TheAgitator.com
President Barack Obama
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008Whether or not you agree with his policies (and I mostly don’t), this country has in one generation gone from Jim Crow to overwhelmingly electing a black president.
We’ll start fighting about policy soon enough. Tonight, we took a huge step toward putting race behind us. It’s something to be proud of.
Well said, Radly. Very well said. You’ve summed up exactly how I feel. I disagree with Obama as much as you do. Yet right now, it’s very difficult for me to not feel extremely emotional. I love my country, but tonight that pride is especially strong. Whatever the future may hold, I will never forget tonight and I’m grateful I am able to experience.
“Tonight, we took a huge step toward putting race behind us.”
I’d feel better about that if all the people endorsing the black candidate did so because of his policies. But I guess progress requires some comprises.
Obama will not be any worse than Bush was…
And YES, it is something to be proud of that the USA has progressed from slavery, segregation, etc. to having a black president in such a short period of time.
At least I am proud of tonight’s outcome. Good job, USA!
Sorry…my #3 comment was in response to the original #1 comment, which apparently was deleted/censored.
Yay. The second coming of Lyndon Johnson is upon us.
The only thing left to decide is just how bad the next two years are going to be.
We will be more taxed, government will spend even more money (which is almost incomprehensible), we will be more regulated, and probably greatly impoverished by silly meddling in the economy. And for all of that we’re supposed to be proud because the chief architect of the forthcoming disaster will be black rather than white?
Forgive me for disagreeing with your assessment.
The very FACT that one might consider the president elect’s race as significant is evidence that we have not put race behind us because people continue taking cognizance of race.
On the other hand, whether McCain or Obama had won, we were still well and truly fucked, so what does it matter?
What John Jenkins said. How on earth is the fact that this guy is black supposed to make the impending socialist disaster better?
To paraphrase Will Rogers, Let’s just hope we don’t get all the Government we are gonna pay for.
“How on earth is the fact that this guy is black supposed to make the impending socialist disaster better?”
To purposefully misparaphrase a wise man, “salve the liberal guilt burning your own belly before voting based on a candidate’s platform.”
Impending socialist disaster? What fantasy land do you live in? I too disagree with many of President Obama’s articulated and implied positions, but grow up. Seriously. He’ll be very similar to presidents of the past, because that’s what the American people prefer – the comfortable and familiar.
Well and truly fucked? And what are we now? How could he possibly do worse than the chimp in chief we have now, or his cronies, who let it all go on. Whatever President Obama’s shortcomings, we should maintain a little perspective here.
I think your post was magnanimous. Putting race behind us in this manner is something to be proud of. Incidentally, I supported Barrack Obama waaaay back in 2007 and it was not because of race (that was just a nice bonus). I supported Obama because of his support for net neutrality, the burgeoning green economy and his support for universal health care, all of which are policies.
FTFY.
It’ll be interesting to see what the stock market does tomorrow.
And yet every anti-gay measure has passed …
@ #9 We can do worse than what we have now, because what we have now is a President who can’t do anything because he doesn’t have any popular support and his party does not have control of the legislature.
We are well and truly fucked because both Obama and McCain wanted to expand state power, not contract it. Since the power of the federal government is right now probably at its highest mark in history, electing either of them was going to be bad, but I believe that Obama will be significantly worse, not because of any particular attribute of his (shortcomings or otherwise), but because as a result of his election, the House, Senate and White House are all in the same hands. Hands that are anti-free trade and pro-economic-interventionism, and that, oh by the way, will not be getting us out of Iraq and Afghanistan any time soon, and are happily willing to continue military adventurism overseas.
I don’t think I need to “get some perspective here.” I think I understand quite clearly what’s going to happen. The only issue, as I said, is how bad will it be.
@ #12: If you believe in efficient capital markets, there should be no particularly pronounced movement. Since early October Obama’s election has been virtually assured, so the markets should have incorporated that information into the prices already.
