I was so pleased to see the largely positive reaction to the Joe Biden selection here on DKos. I personally am ecstatic about the pick for many reasons (though I didn't know I would be until after it happened), but this diary isn't about debating the specific merits of Biden as a VP candidate.
I just want to add to the dialog a supplemental, very personal (and apparently lengthy) perspective for those that might still be having trouble with the pick, (or more specifically, with Obama for having made it), as well as re-affirm what I see as part of the consummate wisdom behind it to those already in agreement.
I am the black daughter of two black parents, and the proud daughter of one of them: my mother.
My mom was born in 1933. Growing up, she was considered a musical prodigy. As a teenager, she performed in a group with her brothers and sisters, earning a small modicum of local success by singing backup for legends like Nat King Cole and Cannonball Adderly. When she got to college, she sang lead in a competitive vocal group so popular that it was selected to tour the country giving performances. However, the tour almost didn't happen. My mom was the only black person in the group, and the choir was told that she would have to stay in lodging separate from that of her classmates. Fortunately, the group's (white) director had the courage even in those days to stand up for what was right, and informed those making the lodging arrangements that unless they were lodged as a group, no exceptions, then they would not perform, no exceptions. The tour went on as planned.
However, singing wasn't even my mom's strongest suit. She was a concert-level pianist, who according to family lore, was the first black person to ever play Constitution Hall, where even legendary opera singer Marian Anderson had been turned away in 1939. As a young college student, my mom appeared first up in a piano competition held there, and so moved the audience that she inspired a poet that was present to write an ode to her called "A Negro Girl Plays Arabesque." Unfortunately, my mom's dreams of playing professionally were dashed, for despite her history-making performance at Constitution Hall, as she explained to me many years later, "Black folks just weren't allowed in where a concert pianist needed to play."
The old saying "Those that can't do, teach" is usually intended to denigrate the abilities of the teacher, but in my mom's case, her abilities were not the limiting factor, society was. Rather than be bitter about that, however, she dedicated her life to teaching others to do and love the things that she had been denied the opportunity to pursue... and to developing herself to the best of her ability and opportunity.
As such, while I was growing up, after she divorced my dad, and while raising me by herself: she earned two master's degrees, was the musical director at our church, almost never missed a volleyball, basketball, or track event of mine, played the piano in the pit orchestra of every musical I was in, took me to live overseas for 2 years and saved to send me on international trips for birthdays, all in the name of education... and changed the lives of countless young people (of every color) by spending the entirety of her career in the low-paying, endlessly frustrating, but highly-fulfilling arena of the public school system: first as a teacher of music, drama, and English, and later as a guidance counselor, back when the person in that job really could help a hopeful kid find and reach their dreams. Her funeral was packed with kids and former kids just like that.
But with all that brains and talent... she also never let me forget that in her opinion, I was even smarter than she was. (And an even better singer! Piano player, not so much.) And as such, great things were expected of me. My cousins and I used to talk about the pressure to succeed that came from being a kid of our parents!
So I was pretty surprised when I first heard her take on affirmative action, when it came time for me to start filling out college applications. My feeling, which I was sure she'd share, was that I wanted to be considered solely on my merits. She disabused me of that notion extremely quickly. "Are you kidding me? On all of those applications, you make sure you put that you are black, female, and from a single-parent income!"
Because here's the other thing my mother instilled in me, along with the belief that, despite her past experiences, I could do or become anything I wanted: as a black person, you will always have to work twice as hard to get half the credit.
You see, my mother had absolute faith in my ability, but not in the system to give my ability a fair shake. She knew from her own life, and from her life working with kids of all colors and backgrounds that just as often than not, an "inadequate white male or female " (to use PUMA-speak) would get the opportunity that a more-qualified person of color deserved. Though she didn't let it make her bitter, she never forgot the lesson of Constitution Hall and that nearly aborted bus tour, and she knew the playing field isn't level to begin with. So with such a skewed system, if that same system now offered a technically unfair opportunity to help level that playing field, it was your duty to take advantage of it. Sure, people might think that you only got your spot because you were black. But that would only be a problem if in fact, you didn't deserve to be wherever you were trying to get. But if you knew that you did? USE WHATEVER YOU CAN TO GET YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR; THEN PROVE YOU BELONG THERE.
Now cut to the other day, when I foolishly went to a PUMA site (to mock them, true, but still) and saw a fairly intriguing photo-as-ad. It had W and Cheney on one side, and Obama and Biden on the other, and both sides were labeled "Junior" and "Babysitter." And the caption said something about "Not the kind of change you were looking for?"
I have to say, it gave me pause: not because I think it's true, obviously, but because it is a fairly clever juxtaposition (especially considering the source). Now, it's not a meme I'm particularly concerned with taking hold, because clearly the similarities are only superficial. (Although, in truth, so are elections. I'm looking at you, flag pins, windsurfing, supermarket scanners, tank helmets, and please God, fingers crossed... housing count mix-ups.)
But it reminded me again how much heat Obama has taken for nearly every single decision in this election, and how every move he makes has been at best, second-guessed, and at worse, outright trashed:
- The Clintons and their supporters: He's not going enough to reach out to them! / Holy crap, he just gave them 50% of the convention!
- The Obama world tour: He's got to show the voters he can be Commander-in-Chief! / Hey Germans, calm down- he's not President yet, even though he's acting like it!
- The campaign tone: He's got to hit back harder at McCain and hit back now! / He's undercutting his whole brand of a different kind of politics!
- Campaign finance: If he opts out that is campaign malpractice! / Flip-flopper!
Now of course every presidential candidate has to walk a nearly impossibly fine line in pleasing his base, as well as the other side, so dissatisfaction from one or more sides is nothing new. And perhaps because of our big tent, Democrats in particular seem to be a particularly hard-to-please bunch, as far as our candidates go- again, par for our course.
But even given that, on so many issues, large and small, with the press and with the public, it often seems like Obama is damned if he does, damned if he does not, no matter what. (Or as roberttacker13 pointed out in a comment to my diary from yesterday: "Catch 22: Obama always gets the blame.")
And now, Obama picks a running mate who clearly will be an advantage in so many ways, including adding experience to the ticket- a big concern of some, and immediately (and not just from PUMA-tards) he is attacked by many for picking someone experienced, who's not enough of change agent. When we all know that if he had picked someone outside of Washington, he would have been decried by many for either naivete or arrogance- or both! Simultaneously! So with Biden, while you COULD argue Obama has shown he has the wisdom and humility to know where he might need assistance (or at least where people think he does), instead, now he's being bashed for his ticket supposedly being the reincarnation of Bush-Cheney.
Well, that's okay. Let them all bash away. Because what does my awesome (and desperately missed) mother have to do with PUMAs (and some Dems) ongoing lameness? In my opinion, it's this:
Obviously, things have changed A LOT since my mom was growing up... but they haven't changed completely. I absolutely believe Barack Obama has what it takes to sit in the White House for the next eight years as President of the United States and this nation's Commander-in-Chief. And furthermore, I believe that Barack Obama believes it too. But with Biden (and frankly with any of these decisions where he winds up "disappointing" folks), I think he's just following the same wise advice my mom gave me when it came to affirmative action:
USE WHATEVER YOU CAN TO GET YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR; THEN PROVE YOU BELONG THERE.