Yesterday, I came across an Obama article that saddened me, and, in a moment of humanity and emotional openness, I wrote a diary about it. It created a dizzying 900+ comments, 99% of which I read last night before falling asleep. If you have the time, I encourage you to read that diary for proper context before reading on.
Partially due to time constraints on replying to such a large number of comments, and partially due my view that dKos needs more bridge-building, I decided to write this diary in response. Below the orange meteor blade, I'll address four of the major themes that came up in that diary's commentary.
The Title: I'm Sad. Our First Black President Is Being Torn To Shreds.
I joined Daily Kos in 2008 and admit that, prior to the 2008 election cycle, I had never been involved in local or national politics, as is true for many young voters. I had voted for John Kerry in 2004 as a college student and remember feeling disappointed when Bush was re-elected, but that was the extent of my political involvement until that time.
My motivation to get involved in '08 was partially the acknowledgement that this guy had the intellectual rigor and inspiring qualities that I feel a president ought to have, and a smaller part was the acknowledgement that it was awfully cool that a black man might seriously have a shot at becoming the President of the U.S. (though if it had been Herman Cain, for example, I would not have been excited, because he’s neither inspiring nor cool, to say nothing of his intellectual rigor because I don’t know anything about his education). The possibility of a black man becoming president was major news just four years ago, which goes to show us how far reality’s goalposts have moved in just three years. So the election had a lot to do with race, for people on all sides of the ideological spectrum. This is a lens that helps explain my diary’s title.
People disagree wildly here on Barack Obama’s record and effectiveness as President. Personally, I think he is, on par, as stunning an example of an intelligent, charismatic, highly educated, and statesmanlike president—and person—as this nation's seen, and I think that’s an important point to make, because he also happens to be black and many whites—and blacks—have never seen a person reach that high of a position before, and so publicly. He’s like the Tuskegee Airmen of presidents. He’s broken barriers, stereotypes, and records that we should all be proud of, and he’s shown the world that the value of black people extends far beyond sports, comedy, and music. That we have serious contributions to make in ways that have far-reaching implications for everybody. Mind you, Obama isn’t a surprise to anyone that has black friends or co-workers—it’s not like intelligence, eloquence, and charisma are genetic traits; they are byproducts of environment and opportunities, and are possessed by people of all colors. And he’s certainly not alone in that camp; there are plenty of black people with those traits in virtually every profession you can think of. Unfortunately, the sociological underpinnings of inequity, and the complex history of our country, greatly stymie the number of Obamas that are out there in positions as high as his. If only 50% of black males graduate from high school and 3 out of 10 black men go to jail, then our country is getting a raw deal and seriously missing out on more potential Obamas, more potential black kossacks, and the potential of a black Einstein. So it’s good for our country, and for the world, to see a black man every bit as talented, educated, intelligent, and charismatic as Obama go head to head with the power elite we’re used to seeing. It’s good for my kids and your kids to see that. So I hope you see why my title is what it is, and why race is relevant to the larger picture. Also keep in mind that I never said he was being criticized because he is black; only that I think his blackness motivates some of the intensity of his criticisms.
Accusations of Left-Bashing
As part of the larger idea I was espousing in the diary, I said two things that I wish I had articulated better, because it led some accusations of “left-bashing”.
Here’s the first thing:
Of the Republicans: “Let’s spend the next four years dismantling [Obama] so that he doesn't spend another four years with the American people.” And then some of us helped them. That's what kills me inside, knowing that we, be we democrats or independents, but all progressives to the bone, spent all this time propagating the very memes that would damage him the most.
I think this is wrong because it conflates two separate issues: criticism of President Obama, and the propagation of damaging Republican memes. My wording made it sound like we shouldn’t be criticizing the president (some commenters also took my words one step further by accusing me of saying, “You shouldn’t criticize the President because he’s black”, but I didn’t say that and therefore won’t answer that). The notion that we shouldn’t criticize the president is, of course, not true. Everyone here and beyond has a right to express our frustrations and criticisms, especially because many of us here spent or worked our hearts out to elect him and thus feel that he’s indebted to us, to our policy priorities, and to his campaign promises. On the topic, though, I’d like to add two things:
If your motivation to criticize the president stems from your belief that it’s your duty to hold his feet to the fire and “push him to do better”, then you should spend less time writing on Daily Kos and more time writing letters to the White House because the chances are, pound for pound, substantially higher that he’ll read what you have to say if you write to him directly than if you write here.
Secondly, I think you stand a much better chance of influencing Obama’s policies and ideas by electing down-ballot politicians who are more likely to support progressive ideas and initiatives. Obama is a pragmatist (“the realm of the possible”) and the only way to skew his pragmatism towards the left within the small presidential window of 4 years is to skew the legislative branch to the left.