Now if only we could put sexual preference behind us. But no, it looks like Prop 8 will pass in CA and we will codify discrimination in the state constitution.
If “we’ve truly moved beyond race”, then no one would be making such a big deal about the US’ first dark-skinned president.
Why are whites the only ones supposed to “get past race”? The blacks and the Hispanics both look out for their own first.
I see electing a black president as a good sign for the country. I couldn’t help but grin as he started his speech, even as I was noting which parts I disagreed with, of which there were a lot.
Today, instead of a big government protestant white straight man, we elected a big government black protestant straight man. It’s a step. I hope it means the next candidate who has good ideas will be viable regardless of his race.
The press gave him so much too. NBC is going to have to wipe its chin after its coverage of his acceptance speech. Not that he wasn’t a strong candidate anyway, but how would he have held up to the level of skepticism heaped on McCain, or even Hillary?
Why are whites the only ones supposed to “get past race”? The blacks and the Hispanics both look out for their own first.
I must have missed the part of American history where black people enslaved white people. Or made them attend different schools, or drink out of dirty water fountains, or turned fire hoses on them, or hung them from trees.
Black people have been voting for white presidents for decades. Tonight showed that white people could vote a black man president.
Hey stranger…well said Radley. Should be an interesting couple of years until the next revolution in two years when the American public hand Congress back to the Repubs…procided they find their conservative roots.
Radley, white people didn’t vote a black man president. Obama only got 40-something percent of the white vote.
Tonight, we took a huge step toward putting race behind us.
…
Tonight showed that white people could vote a black man president.
It would be easier to understand your sentiments if the exit polls weren’t showing overwhelmingly that the folks who considered race a huge factor in deciding their vote went Obama and the folks who did not consider race a huge factor in deciding their vote went McCain. ‘Course, they all could be lyin’ skunks, but the information we’ve got is the information we’ve got.
I didn’t consider race at all and went Barr.
Yay a spiral of socialist policies.
I just can’t wait for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Or massive subsidies to absurd “green” energy production.
Or major restrictions of our gun rights.
I am not happy about the results. Of course the only result I would have been happy with is Ron Paul.
I hope you all are happy with what you voted for today, because sometimes you get what you ask for and suddenly realize it isn’t what you wanted.
If it was about race, then what of Sunnunu and Dole losing? And, how does one explain Obama winning Indiana while Mitch Daniels wins re-election as Indiana governor as a republican?
Radley, I respectfully disagree with you, primarily because President-elect Obama does not share in any of the history that you listed (slavery, segregation, civil rights, lynching, etc.)
The day we elect a man who has grown up in a small town in Mississippi, who attended a small state college, and who can trace his lineage back to a sharecropper and, before that, a slave, THAT will be a historic day for America.
John Jenkins @ #14
I think perhaps that you misunderstand me. However, to be fair, I did ask you what fantasy land you lived in. So I withdraw the fantasy land comment – that was unfair, and mostly directed at the commenter #6. That being said…
One party government is bad, in this I agree with you. However, I cannot countenance the election of a man who chooses Sarah Palin as a running mate… and likely future President. However much I disagreed with Senator McCain, and however much I thought he sold his soul with his campaign tactics and horrific flip-flopping, all of this pales next to the specter of a President Palin. Furthermore, the Republicans had one party rule from 2000 through 2006 (arguably 2008, given the spinelessness of the Democrats), and they brough it all upon themselves. They earned those losses. Senator Obama, for all of his shortcomings, ran a better, more positive campaign. To me, at least, he appeared to be better schooled in virtually every area, even those where I disagree with him. He has a better slate of advisors, is more popular abroad, and has a better academic record. Senator McCain has served his country well, but being captured by the enemy is not an endorsement I give much credence to, particularly in his case. I believe that Senator McCain has benefitted from family connections, that he is fickle in his allegiances and affections, and that he has little self-control, and, quite frankly, that he is likely to die soon given his age and medical history. Even if it leads to a one party government, I believe that of the two likely choices that Senator Obama is the better candidate, and he should not be punished because the Republicans screwed up. So the Democrats own the House and the Senate. Should we give McCain the Presidency just because? I think not. Both parties are anti-free trade and pro-economic-interventionism, the only question is on whose behalf they will act. The GOP had its chance, and they screwed it up. Maybe the Dems will be just as bad. I don’t think so, but even if you do, they earned their chance (mostly through Republican failure, so no kudos there).
