Chris talked about Obama’s election as president and what it means to African Americans, irrespective of whether or not Obama does anything to address their problems in the future. There was something he said as a joke, but it resonated with me:

“Excellent black people have always been compensated for excellence. Always,” Rock said. “The real equality is when we can have a black president as dumb as George Bush. That’s when we’re really equal. That’s when the dream has come true.”

It was said in a light vein, but the truth of that statement is so grounded in reality. It truly takes genius to speak the truth through comedy :)

What do you mean by this? Can you explain this?

What do you say about the fact that Obama is supported by Military Industrial COmplex, Wallstreet bankers, all Fortune 500 companies, Israel Lobby ?

What do you say about the fact that he appointed the most pro big business , pro war people he could get to his cabinet and not one genuine progressive ?

What do you think about the fact that Obama seems to have deceived the ordinary people by this fake torture ban antics. and also by his equally fake “Cap on CEO Pay”.

http://www.counterpunch.org/nairn01262009.html

Thanks for your time.

what a discussion! really. i just wish it were somewhere else, and not on this piece. something’s amiss if this is where intellectualizing gets us.

chill,
asuph

“But lots of disappointment is in store for lots of people, who have willed themsleves into believing something which is not to be.”

I frankly did not see the kind of illusions you talk about (apparently all cleverly crafted media images) in the post. There is an immense failure of logic and intellect here in all your comments on this post. If I may venture to say so, you read something else – your own obsessions – into it. At no point does the post author say she believes all the things you attribute to her. As far as I can see, all that the post talks about is the effect the Obama victory have had on Smith and Carlos and their estranged relationship. From there it goes on to ask what was it that spurred this huge transformation in their relationship? What moved them?
Neither your privileged access to the “Black community” nor to ‘Black urban radio’ is relevant here. A simple question of logic escapes you: how is Obama’s being a ruling class agent (as claimed by you and Ajit) at all relevant to the fact that Carlos and Smith perceived something in this moment of Obama’s victory? If you are asked why X perceived Y, what would be a correct answer? One that says: ‘X perceives Y because…’, Or, one that says: ‘X is wrong to perceive Y’? Or, worse, one that tells the questioner she is wrong to believe Y’. The order of failure is evident here. You are not even telling the questioner that you are wrong to think that X perceives Y, but that you believe in Y!! Three levels removed from the question. Elementary, no? dear Diptorup.

What then can one make of your and Ajit’s comments? Either a profound failure of intellect or a sick obsession manifesting itself, taking any opportunity to vent some deep felt frustrations.

But lots of disappointment is in store for lots of people, who have willed themsleves into believing something which is not to be.

Not sure about you but none of my comments are based on the cleverly crafted media images you are refering to. I am relaying to you what I glean from my association with the Black Community via long standing interaction with friends in my academic circle or through Black urban radio.

No Sir I am not disowning the fact that there is immense pride in a huge swat of the minority community to see one of their own get elected as the President. What I am (if you carefully read my comment) is the convulated attempt the supposedly left-liberal MSM is putting up to project this victory of Barack Obama as something it is NOT. No it is not that America has entered a post-racial era (as NYT and MSNBC) would make us believe. No Obama does not espouse any of the supposed “straws” progressives should clutch on to.
No this does not begin a dramatic shift from neo-imperialistic postures of the near past.

No sir if it had been the last straws we would not have an American president who voted for FISA, No sir we would not have a person with the professed agenda of escalating the war in Afganistan. And certainly not surround himself with likes of Larry Summers and Hillary Clinton.

Not even going into the Rick Warrens of the world.

Instead of getting carried away by the glitz and glamour I strongly suggest you too like many of the actual stagebearers (Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky Naomi Klien, Dennis Kucinich, Jeremiah Wright, to name just a few) of the progressive cirlce(outside the pseudo-liberal world of NYT and MSNBC) make sure that we are not merely getting giddy on symbolism and rubber-stamping this mere change of gaurd as something way too grandiose than it is.

Diptorup

People like yabasta symbolize the same –“Blue screens of death” and intrinsic bugs. Mere advocates of ideals which have no meaning to them; people deprived of reason by their churlish fanaticism.

Coming to the points being raised by Nivedita, this article is a disheartening espousal of the general MSM position (both left and right) that Obama’s ascendency to the Presidency is somehow a culmination of the kind of struggles waged by Carlos and Smith Or by Md. Ali or By King or by Malcom. The first thing the new darling of the “liberal” media in US, Rachael Maddow, pronounced after Obama was declared the winner (to effect) “We have now shown to the fanatics of the world who said this was not possible in America- Yes we can”. The next morning NYT offered –”Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory.”

Be mindful these are what to the uninformed constitute as the liberal cornerstone of the US MSM. I would not even dwell into what the Murdoch bandwagon or the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Bill Cunningham had to offer.