The second thing I said that led to accusations of left-bashing was this:
So there you have it, folks. In a single piece, in an international newspaper, 13 true-blue, bonafide Republican memes, many of which have been propagated by those of us on the left here on dKos.
The validity of this point is harder to argue against, because many of these memes have in fact been propagated here (I’ve heard buzz words like “capitulator”, “caved”, “weak”, “primaried”, “naive”, and “disappointment”). But I also apologize for this one because it again conflates the issue of Republican meme-pushing with legitimate critiques of the president. Some people genuinely think he’s a disappointment and that’s their right. Others do think he’s a weak negotiator and have plenty of (to them) evidence of such. Even if I disagree on those points or on what underpins them, those individuals have every right to voice their criticisms as I have to write this diary. I do wish, however, that more of you had the habit of specifying the instances when your criticism applies, and mentioning instances when that criticism doesn’t. That’s critical thinking and would create a much better dialogue and atmosphere on here.
I also think that many of those buzz words will come back to haunt him in the 2012 election cycle in political ads and in debates, and the Right may very well use the argument, “even the Left thinks Obama is a (insert buzz word here)”. I hope you’ll have the conviction to stand up at that time and say, “Yes, but we were trying to make him a better President, not a failed one. Unlike you, we had America’s best interests in mind when vocalizing our frustrations.”
So to those that thought I was left-bashing, I am sorry. We’re in the same corner. I want society to work for the poor, the elderly, the sick, and the young just as much as you do. Is Obama going up to bat for the poor, the elderly, the sick, and the young? Not in some of the short-term, visceral ways I wish he did. Those are complex sociological issues that would be difficult enough to tackle even if he we had a budget surplus, democratic majorities in both Houses, and low unemployment. For reasons the complexity of which I don’t have presidential knowledge of or access to, Obama isn’t tackling those kinds of things, and is actually “seen” (by some) to be going to bat for the rich. I can disagree with that approach without my disagreement turning into outright animosity towards Obama. I’m also a believer in changing social problems over the long term and “in context”—you have to work with the power structure that’s in place, and in ways that incrementally create the changes you wish to see, because that power structure is highly vigilant to any perceived threats. That, and we have a political system designed by the Founders to be very slow and methodical to change. For these reasons, I have far more patience in Obama than some on the site. And I would rather have a guy in office who wants to effect positive change—even if he can’t or doesn’t overtly do so daily—than someone who who doesn’t want to.
Was the Diary About White Privilege?
No. Every commenter who thinks my larger argument was that white privilege accounts for criticisms of the president is wrong.
First of all, white privilege, I believe, isn’t something to (ultimately) feel guilty about, just as racial inequality isn’t something to (ultimately) feel sorry about. In both cases, it’s something to be informed about, and then to actively spend your life reducing for the next generation’s benefit (Beverly Hill Tatum wrote a really great book on these two topics, if you care to read about them). And since both involve everybody, everybody should be part of that process.
In the context of my diary, I raised one example of white privilege, which I won’t get into here since I already explained it in that diary’s first update. A few commenters said that, apparently, some people on this site throw the phrase “white privilege” around in a way not dissimilar to how “the race card” gets slapped down on the conversation table. Personally, I think throwing those phrases around in that context is a conversation-ender, and in other contexts, it’s a necessary part of the dialogue. I trust you to be keen enough to realize that the way in which I raised white privilege did not fall into the former category, and I hope we can all be better about distinguishing between slapdash racial haberdashery and the genuine, meaningful dialogue that has to take place for our nation to move onwards towards a fairer distribution of justice.
Legitimate Criticisms of President Obama
There are many legitimate criticisms of Obama, and I’ve made my stance on that clear above. As a quick aside, I do want to say that when I read things like, “What Obama fails to understand…” and “What Obama doesn’t realize…”, I question where those criticisms stem from. I think there’s a genuine difference between saying you disagree with Obama’s actions, and saying he doesn’t understand or realize your point of view. Those are two separate things: I might understand your perspective but, for my own reasons, choose to go in a different direction. I might realize that Republicans don’t want to work with me, and I might, for my own reasons, choose to still try and work with them. So when people use the “Obama fails to understand/realize” argument, I can’t say I think they’re being 100% genuine in saying it’s all about policy disagreements. By personalizing and making it about what he does or doesn’t “understand” or “realize” (which is presumptuous, condescending, and patronizing), you take the conversation away from policy—which I believe delegitimizes your criticisms.
As a final note, I hope that when commenting, you’ll keep in mind that, if something a diarist says (when using words like "you" and "your") doesn’t describe you or your behavior, then you shouldn’t respond like it does. I see a lot of that on the site and I don’t think it’s helpful for our dialogue. Neither are generalities or broad brushstrokes, and I realize that, but there are some limitations on specificity since we're not having a one-on-one discussion.
Let's build more bridges, lest we allow the right wing to burn us all to the ground.
Thanks for reading.