Congratulations, President Barack H. Obama

[flamingjimmy 10]

Usage determines definition, and it is still used in the 'one drop' context.

 

Indeed it is, spot the 'black' man

 

http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2001/05/28/africa/story.jpg

 

Just so you now, that's 'black' ex secretary of state Colin Powell standing next to the ex president of Kenya Daniel arap Moi.

 

Now here he is with President Bush http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/041115/041115_moran_powell_hmed_10a.hmedium.jpg

[cloudybay 17]

The operative word here is 'was'. Obama was raised by two white people, mainly in Hawaii. He probably never saw a black ghetto until well into adulthood and certainly never lived in one.

 

I believe his father disappeared from his life when Obama was aged 3 and resumed his life in his native Kenya. Such dedicated parenting has been rewarded, however, as today is a national holiday in the aforementioned East African state.

[LordChaverly 10]

I believe his father disappeared from his life when Obama was aged 3 and resumed his life in his native Kenya. Such dedicated parenting has been rewarded, however, as today is a national holiday in the aforementioned East African state.

 

Dedicated parenting indeed Cloudy. Obama's dad seems to have dedicated himself to siring numerous offspring with a succession of women and dumping them all in turn.

[Rivelin6 11]

I'm sure the source of those funds could easily be accumulated from some of my other SF 'friends'..I believe they call it involuntary repatriation

S**t don't tell them I've got Irish ancestors or I'll be shipped off to Dublin:hihi:

Saying that I've never visited so it would be a good excuse to go and do my family history:D

[Mercenary 10]

For anyone who used to play Killer Instinct on the SNES back in the good old days.... http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i175/Mpage2396890/n678056860_1476454_6722.jpg

[mr contrite 10]

JESSE JACKSON'S tears as he watched Barack Obama's victory speech said it all. The face of the aging civil rights leader - a man who witnessed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and twice ran for president himself - conveyed pride and amazement in Obama's accomplishment.

 

It was also a reminder that Obama's victory closes the curtain on the old civil rights movement. A new era began with the election of America's first black president.

 

The feeling of being witness to a very special moment in American politics permeated election night. "This is an historic election, and I recognize the significance it has for African-Americans," declared Republican candidate John McCain in his concession speech. ". . . We both realize that we have come a long way from the injustices that once stained our nation's reputation."

 

Obama campaigned as an African-American candidate without a race-based agenda. Yet exactly what it means for the country to be led by a so-called "post-racial" president is still unclear. While Obama's victory is bound to alter the conversation about race between black and white Americans, it doesn't immediately solve the problems that long motivated civil rights leaders.

 

How might Obama's remarkable achievement affect policy? During a debate in Philadelphia with Hillary Clinton, Obama said in response to a question that his own daughters do not deserve affirmative action because of their economic privilege. As president, will he lead the way from race-based to class-based policies?

 

Some black leaders say Obama's political success means it's time to shift away from the dialogue of victimhood.

 

"Racism is no longer the primary obstacle to black progress. With the election of a black man whose middle name is Hussein, the rhetoric of white racism is off the table," declared the Rev. Eugene Rivers, a Boston-based minister with a national agenda and a history of taking controversial stands. "Black people don't want to hear it. White people don't want to hear it. . . . The old school is over."

 

By "old school," Rivers is referring to what he calls the "professional protest leadership" represented by civil rights activists like Jackson. That worldview, said Rivers, calls for "decrying inequality" and blaming white racism for all the problems of African-Americans.

 

Kevin Peterson, a Boston community activist who runs the Ella J. Baker House in Dorchester, also calls for a new brand of black leadership. "Obama's success this political cycle represents a new style," Peterson said. "The notion that black people need to employ racially polarizing stances is now extinct. There are more effective ways to get things done for our communities than being accusatory."

 

At the same time, major disparities in income and education continue to separate black and white America; gang violence takes the lives of black teenagers in cities across America; and a generation of black men call prison their home. Community leaders want these problems solved somehow.

