2008 Analyzed
posted by on July 24 at 10:55 AM
To read a rewarding analysis on the current state of black political power, go here. It’s by Shelby Steele, and concerns the fall of Jesse Jackson and the rise of Barack Obama.
Mr. Jackson was always a challenger. He confronted American institutions (especially wealthy corporations) with the shame of America’s racist past and demanded redress. He could have taken up the mantle of the early Martin Luther King (he famously smeared himself with the great man’s blood after King was shot), and argued for equality out of a faith in the imagination and drive of his own people. Instead — and tragically — he and the entire civil rights establishment pursued equality through the manipulation of white guilt.Their faith was in the easy moral leverage over white America that the civil rights victories of the 1960s had suddenly bestowed on them. So Mr. Jackson and his generation of black leaders made keeping whites “on the hook” the most sacred article of the post-’60s black identity.
They ushered in an extortionist era of civil rights, in which they said to American institutions: Your shame must now become our advantage. To argue differently — that black development, for example, might be a more enduring road to black equality — took whites “off the hook” and was therefore an unpardonable heresy. For this generation, an Uncle Tom was not a black who betrayed his race; it was a black who betrayed the group’s bounty of moral leverage over whites. And now comes Mr. Obama, who became the first viable black presidential candidate precisely by giving up his moral leverage over whites.
Mr. Obama’s great political ingenuity was very simple: to trade moral leverage for gratitude. Give up moral leverage over whites, refuse to shame them with America’s racist past, and the gratitude they show you will constitute a new form of black power. They will love you for the faith you show in them.
On the McCain side of things, this accurate analysis, sent to me in the form of an email, is by Ben Gardener:
Poor John McCain, after daring Obama to step up to the plate and visit the war-torn Middle East, Obama does so, and does it with a little Presidential bearing, bringing a pair of bipartisan senators with him, striking positions on Iraq that end up being embraced by the Iraqis themselves, and for the first time, the recalcitrant President Bush feels compelled to abandon his own “no timeline” position. All this happened in the first two days of Obama’s Middle East trip. McCain is now the only Presidential player who says no timeline, at all, none. This position is clearly at odds with his insistence that we “have succeeded” in Iraq. Indeed, Mr. McCain regularly goes out of his way to clarify that he means “not succeeding, but succeeded.” Yet even as the Iraqis themselves have gently prodded us towards an exit McCain alone says there must be no withdrawal plan. However, if indeed, we have succeeded in Iraq, I’d think McCain would be eager to remove American forces so that he can show the world how viable that success is. Even Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), an opponent of withdrawal timelines, acknowledged, “If we’re going to crow about the fact that 12 million [Iraqis] v oted and elected their own leadership, we have to pay attention to their leadership,” he said. “We can’t have it both ways. We should say we’re heading for the door.” By serving notice that he will not discuss any withdrawal option, even over Iraqi objections, McCain is showing that what he really believes only our military presence has temporarily suppressed the enemy, and that the enemy will reemerge with strength after we leave. Is that success?McCain states that we must remain in Iraq until the Iraqis can take care of the country themselves. He is so uncertain as to when or whether the Iraqis can arrive at such a state, that he won’t venture any date for America’s exit, no matter how distant that date may be. If McCain so clearly lacks confidence in Iraq’s self-management capabilities, he cannot honestly use the term “we’ve succeeded” in Iraq.
Despite what he tells us, McCain knows that moments of relative calm do not necessarily mean peace. Temporary lulls in Afghan fighting in the last few years did not mean the nation was at peace. The same holds true for the West Bank, and Gaza, and we’ll see that the same will hold true for Iraq. When frequent suicide bombings and attacks on Americans again occur in Iraq, and no one is saying they won’t, McCain will have a choice: He can deny he ever said that we “have succeeded” in Iraq, or deny the importance of that phrase, saying that we liberal journalists are just splitting hairs and why don’t we all just get a life. However, Mr. McCain seems to think there is something very important about uttering “we have succeeded” in Iraq. Google the phrase “John McCain we have succeeded,” (no quotation marks) and see how many hits you get. He says it all the time.
Sorry, chuckles. Your posts are too long to read without the girlie pix.
What, nothing on gays in the military?
You guys seem to be ignoring KUOW a lot nowadays.
