Barack Obama's audacity of hope

Keith is egregiously overstating his case here. Yes, Obama has certainly shown exemplary and refreshing leadership by tackling the economy head on, blueprinting a path to alternative fuels, pushing for fairer taxes and fairer pay, and pulling the rug on Guantanamo and torture. To be sure, in today's right-of-center political era these are no small changes--and Obama moved quickly to make them happen. But I've grown weary of black folks delivering these one-sided appraisals of Obama (as if we're constantly trying to outdo Fox News on lopside reporting). Keith's uncritical praise of this so-called "expansive image of reform" and "the most ambitious government agenda since the Great Society" is only a half-truth. The other half of the truth is that although the media (and black folk) incessantly compare Obama to MLK, Obama is actually lightyears away from King's condemnation of the three evils of American society: militarism, racism, and economic exploitation. With this in mind, here are the uncomfortable truths that Keith omitted: When Obama delivered his historic address before the joint session, he pitched to America the same old feel-good myth that American "ingenuity" and "imagination" have been the greatest force of our nation's prosperity. That's nonsense. The brutal and violent theft of this land from its previous occupants (Native Americans) followed instantly by 250 years of slavery (unpaid labor) was the single greatest force that propelled our young nation to the forefront of the world stage. It was this evil force that set the foundation of our swift and massive wealth. Murder, mayhem and 250 years of free labor does wonders for Wall Street. This was not "ingenuity" and "imagination." This was stunning violence and horrid theft that laid the foundation of our world renowned prosperity. And after slavery, our most unscrupulous industrial complexes--like the chemical, healthcare, military industries--continued to lay trillions of golden eggs onto our slavery-based economic foundation, ushering in the 21st century. If you subtract ALL of that--the land theft and the 250 years of slavery and the ensuing centuries of deadly corporate exploitation--you just don't come up with a wealthy superpower. But Obama keeps perpetuating the Great American Lie about who we are and how we got here. This is very important because many of the major challenges that we face today emerge from this SAME old pattern of extreme violence and exploitation. Perpetuating this Great American Lie has vital implications for how Obama will lead us forward. This is what Dr. Marc Lamont Hill was concerned about when he openly questioned whether or not Obama will prove to be a truly transformative leader or "a slave in charge of the plantation." Here are a few other truths that Keith overlooked in his hasty and uncritical assessment of Obama: True, Obama wants "universal healthcare." But when you read his actual healthcare plan you see that he esssentially retains the same corporate-controlled $2.4 trillion empire as we know it. He is wedded to a chiefly privatized health industry that will remain firmly under the control of insurance companies and the medical empire. True, Obama wants better education with more shared accountability for schools and teachers. But his education plan is essentially structured similar to Bill Clinton's--a plan that obviously did not significantly alter public school education as we know it. True, Obama says we'll have greater diplomacy and we'll strive toward peace in the world and we'll step away from Iraq. But then he retains the Bush defense secretary, hires status-quo Hillary as state secretary, moves quickly to step up the war in Afghanistan, initiates new tensions with Pakistan, promises the bloated military industry more spending, and vows to create the largest military manpower in the history of the nation. True, Obama says he'll strive for peace in the Middle East. But then he ignores the recent decimation of Gaza and reverts in to old alienating language that places Israel above the Palestinians and other Arabs. Racial inequality? Forget it. Here again, Obama seems to be taking Clintonian cues by quitely relegating the unfinished business of ENDING racial inequality to mere ceremonial events (like Eric Holder recent speech during black history month). Indeed, everywhere we look in Obama's speech to the joint session this week, he simply ignored racial inequality. There was no major (or minor) plan put forth to address racial inequality (even though the campaign is now over!) When he talked about the downward economy, he made no mention of the more devastating unemployment rate facing blacks (a rate always double that of whites). When he talked about the crisis of education, he made no mention that a half century after Brown vs. Board blacks STILL attend segregated schools and STILL receive inferior education. When he talked about the urgent need for healthcare reform, he made no mention of the fact that blacks STILL receive inferior healthcare at the doctor's office and STILL die as a result--even when they have the SAME insurance, the same health condtion, and the same clinical symptoms. Yet we just can't keep sweeping these truths under the national rug. A more fairminded appraisal of Obama, here in the early days, should acknowledge that he has shown exemplary leadership and won early victories in some crucial areas, BUT he also appears to be replicating a Clintonian paradigm where he will be tiptoeing around the three evils of American society described by Dr. King: militarism, racism, and economic exploitation. While I certainly think it's still too early to crown him "a slave in charge of the plantation," I think we do a disservice to our nation (and to our ancestors) when we uncritically assess ANY president. We need to stop this "hands off our brother" approach to viewing presidential politics. This is a destructive and shortsighted ghetto mentality. Our precious vote was bought with blood and tears, and we need to hold ALL of our elected officials--even the black ones--to the highest standard of accountability.