As far as perspective, well… we survived Bush, barely, and I still don’t see Obama doing worse than that. I just don’t.
Thanks Radley. Well said. Tonight I sit here in Central Illinois raising a pint, and appreciating a moment of progress occurring right before my eyes. I’ll start taking the president-elect to task over policy soon enough. Congratulations Barrack! Now will you get the feds away from drug policy already!!!
Now if only we could put sexual preference behind us. But no, it looks like Prop 8 will pass in CA and we will codify discrimination in the state constitution.
In the entire history of the World, how many societies of non-trivial size (say, over 1,000 people) have survived for a non-trivial duration (say, 100 years) without recognizing that a marriage must contain exactly one male? I think there’s a small society in the Himalayas that does not, but that’s about it. Why do 99% of successful societies have that requirement, if it isn’t a good one?
//And YES, it is something to be proud of that the USA has progressed from slavery, segregation, etc. to having a black president in such a short period of time.//
If someone like Thomas Sowell had been elected, I would have considered that indeed something to be proud of. Obama, however, is 50% black and 100% red.
In the entire history of the World, how many societies of non-trivial size (say, over 1,000 people) have survived for a non-trivial duration (say, 100 years) without recognizing that a marriage must contain exactly one male? I think there’s a small society in the Himalayas that does not, but that’s about it. Why do 99% of successful societies have that requirement, if it isn’t a good one?
99% of unsuccessful societies also had that requirement.
[...] positive note from Radley Balko: Whether or not you agree with his policies (and I mostly don’t), this country has in one [...]
I really didn’t realize how big of a racial deal this was until I got the random text today that said something about ‘Bad news… Obama is leading. Good news… that will change when the white people get off work.’ I’ve been surprised and disappointed by some of my acquaintances. It’s embarrassing.
Hopefully, Obama can help minorities believe in themselves, so they know they’re at least equal with all. With people like Obama, Jackie Robinson, Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, Morgan Freeman, etc- surely people can see that African-Americans are frequently at the top of the heap- everyone’s looking up to these individuals.
But, one of the problems I have with Obama is his redistribution philosophy- it’s only going to make more people feel they can’t make it without some kind of govt. cheese. To me, it looks like more affirmative action programs holding people back…
If I was voting again, I’d still vote for Barr.
With all due respect, this election isn’t evidence that we’ve put race behind us. When we have an election when the race of the candidate who wins or loses isn’t something to be proud of or ashamed of, that will be some evidence of having put race behind us. The fact that the issue is front and center is evidence that it is not behind us.
And, I’m not trying to be a wet blanket. Maybe it’s nice that we can mark off one of the demographic checkboxes on the presidential census form. I’m just saying we will have arrived when the box itself isn’t there, not when we are still checking it off.
Obama is far more an Arabic man than he is a black man. And for those that don’t understand, black/white/asian/etc. are NOT races, they are ethnicities. We are all from the HUMAN race.
Per ritual I’m extremely drunk.
1) I’ve expressed serious doubt about Obama’s centrist creds in these comments. Tonight is not the night to pile on. We have a new President. Some may like him, some may not, most are probably angry adolescent douches who hate everything, but for the next two months we can be proud of our country. We can be proud of electing a (half) black President only 4.5 decades after the CRA, and we should be proud that he’s a smart, charismatic leader who, regardless of his race, deserves his new title.
