I am normally a fan of Fineman's electoral and political insight, but his most recent article is a pathetic attempt to brush away the daily TEST that is being a minority in America.
Link to Howard Fineman's latest piece: Obama and the Echoes of Lincoln
More after jump...
His article attempts to compare the 'trials' of Lincoln to the 'trials' of Obama. Problem is that Fineman uses Lincoln's trials to define the word 'trials.' He also ignores the impact and environment of the 'times.' This is not 1859. He further ignores the effect of keeping generations of races from achievement, literacy, health and on.
What testing, what true testing, has Obama ever faced besides eschewing a high-paying job out of Harvard Law School? To be blunt, his trials are a lot less Malcolm X than Obama’s autobiography has made it seem. The psychological strain of being a mixed race youth in Honolulu was no doubt trying, but he had the support of well-connected and loving grandparents who saw that he had the best education available in the state of Hawaii.
In doing so, he completely dismisses 'race' as a daily trial of life for someone like Obama, and/or myself.
It is typical, even my wife doesn't get it and yet her own father is a racist against me, to the point that other family members have apologized privately.
And I am hispanic with no accent, raised in an affluent suburb of Minneapolis and now a successful business man. He is a black man named Barack.
As a current reality, it takes a hispanic two to three times more effort and a black man five times more to equal a white. Whites, like Fineman, have NO CLUE what this means and nor do I expect them to - societal racism does not usually rear it's ugly head frontally, it is more in the daily struggles, looks, prejudice and outright racism. I was pulled over three times in the month after 9/11.
Ultimately, Fineman needs to stay away from racial commentary - he knows about as much about being black as Palin knows about foreign policy.
Chris Rock put it best:
A black man with a C average couldn't get a job managing a Burger King. But a white man with a C average just happens to be the President of the United States.
Ultimately, Fineman misses the connection between Obama and Lincoln or Obama and the thousands who were lynched or beaten or died in transit. He misses the opportunity here - the opportunity for Lincoln to finally, be at rest from all his 'trials.'
Cheers, M.