 

Said the Rev. Mark Scott, another Boston-based minister, "You can't say it's because of racism. You can't just say, 'Pull your pants up.' You have to ask, 'What work are we going to do to close the gaps?' "

 

During the campaign, Obama was forced to break with the racially polarizing rhetoric of his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In his speech on race, Obama faulted Wright for failing to recognize the country's racial progress. However, he did not cut Wright loose until the minister reignited the controversy with more polarizing remarks.

 

Obama did not escape criticism for some of his own remarks, including a reference to his grandmother as "a typical white person." But he stayed away from the inflammatory rhetoric of the past.

 

Last summer, Jackson was caught on videotape making crude remarks about Obama and accusing the presidential candidate of "talking down to black people." He was scolded by his son, Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., who served as co-chairman of Obama's presidential campaign and is now being mentioned as a contender for Obama's US Senate seat.

 

With Obama's victory, the torch is passing to a new generation of black leaders. But they still face some of the same old challenges.

 

 

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/11/06/closing_the_door_on_victimhood

[callippo 10]

SO why has there never been a female leader in USA?

 

so far, there have been 29 female US state governors, many of which have become the chief executives of states that dwarf many European nations in both size and GDP.

 

Whereas in Indonisia, Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh have at one time or another had/have female political leaders

 

political 'leaders' all of whom, without a single exception, have been related by marriage or by bloodline to a previous male incumbent. Only the western liberal democracies elect women to serious political posiitions in their own right rather than dynastically.

[flamingjimmy 10]

SO why has there never been a female leader in USA?

 

so far, there have been 29 female US state governors, many of which have become the chief executives of states that dwarf many European nations in both size and GDP.

 

Whereas in Indonisia, Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh have at one time or another had/have female political leaders

 

political 'leaders' all of whom, without a single exception, have been related by marriage or by bloodline to a previous male incumbent. Only the western liberal democracies elect women to serious political posiitions in their own right rather than dynastically.

 

 

Oooh well done my feathered friend. What say you now Baz?

[Wildcat 10]

SO why has there never been a female leader in USA?

 

so far, there have been 29 female US state governors, many of which have become the chief executives of states that dwarf many European nations in both size and GDP.

 

It still leaves the question about why none of them have gone on to become president.

 

Whereas in Indonisia, Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh have at one time or another had/have female political leaders

 

political 'leaders' all of whom, without a single exception, have been related by marriage or by bloodline to a previous male incumbent. Only the western liberal democracies elect women to serious political posiitions in their own right rather than dynastically.

 

The US seems to have plenty of their own dynasties.

 

I have only looked up one and Tansu Çiller's father was a provincial Governor not really an 'incumbent'.

[yongatron13 10]

One of the most interesting things in the US election, is how Obama managed to encorporate the youth and ethnic vote's into his strategy, with evident success. Young people and black people turned out in their millions to vote for this man.

 

In our rather stale political system, how can we encourage these demographics to vote in the next British election? Obviously, the black vote may not be so significant in size as in the United States, but the youth vote in its vastness, is something no candidate has ever been able to holistically secure.

 

Is 'Ali G In Da House' literally the closest thing we have to an Obama??!!! Because I dont think Cameron's hug-a-hoodie or blogging skills can really inspire 8 hour queues of young voters curling around street corners....

[bizzle 10]

I'm sure the source of those funds could easily be accumulated from some of my other SF 'friends'..I believe they call it involuntary repatriation

 

 

 

OBAAMMMMMMMMMMMMA

 

 

I am just excited

[callippo 10]

nobody suggests that Clinton lost out to Obama in the priomaries because she was a woman. And had she happened to have beaten him, she would definitely be President now, assuming that McCain ran a similarly appalling campaign.

 

It still leaves the question about why none of them have gone on to become president.

 

a pretty easy one to answer I would have thought. None of them, including Clinton and Palin, have been good enough. Had they been, then like Obama, then they would have won.