2) I have this obsession with going to really out-of-the-way redneck bars. Because of certain unfortunate famlial circumstances I had a great opportunity tonight. This is what I have to report: the crackers Radley described earlier universally said the same thing to me, “Well he’s our President. We’ll see how he does.” I have no doubt they’ll hate him sooner than later, but this really accepting attitude surprised even me, a racism skeptic.
3) I’m fucking pissed. My beloved (Devil) Rays got beat by a city full of sociopathic terrorists. Alabama is now ranked #1 so I have an inbox full of “Saban is the second coming of Bear Bryant” messages. Stay away, creeps. Now I have to deal with fugly, hairy chicks burning their bras and pasty white dudes preachnig about Hope and Change. WTF did I do to you, God. Please give me a message, so I can make it all stop.
How is Obama far more Arabic than black? His father was a Luo from Kenya, about as African as you can get, and his mother was white. He doesn’t have a drop of Arabic blood in him.
I can’t tell the difference between socialism that leans mildly left and socialism that leans mildly right, so it hard for me to grasp the Obama = socialist catastrophe concept. McCain’s economic ideas (where he has any) are infantile and his social engineering is statist. We had one-party rule for the first 6 of Bushtopia, it got us in a big spending mess and mismanaged wars. But none of it required us to disband as a country.
I think what Radley meant is that its nice to see that as a country we CAN have a non-white president elect. I had doubts that it was possible. My pragmatic side figured that it would require a Spanish-heritage candidate and a few more years of population shift.
If you want to move past the media moment and discuss the how’s and why’s, you have to acknowledge that 80-90% of the ‘black’ vote went for Obama. That is as racist as the 40% of the white vote who came out just to vote against the black guy.
And to all the republicans who only focus on the black unanimity, please take a look at our party. So many people pray on the altar of St. Reagan. Well, Ronnie’s biggest ally was Margaret Thatcher; they were kindred spirits in domestic reform and foreign affairs. Yet every time a strong woman candidate emerges, the Kristol-elite trash her and the Dobson-fundamentalist slander her. Maybe we haven’t had the right candidate, but it’s getting harder to prove our motives.
“It’s something to be proud of.”
It most certainly is not. Not to me.
The collectivist premise in action in all this is just horrifying to anyone with sense enough to see through it, and the idea that any adult person would — for any reasons whatever — take personal validation just because someone with their own skin color is sitting in the White House is monstrously pathetic.
Let’s look this thing seriously in the eye, okay?
This is a complete disaster.
“I must have missed the part of American history where black people enslaved white people. Or made them attend different schools, or drink out of dirty water fountains, or turned fire hoses on them, or hung them from trees.”
Put your snark away, Radley, and face the fact that I never did any of those things, and neither did you.
Now, you can wear that un-earned guilt around if you want to, but I will not have it because it’s not true and your smear-eyed anti-thought will never make it true.
We have NOT put race behind us. I predict that most everything will be framed in the race issue. Disagree with the government and you’re a racist. Just like in the early 1950s: disagree with Washington, you were a communist.
#26: why do we have to bother with blood lines in the first place? To me, tracing a black back to the days of slavery so that he is somehow “authentic” is as offensive as “Oh, he is from one of the finest families on Beacon Hill”. It is nothing more than elitism.
Did I vote against Obama? You bet I did. Then again, I judge people by, among other things, the company they keep. Obama’s choices run counter to my survival as a businessman, as a homeowner, a gun-rights supporter, and as a Jew.
I’d vote for a black, certainly. And I would not be paying attention to bloodlines. It would be HIM I would pay attention to.
“Tonight, we took a huge step toward putting race behind us. ”
Says the white guilt ridden apologist. I say BULLLLLLL shIIIIIIIIit! Watch the black community and how they act tomorrow. For most of them this is a bigger victory than OJ getting off for offing his white x wife!
