Posted by
flagwaver on Thursday, January 15, 2009 7:12:09 AM
In just a few days we will witness the swearing in of a new President, an event that is historic in that it will see the first "African American" chief executive, and the most left wing candidate this nation has ever elected. There is probably going to be a long honeymoon period between the media and the White House (about 4 year's worth) and among the many constituent groups that banded together to deliver the Oval Office to Mr. Obama. But among all of this rejoicing and worshipful adulation of the One, there may be one constituent group that starts to divorce itself from Mr. Obama sooner rather than later, and the group involved may surprise many people. That group may just be the African American community.
As many of you may know, I attend a HBCU (Winston-Salem State University...Home of the Rams!!!) and on my campus, which had a major case of Obama Fever, there is already some grumbling among faculty and students about the incoming administration's makeup and lack of attention to issues that affect the black community. There is understanding that the economy is going to be priority number one, as that is obviously what Mr. Obama has decided to use to force through his government growing schemes. But even with that, many are beginning to look back at the campaign and at the current construction of the incoming cabinet and are beginning to grumble.
They are looking at his campaign and starting to realize that Mr. Obama never gave any mention to finding ways to help black families keep more of their money in their pockets, or in helping them to keep their young people out of prison, or helping to clean up many of thier blighted neighborhoods. They are also starting to realize that Mr. Obama never really embraced his blackness as much more than a bludgeon to use against John McCain and a shield used to deflect all criticism, whether deserved or not. Outside of visiting a few HBCUs, Mr. Obama focused most of his campaigning on, for lack of a better term, rich white people. As we start to get further away from the campaign, that fact begins to sink in more and more, and a good deal of the blacks I am coming into contact with on campus are starting to speak out more and more about this. And if it is happening on my campus and in my community, it is not a stretch to believe that it is being discussed elsewhere as well.
Blaxks are also beginning to look at the shaping of the administration and wondering, "Where are we?" They are seeing an administration that is whiter than the outgoing evil Bush administration ever was, and they are wondering "What's going on here?" The Obama administration is probably the least "diverse" that we have seen since the Clinton administration, as it seems to be staffed primarily with a plethora of white men and white women. It seems that Obama is more interested in recreating the Clinton administration and surrounding himself with the "New Harvard Club", and there are very few spots for any new voices, much less any new black voices. What many of my fellow students and more than a few professors are wondering is why Mr. Obama cannot seem to find any black person that he deems worthy of holding a prominent position in his Cabinet, save the Attorney General designate Eric Holder.
If you link those two situations together, you can see a scenario forming where the bloom may come off of the Obama rose rather quickly. Bklacks are too often impressed with political symbolism, but with Obama there was an expectation of real, substantive change that his campaign used as its primary slogan. Now that the campaing is over, the people are starting to realize that the cahnge they wanted is not forthcoming, and that may very well spell looming trouble for the Obama administration. Because if he loses the black community, he has lost forfeited any chance of having a second Obama administration.