Is it an Obama moment, or movement?
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Now this is a good question socio-political question, and seems like a good time to explore it, which a gathering of black journalists recently did.
The theme was “Obama Presidency: What’s Race Got To Do With It?â€
Rhetorical question, presumably. Race has been a tense and ever-present issue in America since Obama rose to the national spotlight. And oddly, for a man touted as a ‘post-partisan’, ‘post-racial’ leader (both terms having been used freely throughout the election year), we’ve been more focused on race-based politics than anytime in recent history.
Mary Frances Berry, the Geraldine R. Segal professor of American social thought and a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, said Obama’s presidency is a moment, and compared it with a love affair. At least she’s honest.
“If you’ve ever had a love affair and been in the deep throes of passion, it’s hard for people to tell you anything,†Berry said. “When we get over the love affair, maybe it will be after four years or maybe eight years, then we’ll be able to think more clearly.â€
Trouble is, we need to think more clearly now. Could we convene a panel on that?
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President Obama is our nation’s first black president. Given our history, that is a truly remarkable thing, and whether or not we are a post racial society or not, the president’s race is something people are going to talk about. I don’t really know what a post racial society is, but if it’s a society in which race and racial matters are never discussed, it’s not one I expect to see in my lifetime.
Unlike Ivy League professors, it seems, I don’t tend to fall in love with politicians, And if I did, President Obama’s somewhat cool and occasionally distant persona is not one I would find particularly lovable. But love is a good thing, a Christian thing, and I strongly disagree with the professor that love is necessarily inconsistent with clarity. Viewing