The biggest step whites took toward to putting race behind us was the passage of the civil rights act and that was about when you were born, 1964!
“I must have missed the part of American history where black people enslaved white people. Or made them attend different schools, or drink out of dirty water fountains, or turned fire hoses on them, or hung them from trees.”
I think by your age you indeed did miss this valuable personal experience. Having traveled recently thorough the south, the water fountains are still dirty.
Any excuses for having a black caucus? Black only universities? How about giving the job to a person ONLY because of skin color?
Yes I missed all the above too, though at least current news images of my youth did bring them to my awareness.
I realize that discrimination exists today in this country, some whites are assholes, and those of other races are as bad or worse. Happens every day in too many ways, but it does happen and it will not go away tomorrow just because we have a bi-racial headed for the white house.
The real question that every one of us should be asking is why out of over 300 million people, the two could possibly be considered the best!
BTW Bob got my vote and such was never an intention of mine. I could not alter where UT would vote, so I figure building numbers for the libs could not hurt.
“…we took a huge step toward putting race behind us.”
If only that were the case. The wingnut “Obama’s a Muslim” crowd won’t forget that Obama’s black. Race-baiters — I’m sorry, civil rights activists — like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be getting more attention now and they will denounce any criticism of Obama and his policies as racist.
Now that Obama’s president the economy and the war are his babies. He didn’t create the mess we’re in, but he will be blamed if things don’t get better. (The outlook is not good.)
We’re likely to be more polarized than ever.
Is race really behind us? I’d wager than a good portion of Obama and McCain supporters voted for their candidate based on skin color. For the black guy, against the black guy, it’d doesn’t matter, it’s racism, period. It could turn out that half of votes cast were tainted by race, is racism behind us?
And the fact that people all over the country are gushing over the first Black president is all the more evidence that racism is NOT behind us.
Everybody keeps talking about race. Whatever. Let’s talk economics.
Welcome to the dictatorship of the proletariat, comrades!
Just like “Mein Kampf” spelled out the core-belief system of future Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, “Dreams from my Father” spelled out the core-belief system of a polished Saul Alinsky disciple, race-hustler Barack H. Obama.
His first autobiography was ALL about race. When in fact Obama is not even an authentican African-American. He’s an American-African heritage.
Once he decided that Affirmative Action set-asides would open every door for him, he embraced being an African-American.
He freely DECIDED to become a part of the Chicago South Side African-American “Community” as a segue into the Chicago Political Machine power structure. Standing arm-in-arm beside Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, and Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones. And, less we forget, his Spiritual Mentor the ranting Reverand Jeremiah Wright.
Nov. 4, 2008: A sad, sad day for America.
Awesome! Does this mean we get to go back to oppressing women?
Yes, we’ve hit this milestone thanks to institutional racism!
Reminder: Mr. Obama is no more black than he is white. He is multiracial, not that it matters…
Sorry, I guess I’m just a wet blanket (or a racist?), but I just can’t jump on the bandwagon and feel good about electing a socialist simply because he happens to be black.
Wow. Lotta angry white dudes out this morning.
Most of these race comments are at this point simply amusing!
To try to say, NO this is no progress on moving past race because we are making mention of race is missing the point.
The point is that ENOUGH people voted for a black (or half black…whatever) man to soundly beat down the stereotypical rich white man that’s been our president for oh so many years.
Who cares of “only” 40% of whites voted for Obama! Can’t you see…..FORTY PERCENT OF WHITES voted for Obama! THAT is something to be proud of for those people that didn’t simply vote for Obama BECAUSE he was black.
We will NEVER, or at least not for many many more election cycles, be at a point where we don’t comment on a non-white being elected, because there will ALWAYS be a fair amount of white supremacy complex floating around in the USA.
I suppose we’ll never know how many people primarily voted FOR Obama because he was black, or FOR McCain because he was NOT black, but I think we can all agree that it would all have been moot 20 years ago because there is no way that Obama would have won then, but he did now. THAT does show progress because it wasn’t simply that now blacks are the majority in the USA.
