The Obama win

BY Staff
Published: November 6, 2008 in Editorial

It was not the successful presidential candidate mounting the stage in Grant Park, Chicago, to give his victory speech who provided the iconic image of US election night 2008, but rather the old civil rights campaigner, Jesse Jackson, who was filmed with tears coursing down his cheeks at the news of an Obama win. While the younger generation jumped up and down and cheered and shouted, the members of the older generation were overcome by deeper emotions.

For those who lived through the civil rights movement, it must hardly seem believable that the marches from Selma to Montgomery have finally ended in Pennsylvania Avenue. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in a bus to a white man – the catalyst of the civil rights struggle – the year was 1955; Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech was in 1963; the Civil Rights Act, 1964; and the Voting Rights Act, 1965. And these events are all well within living memory. They are not some happenings whose details are buried in dusty tomes on a library shelf; many, many thousands of people have direct or indirect memories of them. And for the African-Americans who lived through that era, there is a profound understanding of the road which has brought Senator Obama to the White House.

It is not so much that the US has changed fundamentally from the days of apartheid in the Deep South in the early 1960s – it has − but that it has done so somewhat more quickly than history often permits (which is not to suggest that racism in the United States will now disappear, or that the problems of African-Americans in the inner cities will evaporate, or that there will suddenly be equality of educational opportunities, etc, etc). More than a hundred years elapsed between the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 and the Voting Rights Act − years which were marked by oppression and untold suffering. And yet from Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus bridge in March 1965, to the 2008 election is just forty-three years – years of progress in key respects.

That aside, what one has to say is that the US electorate has vindicated the world’s faith in its capacity to correct mistakes – in the immediate instance the election of 2004. MNSBC has reported that there were three pillars of Senator Obama’s success – African-American voters, Hispanics and young white voters. To a much lesser degree, it was said, the President-elect obtained some support from college-educated white voters. The young white voters who turned out for the Democratic candidate had little thought for the historical context in which his campaign by implication was located; all they knew was that they were opposed to President George W Bush, they were choosing change and hope, and it really didn’t matter what colour Senator Obama was. That is the new American generation, and they should be given credit for their vision and for not being trammelled by the limiting perceptions of some of their elders.

However, it was perhaps not just among the young white voters that some kind of shift in the American political landscape can be seen; in certain areas, namely, Pennsylvania and Ohio especially, Mr Obama won because of the blue-collar vote. He was helped, of course, by a relentless campaign on the part of the unions, but still, perhaps even the Obama campaign team may have been surprised that some white workers who had an instinctive reluctance to vote for an African-American were in the end prepared to place their economic interests ahead of any private prejudices they may have been harbouring. That too is a change, albeit of a very qualified nature.

The President-elect will take over the White House at a time of crisis on all fronts; it will not be easy to fulfil the hopes that his soaring rhetoric has aroused among so many of his countrymen and women. Nevertheless, he will begin his term with a nation behind him that believes that America can recover, not one that under President Bush was beset by anxiety if not despondency. Far more can be achieved by a nation which believes in itself and has an optimistic outlook, than one which sees gloom all around. The 44th President of the United States will find that a restored faith in government, at least in the short term, will be an important advantage when making difficult decisions.

But that is for the period after the swearing in at the beginning of next year. In the meantime, the soldiers of the civil rights movement can indulge a certain satisfaction that when he takes the oath of office in January, the new President will be standing on their shoulders.

Comments

About Comments

The Comments section of this website is intended to provide a forum for reasoned and reasonable debate on the newspaper's content and is an extension of the newspaper and what it has become well known for over its history: accuracy, balance and fairness.

We reserve the right to edit/delete comments which contain attacks on other users, slander, coarse language and profanity, and gratuitous and incendiary references to race and ethnicity.

Curious about the little images next to each commenter's name ? Go here and sign up using the same email address you used to register for Stabroeknews.com then upload your image and confirm it.

10 Comments

supererro says:

November 6, 2008 at 10:42 am

Sound editorial! I might add though, without MONEY, and a Karl Rove style ground game; this may not have been a landslide!

To the doubting thomases, we have overcome!

Reply
Evan Thomas says:

November 6, 2008 at 11:06 am

Most times, we forget to include in our line up of those deserving of accolades for their involvement in the civil rights struggle, we forget to mention the unselfish personal sacrifice of President Johnson. He signed the instruments establishing civil rights for Blacks at great peril to his own political career…he gave away the south. Did he have a choice? I would say yes and he exercised his human instinct for doing the right thing at the right time. In other words, he legitimized the marches from Selma to Montgomery. Unfortunately for him, he is most often remembered for his role in the Vietnam war.

