from the African-American community. "The American population is not ready -- despite of what Barack says -- to have a black man be the president of the United States," Wilson said. "When it's all said and done, if he declares, then he will have to convince African-Americans to support him, and just his color alone is not going to be enough," he said. ---- I am most troubled by the one comment that is bolded. How is that not racism between African Americans? If a white person had written an article titled, "Obama - He's not the same as other blacks," I'm pretty sure it would be labeled as completely racist.... As an aside, this post is in no way meant to offend anyone...
It's like that episode on Seinfield when the dentist converted to judaism just for the jokes. You can only be racist if it's against your own people. I hope that clears some things up for ya.
If his father is Kenyan and his mother is white and he grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia then he doesn't share the heritage of the majority of black Americans. That's not a racist statement.
Umm- it's not racist cause it's true? His father was a Kenyan national who was studying in Hawaii on a short term basis........that's by defintion differnt than African-Americans as we conventionally understand the term, being descendants of africans who were forcefully migrated here due to slavery hundreds of years ago. Not to mention the fact that he was raised by his grandparents, who were white folks from Kansas.
While his ancestors never suffered through slavery, is the Crouch so ignorant that he thinks that black Africans haven't gone through horrible things as well?
Exactly my thoughts when saying that it is racist. Yes, the author is trying to make a true statement, but it is in very slim regards true.
that's not the point. the point he is making is that he doesn't relate to blacks here. which I don't agree with. I think the better point the article makes has more to do with obama not being from the same stock of the jesse jacksons, and al sharptons. that breed is dying out regardless and I don't think blacks won't not take to him because of that. obviously the further we move from the civil rights era, the less of those politicians will be relevant.
It is a good article, and I do agree with your statements. I just felt like I should point the bolded part out because to me, it screamed racism. To other it may not have. Maybe I just don't agree with the guy's point because I feel like regardless of where they ended up, all Africans faced the same hardships - whether it be as a slave in America, an indentured servant somewhere else, or a slave under imperialistic Europe. To me, as an African person (I am not African-American...I'm just plain old German), you would know something like this. Thus, to single the guy out, and not claim him as one of your own, shows either jealousy, frustration of his lack of conformity, or racism. I chose racism. Maybe I was wrong.
I agree. While technically Obama is not from a traditonaly african-american background as we use the term, not sure how much it matters. As a some friends of mine in college said - no matter what your background, whether your 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, half Jamaican, African, whatever - if your skin is black, for all intents and purposes you're treated as black by non-black americans, which is a large part in shaping the cultural experience. Aside from that, Obama lived in the south side of chicago, represented it in the state leg, etc, has wife, kids, -- etc. To say that he doesn't understand blacks is a petty insult, mostly related to jealousy, IMO. I think his dual upbringing is one of his greatest strengths.
this is ridiculous. if the article was about a white or Asian person, there wouldnt even be any discussion. just like when rosie o'donnel mocked the Chinese language , there wasnt any outrage. Its only racist if its about a black person or a jew.
It is racist, but it's black racism, which means it's probably more self-destructive and self-isolating than "oppressive." Why? Because the 12.5% of the population susceptible to it's reasoning have no social, political or economic influence; unlike the 70% of the population who might "believe" white racism. I couldn't help but notice that Obama's degree from Harvard - where the NAACP's founder went to grad school, by the way - was lumped in as part of why he doesn't relate to blacks - well, in that context, he probably doesn't relate to 99% of the population, either. Come to think of it, neither do most potential Presidential candidates. I'm Black, and I'm liberal, but not a black liberal, not with this neurotic self-hating, ignorant bullsh*t.
It is ok to be black it is ok to be liberal but If you a black Liberal . . well .you are some Neurotic Self-hating, ignorant bullsh*tter??? Interesting definition of black Liberal Rocket River . . .sorry but that sounds like some neurotic self hating ignorant bullsh*t