Congratulations, Obama… I hope you make me proud. Things are still gonna be crappy, but hopefully not as crappy as they would have been with another 4 or 8 years of Bush/Cheney types.
When 95% of African-Americans vote for a White candidate vs. a Black candidate, then I’ll know that America has moved beyond race.
I ask you, based on yesterday’s election, WHO are the racists?
The 95% of Blacks that vote for Obama because they think he is Black?
Or, the 60% of Whites who voted for McCain because they thought he would make a better President and Commander in Chief?
Where’s the Racism? Obama’s core constituency should just look in the mirror.
I ask you, based on yesterday’s election, WHO are the racists?
The 95% of Blacks that vote for Obama because they think he is Black?
Uh, historically, 90+ percent of blacks have voted Democrat for president when when the Democratic nominee was white. That may be unhealthy and knee-jerk, but it isn’t racist. Obama’s percentage of the black vote had much, much more to do with his policies than with his skin color.
If the GOP had run Ken Blackwell or, as some here have suggested, Thomas Sowell.
Obama’s race is why many were weeping and celebrating last night. But his policies are why blacks voted for him.
Well said – but I have one question: Would all this talk about “putting race behind us”, and all of the unending adulation still be out there if we had elected a Condi Rice?
Think (carefully) about it before you answer……
Mccain could have won simply by voting against the bailout bill. This would have fit his campaign promises to freeze spending and veto pork. He could have gone into the debates making comparisons of how George Bush and Obama have the same policies and simply spouted off any wasteful item in that bill (wooden arrows anyone?). Then he could close with references to how elitist obama wants to bailout rich wallstreet guys with money from poor mainstreeters. Unfortunately for him he tried to hedge his bets by not making a stand. If he couldn’t win with policy he certainly wasn’t going to win with personality.
“Obama’s race is why many were weeping and celebrating last night.”
Which is exactly why it’s preposterous to say that we’ve put race behind us.
Well since he is such a socialist and borderline communist and he won does that mean the country has now embraced socialism & communism?
I don’t know if Obama is going to prove to be nothing short of socialist or not, but with supporters like this it is going to be hard to fight, lol.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION CHIEF JOSE MANUEL BARROSO ON OBAMA’S WIN
“This is a time for a renewed commitment between Europe and the United States of America. We need to change the current crisis into a new opportunity. We need a new deal for a new world.
“I sincerely hope that with the leadership of President Obama, the United States of America will join forces with Europe to drive this new deal – for the benefit of our societies, for the benefit of the world.”
Which is exactly why it’s preposterous to say that we’ve put race behind us.
I didn’t say we’ve put it behind us. I said we’ve taken a big step in that direction.
Jesus. Older blacks have seen dogs and water hoses turned on civil rights protesters. They’ve lived through segregation, beatings, bombings, lynchings, and a justice system perpetually weighted against them.
I find it amazing that you can’t even grant them the moment, here. To let them enjoy the sight of a black American president, when a generation ago, many blacks couldn’t even cast a vote without fear of violent retaliation.
Obama’s race is why many were weeping and celebrating last night. But his policies are why blacks voted for him.
So you’re saying that 95% of blacks are socialists?
I think, Radley, that you’re missing that most of us who are your audiance here don’t think the way even our fathers did, let alone our great-frandfathers. Race never entered into the equation for me. Not even remotely a consideration. Unfortunately, what was lost in the race of the candidate were his policies. And when anyone tried to discuss those, for the most part they were just labeled racists.
Unfortunately, what was lost in the race of the candidate were his policies. And when anyone tried to discuss those, for the most part they were just labeled racists.
No one ever claled you a racist for opposing one of Obamas policies.
Whiny white dudes who invent stories of persecution are so pathetic.
Get someone to change your diaper.