Reply
Carlene Coggins says:

November 6, 2008 at 1:21 pm

Your article, The Obama Win, echoes the sentiments of many. I would like to share with you the following:

“Rosa (Parks) sat so that Martin can stand; Martin stood so that Barack can run; Barack ran so that the youth can fly”

Reply
M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett says:

November 6, 2008 at 1:40 pm

This is the America the world wants: that is colour-blind to every colour, except GREEN, which ultimately is why BLACK won.

Reply
coffee with milk says:

November 7, 2008 at 7:49 am

Yes indeed nice article. Congratulations to president -elect Barack Obama.
However, i disagree that he is being called black. Because for me he is not, he is a mixture….Mistizo.. So won’t called him black…

Reply
- fed up says:
  
  November 9, 2008 at 10:51 pm
  
  to coffee with milk-what problem have you about him being called black? If that is how the man identifies himself, then so be it.
  
  Get over it-you people in Brazil are made up of over 50% black, yet you hide from the very things that make the country what it is-if it were not for Africa, Brazil (and the rest of the world) would not exist.
  
  You forget that in America, any person with 50% African ancestry is considered black-so were and STILL are the laws of the slavers and their descendants. Nice country!
Chris from Texas says:

November 8, 2008 at 11:51 am

Great Article but something very important is missing.

Perhaps the copy of one of my blogs posted on May 18th given below will provide some additional food for thought.

The Chosen One

By Chris from Texas - May 18th, 2008 at 10:27 pm EDT

Are we missing a very important factor regarding the Obama and Clinton political campaign?

There is a purpose being worked out here below, a purpose controlled by a higher power to mold Obama into a better , stronger, Presidential Candidate. If Senator Clinton had dropped out of the race that purpose would have been defeated. Jeremiah Wright is also part of that purpose and so are all of Obama’s critics and opponents.

When the primaries are over, Senator Hillary Clinton will do well to work towards uniting the Democratic Party and help her supporters to realize this purpose.

Mc Cain is already toasted. This election will be won by the Democratic Party. Hillary has done her job of testing Obama well. Her next responsibility is to encourage her supporters to support their party by voting for the declared Presidential candidate - the chosen one - Obama.

We all have a country to rescue from the vulchers and greedy sharks in Wall Street, credit card companies, financial institutions etc and to correct all the social injustices that the poor working class people have to endure in order to survive.

Skin color and race should not be an influential factor in a voter’s decision making. This is demonic in nature. Those in the Clinton camp who vowed not to vote for Obama because he is of a different ethnic group are telling us that they are not really Democrats but something else that I will refrain to mention at this time. If they are true Democrats they should ensure that the Democratic Party to which they claim to belong, score a landslide victory.

Obama was chosen by a higher power long before this campaign even started. He has been blessed with the financial resources and foot soldiers needed to lay the foundation. No one will be able to stop him until that higher power allows it. He must fight this battle to the end.

If he had an easy street like McCain, he would have indeed been a lousy presidential candidate. We should all treat Hillary with respect. She has done her job Obama admirably.

And to you Mr. President to be….let not success swell your head too much as to make you too top-heavy. Like humpty-dumpty, you can fall from the top never to rise again. Stay focused on the needs of the poor people whose blood sweat and tears cry out for social injustices to be put right. Thank God for all the blessings He has showered upon you and go to Him in prayer in all your decision making. Failure to do so will result in many obstacles to overcome. These will weigh you down and you will feel frustrated.

A food famine around the world is raising its head. It will be worse than the oil scenario. Work on a good agricultural plan. It will prove a huge blessing in the very near future because people cannot survive without food but can make do with little or no fuel.
Until next time.

A supporter and Great admirer - Guyanese by birth.

As you can see from the above… I was mostly right on target.

Until next time,

Chris

Reply
- Julius Nathooi says:
  
  November 10, 2008 at 4:55 pm
  
  Right on, Chris. Include the death of his maternal grandmother right after she had cast her vote for her beloved grandson and you know that there is a Divine Power working on the side of Obama.
Shirely says:

November 12, 2008 at 2:49 pm

I would just like to say Jesse Jackson didn’t support Obama I seem to recall him saying that he would cut off this male antomy or something to that effect. He was crying cause he felt like a jack ass

Reply
Chris from Texas says:

November 10, 2008 at 10:34 pm

Hi Julius!

I am happy that you found my post interesting.

Since this article was posted since may 18th I can now safely add this new fact as a postscript…….right?

Sincerely,

Chris Prashad.

Reply