Arrogance of being President while being Black

[Jennifer Brown-Aryee]

Hope you all find it worth the read

This is an excellent article written by a someone who is realistic
(and
happens to be White).The very last paragraph says it all.



A little long but worth the read to the end (even if you don't agree!)




AUTHOR UNKNOWN but it is all over the web.


ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW!!!!!






Description: cid:X.MA1.13...@aol.com

Arrogance of being President while being Black


 I don't think anyone was under some real illusion that the election
of
Barack Obama actually means the end of racism in America . I'm pretty
sure
that the president-elect knew it better than anyone. After all, he
saw it
every day, from the moment he announced his candidacy. To some
degree, he
saw it within his own party during the primaries. And he saw it in all
ugliness during the general election. For half of this country, he
was "That
One". No matter how big and clear his victory was. No matter how
smart he
is. No matter how decent he is. No matter what a true patriot he is.
No
matter how optimistic and positive his vision for America was. All
that
didn't matter. Because at the end of the day, he was still black.


 I'm quite old. I remember, vaguely, where my parents were on
November 22,
1963. I've seen so many presidents. Some were feared, some were
hated, some
were adored, some popular and some not. But all of them, without
exception,
were treated with the highest respect deserving the office of the
president
of the United States .


 That is until a black man won the right to occupy this office. It's
been 13
months now, and in the eyes of so many, Barack Obama is still that
one. He
is being disrespected and at the same time being held to the highest
standard of any president I've ever seen - and not just by the
Republican
side! He has to perform three times better than any president in
history,
and even that may not be enough.


 For the media, he is many more times just "Obama" than "President
Obama".
They create scandals out of nothing issues. It took them at least 6
years to
start giving Bush a small part of the shit he deserved. It took them 6
months to begin crap all over Obama because he's yet to fix the
catastrophe
that was left for him.


 They use condescending tones when they talk about him, and only
mildly less
condescending when they talk TO him. With anyone else, CNN wouldn't
dare go
to commercials every time the president speaks, like they did during
that
summit on Thursday. They wouldn't dare be counting how many minutes
George
Bush or Bill Clinton were talking. Chris Mathews wouldn't dare make
an issue
out of Ronald Regan calling members of congress by their first name,
like he
is not actually the president. They fully cooperate with the
Right-Wing
smear machine when it comes to president Obama's national security
performance - even if almost every independent and military expert
actually
thinks that he's a terrific Commander-in-Chief. You'll never see them
on TV,
and virtually no one from the Left, in congress and outside, defend
the
president on this matter.


 I don't care about the Far-Right. They're just crazy ignorant
Neanderthals.
It's the way the beltway and the mainstream treats this president
that is
shocking. On Thursday, almost every Republican had no trouble
interrupting
him in the middle of a sentence. They looked like they're going to
vomit
every time they had to say "Mr. president". They all had this
Eric-Cantor-Smirk whenever he spoke. Then they went out and started
to spit
their stupid talking points, to the delight of the media. Sarah
Palin, a
woman who can hardly read, thinks that he was "arrogant" towards John
McCain, and somehow this is an important news. Because you see,
"Obama's
Arrogance" is the talking point of the day.


 Oh, those talking points. He is arrogant (because he knows the facts
better
than all of them combined). He is an elitist (because he uses big
words that
they don't understand). He is weak on national security (because he
actually
thinks about the consequences). He divides the country (well, he did
that
the day he had the audacity to win the election). Worst of all, he
actually
thinks that he's the president. He even dared to say so on Thursday.
How
arrogant of him. You'd think that previous presidents didn't have any
ego.
Somehow it turned out that the one president who treats even his
biggest
opponents with the utmost respect - is the arrogant one. I wonder why?


 I expected that his winning the Presidency would bring out some
ugliness,
but it's been far worse than I imagined. The racism coming from the
Right is
obviously clear and shameless, but there's also some hidden and maybe
subconscious and disturbing underline tone behind some of the things
that I
read here and throughout the Left blogosphere, even before the end of
Obama's first year - 'He's weak, he's spineless, he's got no balls,
primary
him in 2012'. It'll be dishonest to deny that.


 The fact is that for millions in America , Barack Obama is this
uppity
black man (Not even a "real" black), who received good education only
due to
affirmative action, and has no right to litter the sacred Oval Office
with
his skin color. They just can't accept the fact that the president is
a
black man, who unlike his predecessor, was actually legally elected.
But
what's really sad is that it's not just the fringe, its deep deep in
mainstream America .


 Barack Obama's ability to remain above all this slob, to keep his
optimism
and his strange and mostly unjustified faith in people, while
continuing to
gracefully deal with an endless shitstorm - is one of the most
inspiring
displays of human quality I have ever seen. And I can only hope that
the
Cosmos is on his side because God is and He never makes a mistake.



Sometimes, they make me feel ashamed to be a white man!!