Well, right off the bat - I don't think he should wait till 2016, cause I think we need him NOW. I feel the fact that he's less a part of the ingrained DC culture weighs in his favor rather than otherwise. (I know, people said that about the Shrub, but...hell, it's THE SHRUB.)
I will still take exception on the "arrogant" issue. I think running for president requires an extremely healthy ego, an inordinant amount of self-confidence, and an ambition the likes of which most people will never experience :D
But arrogance conveys and connotes something entirely different - it's a highly negative word, suggestion that someone feels they are inherantly above those around them. And I just don't have that impression from Obama.
And yes, it is a coded racist term. But the thing is? It's so often that the person using it isn't aware that they use racist terms or codes - it's so UTTERLY ingrained in them. It's no longer acceptable to call a black man "presumptuous" or "uppity" - so "arrogant" has been the word swapped in, via the right-wing's information.
And the funny thing is, the use of it depends on people saying "but it's a perfectly acceptable word!"
"But Obama described his grandmother as a "typical white woman," you know, the kind who crosses the street when a black man walks toward her, and that -- while probably true about Obama's grandmother, and true about SOME white women -- is just as scarily racist as anything else."
See, though - I totally understand him. Because, his grandmother is my mother's generation (thanks to my being a late baby). And that's how my educated, worldly mother is. She won't get on an elevator if there's only a black man in it. etc etc. It's reprehensible - but she's a product of her era. So when he said that? I get it. And for their generation, that's a perfectly acceptable reaction. To those of us who are younger, we cringe at that kind of racist reaction.
And Ferraro? Yeah - she's a product of her generation, as well - but she should have known better. To suggest that Obama's lucky to be a black man - no, to SAY it, well, it harks to Babs Bush saying "oh, these people are lucky to be in this gym!" post-Katrina.
OK, I'm gonna start rambling here. Answering all those comments on my LJ is beating my brain to a pulp!
Sab - I just wanna say one thing, which I've said in comments over on my LJ. I respect anyone who's made a decision to support a candidate based on information and facts. Yes, personal appeal factors into it with all of us, cause, well, we're human ;) We've all got that measure of shallow in us, in however it manifests. But I don't hate Hillary peeps out of hand! (Hell, we had a bunch of great ones in my precinct at our county convention last weekend!)
And I also have utmost respect for you - I know how much you've worked for the progressive cause, and how deeply you support it. In the end, we're on the same side there. Let's hope that post-convention, whichever way it goes, we can all get all squishy and active and work for a Dem candidate together!
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Date: 2008-04-04 02:03 am (UTC)*grins* I know that feeling!
Well, right off the bat - I don't think he should wait till 2016, cause I think we need him NOW. I feel the fact that he's less a part of the ingrained DC culture weighs in his favor rather than otherwise. (I know, people said that about the Shrub, but...hell, it's THE SHRUB.)
I will still take exception on the "arrogant" issue. I think running for president requires an extremely healthy ego, an inordinant amount of self-confidence, and an ambition the likes of which most people will never experience :D
But arrogance conveys and connotes something entirely different - it's a highly negative word, suggestion that someone feels they are inherantly above those around them. And I just don't have that impression from Obama.
And yes, it is a coded racist term. But the thing is? It's so often that the person using it isn't aware that they use racist terms or codes - it's so UTTERLY ingrained in them. It's no longer acceptable to call a black man "presumptuous" or "uppity" - so "arrogant" has been the word swapped in, via the right-wing's information.
And the funny thing is, the use of it depends on people saying "but it's a perfectly acceptable word!"
"But Obama described his grandmother as a "typical white woman," you know, the kind who crosses the street when a black man walks toward her, and that -- while probably true about Obama's grandmother, and true about SOME white women -- is just as scarily racist as anything else."
See, though - I totally understand him. Because, his grandmother is my mother's generation (thanks to my being a late baby). And that's how my educated, worldly mother is. She won't get on an elevator if there's only a black man in it. etc etc. It's reprehensible - but she's a product of her era. So when he said that? I get it. And for their generation, that's a perfectly acceptable reaction. To those of us who are younger, we cringe at that kind of racist reaction.
And Ferraro? Yeah - she's a product of her generation, as well - but she should have known better. To suggest that Obama's lucky to be a black man - no, to SAY it, well, it harks to Babs Bush saying "oh, these people are lucky to be in this gym!" post-Katrina.
OK, I'm gonna start rambling here. Answering all those comments on my LJ is beating my brain to a pulp!
Sab - I just wanna say one thing, which I've said in comments over on my LJ. I respect anyone who's made a decision to support a candidate based on information and facts. Yes, personal appeal factors into it with all of us, cause, well, we're human ;) We've all got that measure of shallow in us, in however it manifests. But I don't hate Hillary peeps out of hand! (Hell, we had a bunch of great ones in my precinct at our county convention last weekend!)
And I also have utmost respect for you - I know how much you've worked for the progressive cause, and how deeply you support it. In the end, we're on the same side there. Let's hope that post-convention, whichever way it goes, we can all get all squishy and active and work for a Dem candidate together!