A Black Man In A White House?

By Neba-Fuh

To be indifferent to the American presidential election is to be indifferent to the future of the world. Whether you love the U S   or not, is immaterial. The fact is that US must affect you wherever you are in this world. The land of opportunities,The world's biggest economy, the world's greatest military might, the world's...., the world's... etc.

The 2008 presidential election in the US is an epoch of this century. There is a possibility that a black man will  move  into The  White House. There is also another possibility that a woman will be the Commander-in- Chief of the World's most sophisticated army.

Since America's more than 200years of independence, neither a black man nor a woman has ever been the President of that country. But what makes it even exciting is that this time the black man is of  African descent specifically from Kenya.

Senator Barack Hussien Obama will make history by becoming the first black man of African descent to reach the apex of the world's only, but 'dwindling' superpower.

 

Many facets of this election especially at its primaries have been examined, without portraying the racial card as the joker but  it will be assuming to claim that racism is not a very critical determinant of this election.

The subtle expression of racism had started cropping up in the initial stages of the democratic primaries especially as bookmakers and polls had written off the first timer Black Senator as an underdog vis-a-vis the experienced and more familiar challenger , the New York Senator and Former First Lady, Hillary Rodham  Clinton.
Obama is just the fifth African American to sit in the US Senate in the history of America. This is his first senatorial term. And then he is running for the post of President of the US?
It would take votes and  victories in many states culminating to a lead in popular vote as well as pledged delegates; for pundits to understand that this middle aged Senator from Illinois wasn't out for a safari venture. The gentleman brought life into the campaign:  Pulling crowds everywhere he went;mobilizing  voters to register; emphasizing his message of change and presenting himself as the best choice for Commander-in-chief, emphasizing his judgment on the decision to invade Iraq  . 

All through,  his campaign team had tried to minimize the most sensitive issue which could never be ignored-RACISM: an ugly head that still sticks around in US, just like in other European countries. It won't be long before the Former President of the US and husband to Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton will initiate the racism issue while downplaying Obama's win in South Carolina by comparing it to similar wins by another respected African American Jesse Jackson who ran for President in the eighties. This remark by Bill Clinton was purporting that Obama won't do well in the overall primaries even though he has won South Carolina.

Time proved the Clintons wrong. The African- American consecutively won 12 states later. Without downplaying the service Hillary Clinton has offered  her nation, one can understand the frustration  she is facing by not leading the  the Democratic primaries. She was being groomed to be President  immediately her husband left the white house in 2000. She  immediately picked up a seat in the Senate  from New York . She would continuously fine tune her CV to look 'presidential' . With backing of close aides of her husband during his term of office as President and her influence as First Lady, as well as the almighty lobbyists who determine the direction of American politics, Clinton was almost sure the Obama challenge for the democratic nominee will be a mismatch.
She even urged Americans to 'get real' when Obama was cruising in victory in states she thought will back her-implying that those Americans voting for Obama were 'somehow delusionary' as Obama will later put it in one of the debates. Anyway, to explore the racist undertone in arenas like this is not exaggerating. Was she asking the American public to 'get real' by realizing it was a Black man they are voting for, or was she just emphasizing her political experience compared to Obama?
How can one not sympathize with a lady who has spent 8 years preparing to run for the post of President, only to realize in the primaries that she is trailing a Black man who just made his intention to run for President a little more than a year ago?
That leaves Clinton desperate- desperate until she would use tears to lure voters, use expressions like 'shame on you Barack' -just like a kindergarten teacher to her kid. A lady who will rehearse a lie , stand in front of cameras  and present the lie in a convincing manner that her daughter must have been very ashamed of (cf The recent lie by Hillary Clinton describing a scene where she apparently came under snipers' fire while visiting as First lady in the then war zone of  Bosnia). It will be myopic to think that this desperation is solely due to ambition to serve the nation as President. No! This desperation smacks an inarticulate superiority complex threat in the sense of seeing a black man blocking her way to the apex of  leadership in the US. 

Racially charged comments started pouring from the Clinton's campaign and the Obama's as well. The Black right's activist and Obama's spiritual mentor Pastor, Rev. Wright joined the cue, preaching a racially sensitive sermon in his Church. This will usher a much broader debate on the racial issue compelling Obama to present a speech on racism and his ambition to cut through those barriers, while not ignoring the reality-that the ugly head of racism still sticks out its head in the US society.

When Rev Jesse Jackson 'dared' to run for President in the US in the eighties, the outside world's perception of racism in America was not that critical. At least the dream which assassinated human rights activist Dr Martin Luther King had, was being experienced. Though Rev Jackson did not go pass the primaries, he opened the door for a new America. An America where the onetime downtrodden black people can also aspire to the highest office of the State.

It would not be long before high profile public figures start fanning the almost extinguished racial flame in the US . In 2002 , the then Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott would embarrass America my making racially charged remarks,on the 100th birthday of fellow Republican Strom Thurmond. This is what Lott said:
' I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for President, we voted him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either'  It is worth noting that Strom Thurmond ran for President in 1948, and his  platform  said
' We stand for segregation of races and the racial integrity of each race'.
The 'all these problems over all these years' Trent Lott was referring to in 2002 was the Black race. (It should be noted that he later apologized)
Most recently, the response to the Katrina disaster portrayed two Americas-The developed America and the developing America. It is no coincidence that the majority of people who live in developing America are Blacks-  It is saddening to  watch pictures from New Orleans, one  really wonders whether that is part of  America or some quarter in my village in Southern Cameroons.

Whether we downplay the racial aspect of the Presidential Elections in the US, the fact is that it is already coming to play. Even if the Democrats manage to contain it and Obama picks up the Democratic nomination, the Republicans somehow will try to use it as one of their jokers before America votes in November. If Obama wins the election to become America's first black President, then destiny's finest will be in display. A gentleman who is surviving an election with all odds-if it is not his skin color, it is his middle name 'Hussien'.
One can liken the three candidates remaining in the race to the 'old father' -Republican John McCain; the 'nagging mother' -Democrat Hillary Clinton; and the 'progressive son' Democrat Barack Obama.
God bless America.

Comments

[Muki StoneHall]

A well written article.If a Cameroonian can dissect a foreign nation and bring out all these facts and truths, why can they do same of Cameroon. Why can't the tell the whole world what is wrong with their country?

[Khasara]

Hussein rules the world! It is just like a dream?
A big lesson to many Black Africans because we also have Black Americans.
Do we have white Africans?

[Sali]

Neba_Fuh, Your prediction has come true " A black man in a white house". keep up!

Khasara, Yes if you mean white people born in Africa, then there are many White Africans in South Africa and Zimbabwe for example. Remember not all black people originate from Africa. They are also black Indians. A Black African should be a black man born in Africa while a Black American should be a black man born in America, irrespective of whether he is a descendant of a slave. Obama's forefathers were not slaves, bringing to question the debate on the degree of his 'African Americanism' originally used to describe slave descendants in America. History has really been made indeed!