Obama cannot seem to do anything right by the standards of some.
No matter what he does (even when he does what they want him to do) he still gets it wrong.
After the jump...
I guess the thing that bothers me is that Obama is clearly making sense on so many levels and yet some people still do not seem to get it.
Some folk are just so blinded by their partisanship that they cannot give credit where it is due no matter what.
If Obama comes across as confident he is acting to Presidential and being arrogant and full of himself; if Obama speaks haltingly in order to choose his words carefully he is stumbling or cannot speak without a teleprompter; if Obama takes things to seriously he does not have a sense of humor; if Obama dresses in suits he does not know how to relax; he dresses in khakis he is too relaxed; if he stands up for what he believes in regardless to what both sides might think he is running to the center; he runs to the center he is a flip-flopper; if he does not he is stubborn; if he stands up to Gen P and declares that he will set the policy as commander in chief he is throwing Gen P under the bus; if he agrees with him he is betraying the democratic cause. The guy cannot catch a break!
I have to say this is so familiar to black folk who are in positions of power in their jobs. My husband gets this on a daily basis at his job. He has to be 200% on target, or more, everyday and everytime. He is the only black guy in a high position in his field in his office. He feels the pressure from outside and from within himself. It is as if he is always being watched and judged on everything. The minute he gets one thing wrong in a sea of getting most things right he is slammed for it and all the right things he did are forgotten. Yet, he sees other folk who are white get breaks time and time again and keep their jobs even when they make mistakes over and over again. He has to cover his ass by making sure he forwards the insubordinate emails to his boss before the person goes to his boss with a complaint. Some of them go behind his back and complain about his management style. Fortunately, he now has an excellent boss who backs up his decisions and has told some of these people that they have to follow his guidance and not always try to overstep or undermine it.
One person even said to his face:
'i am sorry but i do not know what it is like to work with a black person.'
My husband came home and told me about this and said he wondered how it would be received if he had walked up to a white person and said,
'i am sorry i don not know what it is like to work with a white person.'
He just acted as if he did not hear what the person said but he was totally taken aback by this and thought to himself that these people just do not get it.
Obama must be thinking the same thing to himself. Everyday we black folk who are doing it for ourselves and not looking for handouts (as some seem to think most black folk do) face the conundrum Obama is facing. We are damned if we do and if we don't and we are constantly underestimated. I believe this is why there is such a shock at Obama getting this far. He was not expected to because he is black and there was no way a black could ever be President. The color of our skin as a black race seems to blind some to the fact that we are also human beings who have the same drive, desires, wishes, dreams and aspirations as those with lighter skin and that, yes, we sometimes have the brains to actually succeed at what we do.
If we appear confident we are called arrogant; if we are assertive it is seen as being aggressive or angry; if we speak up for ourselves we are being uppity; if we only hang out with black friends we are too militant; if we have white friends we are sellouts; if we speak proper english we are trying to be white; if we speak bad english we need educating; if we live in the suburbs we are not sticking to our roots; if we live in the urban areas we are not living in the real world!
Man we get it from all sides and we hear it from all sides including our own side. There comes a time when we just have to do what is right for us as individuals, as Americans and as human beings. If we allow ourselves to be buffeted by the opinions of those outside of us we will never get ahead. We just have to keep our heads and our hearts up and look forward to the future without feeling embarassed or intimidated.
Obama, I am sure, has seen it all and he is doing what he thinks is right and I am glad he is. We black folk who have had the audacity to think we can take a piece of this American pie by getting educated and foraging into positions of power originally only craved out for whites must hold our heads up high. We must continue to believe in ourselves and in our hopes and in our dreams and not be railroaded by outside influences that want us to stay in our place.
Obama has it right and I am glad he is confident and strong enough to stand up and take all that the haters have to dish out.
I and people like me who get it should be more and more proud of him everyday.