Charles,
I too read that piece by Shelby Steele in the Wall Street Journal a few days ago. In fact, I sent it to an Obama backer buddy of mine in suburban Chicago. Rev. Jackson is now irrelevant. He won't be speaking at the DNC, that's for sure. Clearly, Rev. Jackson either envies or loathes (it's more likely both) Sen. Obama. There's no doubt there has been a tetonic change in the civil rights movement's leadership. As a result, it's possible that the election of Sen. Obama may actually NOT benefit African-Americans. With the "moral leverage" element removed, some African-Americans will have an even harder time proving racial discrimination especially to liberal whites.
As for Rev. Jackson, he could end up being the poster boy for the "absentee father" that Sen, Obama called into account on (lack thereof?) Father's Day. He has an illegitimate child who's about 6 or 7 years old now.
Old school black power people are not relevant in the 21st Century.
They need to wake up and realize we've moved on.
And about fricking time - it was a long long time a coming.
lark @ 3, Will in Seattle @ 4:
It is refreshing to know that there are people out there who know less about black politics than I do.
"Old school black power people?" My ass! The racism that Jesse Jackson has spent a lifetime fighting against is as alive and well as it has ever been, and we have not "moved on" from it. That battle, and those who fight it, are never "irrelevant."
House n----rs like Shelby Steele, bought and paid for, are nobody's authority, any more than Armstrong Williams or Thomas Sowell are.
Beside that, both of you are too dense to get the scam. Obama and Jesse set this up months ago, and Jesse is playing the part Obama needs him to play.
Conflict between them? Old vs. new? Bull shit! The WWF couldn't pull off a better act than this. Jesse is the Washington Generals and Obama is the Harlem Globetrotters, and only the rubes think it's a real conflict.
That first one had me up until the last paragraph. Who are these idiots who over-analyze things to the point where they don't even know what they're talking about anymore. Gratitude for not holding someone's feet to the the fire is not power, it's complicity. A city that refuses to confront a polluting company in its backyard gains no power in the corporations' gratitude, it only parades its own weakness. No, the gratitude will not come from looking the other way; the gratitude will come from making the shift from an obsession with revenge to a desire for mutual rewards.
Show your enemy that it's in their best interest to work with you and you've gained a friend.
The black community will see the obvious advantage to ceasing it's adversarial blame-laying tactics and actually working towards some cohesive inter-racial understanding. How Jackson and his buddies ever thought that driving a wedge between blacks and whites and pointing fingers would lead to racial unity is beyond me. Or, perhaps they ultimately had no desire for unity since it would erode their own relevance. Humans are, inevitably, selfish, civil rights leaders included.
I don't dispute that their tactics were not effective at the time, but no single strategy is ever effective end-to-end. You will never truly win with an entirely offensive or defensive strategy, sometimes you need to convince the other guy that you're on the same team. Unfortunately, this is also the sort of thing we should be doing overseas as well.
@5 - au contraire, I know more about old school black politics than you ever will. When I was a kid, they used to stay at our place, and I learned the reality of what it's like in Texas and Michigan too.
I say again - this is the day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for.
We won't support ball-less NO-Bama and will re-defeat him in November!!!
Will, my buddy:
You have no clue what I know or don't know, have seen or not seen, have done or have not done.
If you think Obama's election will wipe racism from our society as if by waving a magic wand, or that Jesse Jackson's approach to fighting it, among other approaches, is somehow no longer relevant, I have an oceanfront lot in Missouri to sell you. Better buy one now while the supply lasts.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Lark @ 3, I normally don't nitpick misspellings on the intertubes, but you said
"tetonic change"
and that's funny, given that this is a Charles post, and "teton" is* French for boobs. Uh huh huh huh huh...
(* well, maybe)
@CP 11,
Thanks for the correction. It is indeed "tectonic" not "tetonic". And, you're correct "teton" is French for tit or boob. I hope you know that I meant "a significant shift" in the leadership of the civil rights movement.
The concept of "white guilt" voting is a hoax. White people are far more politically savy.
This election is about Bush shame. The jig is finally up on the white American racial double standard. Only a white male with money would get the free pass this half-wit President gets.
Shelby Steele is truly an Uncle Tom. He helps white feel okay about their racism. I love how he called it their "racial innocence"-LOL! I see a t-shirt slogan with that line!! LOL!
Question to Shelby Steele: If white people are suffering from "racial innocence" then what would they be feeling guilty about?
Right ... and yet, until we move on, we remain trapped.
Time to change. NOW.
Will @ 14:
That's for victims of racism to decide, not you nor I. You don't decide for somebody else that they need to "move on."
People do what *they* need to do, for *their* reasons and not yours. How much more fucking presumptuous can you be?
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