I must have been watching a different campaign.
I agree with the sentiment, but the facts don’t fit the description of the victory as “overwhelming.” Yes, Obama got a higher percentage of the vote than any Democrat since LBJ, but this was not a huge victory in historical terms. Unless you think, say, a high school basketball game whose final score is 52-47 counts as an “overwhelming” victory for the winner.
LBJ, Reagan, FDR — now those were overwhelming victories.
What about this are we supposed to feel proud of? So a black guy is going to be the new king of the free world because he got the most checkmarks yesterday. So a person that would have been violently oppressed a generation ago gets to be a violent oppressor today. Is that a step forward? Is it really?
race is big. you can’t “put it behind you” by just electing a black man; it will still be discussed. and its reasonable to discuss it.
lets put some less serious spin on it; when the red sox won the world series in 2004, it didn’t put the curse-of-the-bambino behind them; the win was always talked about it in context of the curse.
it wasn’t until they won again in 2007 that the win became common place and therefore not worth talking about.
lets leave it for what it is. there is no collective guilt to assuage.
and at least he won it without affirmative action
“I find it amazing that you can’t even grant them the moment, here. To let them enjoy the sight of a black American president, when a generation ago, many blacks couldn’t even cast a vote without fear of violent retaliation.”
That’s a non-sequitur and you know it. It’s not within my power to grant or not grant anyone any moment. If they choose to revel in the fact that the president is black, so be it.
I think they would be better off reveling in the facts that, unlike their parents (or maybe grandparents), they can vote, own property, go to the mall, sit at any table they damn well please, and go wherever they want without the vile specter of state-sponsored racism lording over them.
Yup, and now those of us that believe in individualism get to have our doors kicked in by Federally funded thugs because we don’t fit his idea for a “better society”. I’m placing my order for my AR-15 this week. Let them try that retroactive gun ban.
And what about the reports of the Black Panthers keeping whites from voting eh?
We’ve not moved beyond race.
And I say this as a pure blood capitalist, I don’t care about white, black, yellow, red, or any other “color” associated ethnicity, I care about green. I care about wealth.
Proud. That is all.
‘Obama’s race is why many were weeping and celebrating last night. But his policies are why blacks voted for him.’
I believe Obama won because he’s running against the weakest incumbent/opponent he could’ve hoped for, he’s a very good speaker, he’s good looking, and democrats think he’s the ghost of Kennedy.
Too many uneducated voters out there being guided to the polls by ACORN, rock stars, etc to have me believe they were voting for his policies.
The only policy many people seem to know is his policy of ‘change’.
Regardless of his race, he was clearly a better candidate than McCain and he deserved to win based on that, not his race.
Congratulations to Barack and I wish him the best of luck on a successful presidency,
Thousands of gay Californians just learning that their marriages may very well be over:
“How did this happen? We voted for the Democrats! WE VOTED FOR THE DEMOCRATS!”
To which thousands of minority voters reply:
“So did we.”
Gotta love that first black president!
Finally !!
Now the Republicans can demand an end to affirmative action and talks of reparations. Obviously, with the overwhelming election of a black president — the playing field has finally been proved to be level.
OK people, there is nothing to see here, lets just move along.
TJ
Everyone that even remarks that by electing Obama we have put racism behind us is a closest racist. We elected another man as president. If one views him as a payoff for the past, as a fix for the wrongs, one is a racist. Noting his differences only reinforces racism.
Want racism behind you? Then look at people as people, not skin colors or ethnicity.
Wow… incredible.
I believe I am on the same page as Radley here and can’t believe the warped perspective many of you are bringing to this simple post!
Nobody is claiming that racism is behind us (that is obvious by these postings)! But to say that there is nothing in an Obama win to be proud of with regards to the progress made in the area of race and discrimination is just simply asinine. And the reason being given that “because we’re mentioning race” there is nothing to be proud of because we’re obviously “not past it”….
