When Barack Obama became president, a few people told me that they believed it was only because he was black. This kind of hurt my feelings but in fairness, it shouldn’t have because they were all well meaning, respectful opinion givers. Nevertheless, this way of thinking stung for a couple of reasons.
- Reason One: I found Barack Obama to be the smartest, most socially aware and moderate candidate I had ever experienced. I was hard-pressed to find ways that I did not think of him as outstanding. And by this I do not mean outstanding, for a black man. I mean that he was bone crushing in debates, he demonstrated rather than simply espousing what I consider to be core family values and despite being the number one target on multiple white supremicist hitlists, he was voted into the whitehouse. Plus, he was a democrat after 8 years of (arguably) polarizing Republican leadership, so if someone really wanted to discount his merits as a candidate, I felt the more honest slight would be to say that he won only because of his party affiliation.
- Reason Two: This way of thinking, that Barack came into his office on the shoulders of all these surprisingly powerful black voters and maybe a cadre of anglo individuals trying to relieve white guilt, seemed not only to begrudge the man of his competency but also to implicitly include me in a group of Americans so mesmerized by the brother’s choclatey skin that I couldn’t see how improper he was to run our great nation. That irked me.
Of course I can’t truly say (any more than anyone else can) that race was a non-issue when I pulled the lever that said Barack Obama back in 2008. In fact, I must admit that it was quite a rare and delighful phenomenon to have a man who so intimately seemed to reflect my experience of life. Barack was biracial and I could hear in his rhetoric that he was infected with the duality of a multiracial makeup which, as I have said before, can cause one not only to consider two sides of the story but to inhabit them both. It seemed to me that Barack could not villainize with the ease of the other candidates, a characteristic that I did chalk up in part to his experience of race and in part to another identity I shared with him—that of traveler—one who has been a stranger in a strange land. And, I won’t be so naieve as to think that I was wholly unaffected by the more rudimentary prospect of simply having someone who for the first time looked more like my brother than George Washington, but if Mr. Pres got a few votes here and there that were exclusively due to his skin color, I say (completely anecdotely) they were no more than the number that Senator Mccain got for that very same reason.
But that is all water under the bridge---soooo 2008. Today as we approach 2012 we have a new black candidate in Herman Cain—and I thank God for Herman, because now I can with a clear conscience know that despite his blackness, I would never vote for this man as I understand him currently. We may share some physical characteristics and history—but we don’t share much else.
I do not find his regressive tax policies to represent my desires,
I do not find his Palin-esque quips to be charming or informative,
and it baffles my mind when candidates like Cain wear their inexperience as a badge of honor.
People cried out at President Obama’s short stint in the Senate before becoming our leader but somehow find it refreshing that Mr. Cain’s background is in Pizza. For me this is paramount to encouraging a pianist to perform surgery. Sure, there is some overlap between the two fields—a need for excellent fine motor skills, calmness under pressure to perform, and often a team of people surrounding you who make your work even better (shout out to my brother Chris who works in the O.R.) . Go ahead, let the pianist consult, compare, commit to aquire more skills that might increase his aptitude for operations, but don't just go handing him a scalpel. I want the woman who went to medical school to do my lobotomy when the time comes.
And likewise, as a rule, I want a lawyer, judge, congressperson, governor, or equally schooled public servant to run the country--the SMARTER the better I might add. Yes, Herman Cain has truly done me a solid in his quest for the republican nomination, because though it would in some small way warm my heart to see two minority presidents serving back to back terms in this country. Mr. Cain’s principles do not represent my own (and I think many of my black and white brothers and sisters are with me on this) and so with relief I can say at least for myself that I do have some capacity to judge not by the color of a man’s skin but by the content of his character. I hope that is a capacity that each American voter will explore, develop and foster as we see more diversity and redundancy with regard to politics and policy in the good old U.S.A.
But, How Can We Know a Candidate’s Character?
1. Watch the debates, they are flawed but they are a start. (latest debate below)
2. Check the facts. www.factcheck.org & www.votesmart.org
(Revisiting Debate Claims, Reviewing Voting Records, etc)
3. Read their Stuff (especially pre-candidacy)
4. Vary Your News Sources.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553/ http://www.cnn.com/ http://www.foxnews.com/politics/index.html www.comedycentral.com 5. Check the Facts Again!
For me the facts add up to a "No Cain Do". You might judge things differently because of, despite of or mostly irrespective of race, but whatever your judgement, please just VOTE RESPONSIBLY!
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