Quote:
Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek
I was reading "USA Today" this morning, and I saw a poll that was done in 2001. I'm not sure how many people actually took the poll, but from 2001, 36% said there would be a black president within 10 years.
25 years: 43%
After 100 years: 2%
Never: 8%
Within 100 years: 9%
I guess for me, I was always sure history would have eventually happened. I just didn't think I would have been around long enough to witness it.
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Welp, ironically, if the poll was taken pre-9-11 people thought hijacking planes would take you somewhere to be ransomed, too... Suffice to say, those polls are not as scientific and/or the people answering them are not as globally adept as we would like to think about them...
The other issue is PEBO had not won his senatorial position at that time. While he was doing what he had to do to get elected to his first Federal position, he may have had it in the back of mind, but it was not marketed to the American collective consciousness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ree-Xi
Honestly, and I am not giving the "I don't see color" cliche here, I never thought about it before. I hope that I can explain this without sounding trite or ignorant or naive...But I never thought that it was something that we necessarily had to "be ready for"...But there is no difference between how a black man and a white man "operates", if you get what I mean. Does that make sense?
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I think that you are still coming from a naivete about who Obama really is as a person. I think he has a realistic view of what needs to be done. But I think the American media outlets who often do not deal properly with cultural shifts because they are in the business selling news.
I do agree, IMO, with what you said with what do we need to "be ready for"? Obama is a Columbia graduate, Harvard educated lawyer, Editor of the Harvard Review and chose a rather mediocre career position rather than a corporate lawyer. And enamored Michelle... I know I am are ready for it and you might be, but I think people's fears are solving "all the world's problems" during his first term... People see these problems as insurmountable. And when we are collectively overwhelmed, we want to give up... We've been addicted to "giving up" when times are hard because why wait? IDK?
I think you are missing the cultural experiences that Obama has. Significantly diverse upbringing I think that gave him compassion for people different from his own background. The reconnecting with American Black's and not being alienated as so often many are. Having great patience, the astuteness to look bigotry in the eyes and to hear pain in the voices of those suffering and corral them to his cause, and to seamlessly propel the American "can do" Spirit back to relevancy, I think there are monumental differences between Obama and the last president, especially...
It would have to be a persuasive Caucasian man to have the effect we see now... Not even Bill Clinton has that deep connection. Look how many people are in the background at the Inauguration and the "festival party-like atmosphere"...
Even the media is taken aback by the sheer number and volume of people.
But like all things, the Honeymoon will soon be over... Maybe not in 2009, but definitely later... IDK?