C’MON! So we couldn’t be proud of desegregation because we were mentioning race? Couldn’t be proud of women gaining the right to vote because we mentioned that it was women?
I think it is those of you that get upset reading about the first black president and claim that it’s wrong because we’re labeling him as “black” have a race issue that needs analyzed! But hey, we didn’t comment on GWB being WHITE and making a big deal of it… of course not, because he was the FORTY-SECOND white man IN A ROW!
FIRSTS of their kind ARE SIGNIFICANT in that THEY ARE FIRSTS OF THEIR KIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why do some of you want to refuse to acknowledge that just because it is the first BLACK…yes, GET USED TO THE IDEA… BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!?!!
Agreed. I was listening to NPR on the way back from San Francisco (to party) and several of the callers during the morning just called to their story of racism in the US, and how much this meant to them. The conviction in their voices had me tearing me.
Be as cynical as you want: Barack Obama is living proof of the American dream. If a biracial, single parent kid from Hawaii can be President, then so can you.
@ 48, I laughed so fucking hard at that comment I almost crapped my pants. We’re so concerned about putting race behind us that we forgot we still have sexism to look forward to!
Some of us are proud of what happened last night, some of us are ashamed. Either way, things are far from ideal. Like so many other commentators above, I can’t get excited about a huge step forward in race relations when it is offset by a huge step back in individual liberty.
Before Obama is anything, he is a politician. All politicans look the same on the inside. They are souless, twisted and evil. Why would anyone be excited about the first african american tyrant or the first female tyrant or the first gay tyrant?
But I will say this so as not to be completely cynical. People could have voted for Cynthia McKinney and she would have covered the first female and first african american president all in one go. But thankfully, we didn’t do that. And although I disagree with Obama more that I agree with him, the same goes for McCain. Would we really be in a better situation with McCain? I think not. All things considered, we could’ve done worse. We can predict all kinds of doom in the future because of the next president, but it won’t be worse than the doom of the last 8. I get some solace from that.
I’m just saddened that with 300+ million citizens in the USA, these two clowns were the best the two party system had to offer. What a choice, a RINO or a Marxist. I’m not proud, I’m disgusted.
“Tonight, we took a huge step toward putting race behind us.”
Apologies if anyone else posted this, but …
we took a huge step toward putting race behind us by focusing on race?
I’m not following you, Radley.
It appears the people most surprised by our electing a black man are the ones whose abysmal opinion of Americans holds them to be a bunch of raving, closeted racists.
I’m reminded of Halle Berry’s self-serving Oscar acceptance speech from several years back. She gushed about how the award represented a truly important milestone in the history of cinema, how the industry had finally acquired the courage to break down an enormous barrier.
However, I don’t believe the award was presented to a race. It was awarded to a performance given by an individual actress during the right year against the right competition. I feel the same applies to Obama’s win. America would have done this years ago if the right candidate (who happened to be black) had come along…
Have you never looked in a rear-view mirror?
What he means is, the race of the next black present won’t be given a second thought.
Well, John, the DJIA dropped 486 points today – the biggest post-election drop in history. We know what Wall Street thinks of Obama…
[...] semi-libertarian Radley Balko’s commentary on President-elect Obama’s achievement: Tonight, we took a huge step toward putting race [...]
the significance of the election of an African American is huge to most people, despite the fact that his views are immensely troubling.
I think many people felt that race was a much smaller issue in America than it is often made to be, and that the nation is not racist in nature. There is still a too much racism out there on both sides of the aisle and among all races, but the country has moved way beyond the problems of the past. We have had African Americans at the top levels of the government, entertainment, business, and sports, and we all cheered them on. A great number of Americans were born well after the civil rights movement of the 60s and cannot even begin to fathom how our society could have conducted itself in that manner.
I wish the candidate that inspired the country this week had a different set of beliefs, but aside from that, it is a very important positive step in our history.