Obama does not represent anything. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero.

In an American society where Katrina is just couple of years old and Oakland just couple of weeks it is a concerted effort by the powers that are to signify this victory as something much more than what it really means –(as rightfully pointed out by Ajit) “Obama is simply the political agent of the ruling classes of his country.”

Unfortunately for the literati for whom “progressiveness’ is a means to put themselves on a pedestal and sermonize to show their “depth” of condescension – Obama is the embodiment of hope and change and what not.

For the real folks he might as well be a fading apparition.

I am saying Obama is being supported by all the factions of ruling class of America and also by a great majority of progressives, liberals or people of Social Democratic tendencies. Unless one believes all social conflict has ended and everyone’s interests are the same , there is only one conclusion. Either Obama fooled Ruling class or he fooled ordinary people who were tired of Bush gang.

I don’t think Rulers are sentimental and fooled by Obama’s rhetoric. They supported him because he would restore the credibility of US Empire which was badly damaged by Bush gang’s incompetence. His actions as President till date are instructive in this regard. He has appointed only pro war , pro big business people to his cabinet, he has supported for every crime Israel committed in Gaza, He already broke International law by attacking Pakistan territory.

He has the knack of making people of wildly different politics think he is with them. His 2004 address to Democratic Convetion was lauded by Liberals and progressives. But it was also praised by National Review, a rightwing magazine. Obama is a great asset for US Rulers.

“This is so childish. Obama is simply the political agent of the ruling classes of his country. He has the knack of getting most people believe he is with them when in fact, he is only with the Bosses.”

The school master – rather Prophet – comes with the light of Truth for which the “vast majority of Blacks and Progressives” must thank him. They must prostrate themselves and bathe at the rays of Truth shining forth from his ass:

“It is understandable but wrong that vast majority of Blacks and Progressives are supporting this Guy Obama.”

he tells us. All those who wept and rejoiced are wrong; the schoolmaster-Prophet alone is right.

(Let us ignore, for the time being the sexism of this megalomaniac; after all it is reserved only for the ‘Right wingers’):

“…a foul whore of Rightwing Propaganda organs like Andrew Sullivan are…among his most ardent followers.”

Meanwhile, the megalomaniac has found one concrete “Progressive” – the post author, who is yet unaware of the Truth that shines from his you-know-what:

Ha haa, “…where have I heard this?” he says. And answers:

“In every so called movement which degenerates into Personality cult of the glorious leader.”

Believe it or not! This is the tone of one not in power. But hold on, does he sound very far from an aspiring ‘glorious leader’ who would go to any length to build a personality cult around him?

And before we wind up, on a slightly more serious note, what calls forth this sneer from the would-be-Prophet? The comment that “‘Obama’ is bigger than the man”. Now, if one is not a complete illiterate, one would recall literally hundreds of instances from history – Indian and of others parts of the world – where the proper name begins to functions as a ‘sign’ that collects under it a whole range of different aspirations. It becomes a call to a movement and may itself just die like for example a Gandhi or a Jayaprakash Narayan did, rejecting the lures of power and preferring to die in the wilderness. Both Gandhi and JP were bigger than the ‘men’ they were – not because of some puerile idea of a ‘personality cult’ but because popular perception vested in them far more that they would be able to hold. But of course, as they say, heat and light do not always go together and what shines as Truth from Ajit’s backside is after all pure heat.

Thanks for the slice of history. Will read the article you linked.

regards,
asuph

Obama shares with Carlos and Smith nothing other than his Skin color.

It is understandable but wrong that vast majority of Blacks and Progressives are supporting this Guy Obama.

It is a moment that every struggle against power and authority anywhere in the world has claimed for itself. Centuries of racism and two decades of Empire later, every edifice of power in every part of the globe has, in one sudden ray of light, revealed its vulnerability. Anything seems possible, not least of all, a Dalit woman Prime Minister of India.

This is so childish. Obama is simply the political agent of the ruling classes of his country. He has the knack of getting most people believe he is with them when in fact, he is only with the Bosses.

He talks in such generalities and high sounding rhetoric that most people simply project their hopes on his blank slate. Even he is on record saying this.

It is no wonder a radical leftist journalist like Al Giordano of Narconews.com and a foul whore of Rightwing Propaganda organs like Andrew Sullivan are both among his most ardent followers.

Sullivan may be more realistic than Giordano. Because Obama has appointed only right wingers to his cabinet and following rightwing policies.

“Obama” is bigger than the man.

Right, where have I heard this? In every so called movement which degenerates into Personality cult of the glorious leader.

To begin with, the Movement around Obama was /is not even a movement. It is more like a fan club.

Though I understand and appreciate what you are getting at here, I am struggling to see a persuasive link. Call me a cynic if you will.