The predictions were numerous during last year's campaign, and they came from some very respected, very educated Negroes who really should know better. People said the Obamas would serve as a shining example as the perfect functional marriage that would convince brothers coast to coast to turn in their player cards, put a rang on it, and buy that Toyota Sienna to fill with kids. Others said Michelle-O's physical fitness would have black women trading armchairs for arm curls. Still others said the sight of such an accomplished family would encourage kids to study hard in school and prepare for an adolescent life at Yale, not Jail.
I realize that being one of the few voices of dissent during all this made me sound like the consummate crab in a barrel (word to Tavis), but my Negro Spidey Sense just gets agitated when I hear such proclamations. Reality is, folks have never changed by osmosis, change is a gradual, difficult, and painful process that requires patience, hard work, and sacrifice. And lets not forget, for all the progress made last November 4th, only 65% of eligible blacks even bothered to turn off Judge Mathis and head down to their local polling place. If you can't get Negroes to simply show up and pull a lever, how likely are you to get them to suddenly become Cliff Huxtable and raise their damn kids?
This doesn't stop semi-reputable news organizations from still trying to make a story of "The Obama Effect" one year later though. And it looks like some more folks fell for that whole "voting for Obama makes all the difference" line of thinking, this time, courtesy of the underrated Don Lemon (who is trying to make himself this generation's Bernard Shaw, and actually succeeding on some counts, just not this one) of CNN.
Poppycock. And damnit, would someone please tell DJ Drama to straighten his cap or take it off? He looks like a moron.
Sorry folks, but I can't see what the lasting tangible effects of 4 (and maybe 8) years of Obama in Black America are going to be. The only thing he really even promised was to reform urban education. But for all the grandiose plans he had to implement those "Harlem Children's Zone"s all across America, you and I know he's spent all his political (and literal) capitol getting healthcare legislation passed. There is no more money (or concern) for comprehensive education reform, which is why Arne Duncan and Co. have scaled back their plans to do little more than tinker around the edges of No Child Left Behind. So, scratch that one.
If there's been any tangible Obama Effect on me personally, it hasn't been as a parent or husband (I was gonna be good at those anyway), it's been professionally. I take my career and role a bit more seriously now, and sometimes when I'm conducting a conference call and handling my biz, I Channel My Inner Barack Swagger™, and try to inspire my co-workers to greater heights.
"Can we debug this code?!? YES WE CAN!!!"
But honestly that's about it for me. What about ya'll?!?
Question: How has The Obama Effect changed your life personally? Has the election of Obama changed anything of substance in the Black community, or is this just media fabrication?
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I think the Obama's are the new Huxtables--an almost fictitious core Black family. For many people, it is live proof that Black marriages do exist. Sad, but true reality. Obama's election showed many people that a group of people believed in THIS man enough to elect him into his position. Most Black people are aware that Obama is an anomaly, and that no other Black man will be bestowed with the same fortune any time soon.
In terms of substance, in terms of how much Obama has changed our day to day interaction, our outlook on our lives and our own potential--I'm not so certain that Obama's election has done much at all. It just sounds good, and when convenient, we echo the media's sentiments. When you ask people to point to how their lives have changed, they offer little. The universal answer is, "But it's hope." Unfortunately, hope is one of those action words that isn't really an action word at all. When that hope turns into some action, perhaps the media will actually report a sentiment that is mildly accurate.
I also agree that the Obama's are the 2009 Huxtables', I don't know if I feel that they are an anomaly...
I do think that our lovely media does a great job of showing many examples of the disfunctional black family and not so many examples of the highly functional black family...
While the Obama's have not changed my perception of the black community, I think it has forced the media to 'open' it's eyes (a little)...
Is it the life altering, we found life on Mars change that people acted like it would be? NO. But there's been some change or maybe better said, there was has been an awakening among some folk. It's too early to see any real lasting changes. People don't react that fast.
Obama being elected has yield very little substance in the black community other than what the other two previous posters mentioned. The Obamas are the embodiment of the ideal black family but if we were to step back and look around for a second would we see these families like the Obamas all around us. The mainstream media distortions of depicting the masses of unmarried black women and black men in prison, being players, or either chasing white women clouds the images of all the healthy black couples all around us.
I think it's way too early to see.
Stuff like this is best understood in hindsight and contextually. The substance you speak of would best be understood as far as trends are calculated, which means that once we progress a bit we'll see what the future holds. If anything changed in the present, I'd dare say it wouldn't be substantive change in the first place.
Tell me this is a trick question! Obama does nothing for the average person no matter what their color.If you are not of the Wall Street or Harvard-Yale type,you got nothing coming from Obama himself or his policies,except maybe a chance for a job in two wars 10,000 miles from your stoop!
As a paleface with an occasional tendency to wander through the black blogosphere, one thing that's hard to navigate is the divide between those who say things like "the Obamas are unusual" or "Obama's an anomaly" and those (like Wave & DJ Ed Nice just above) who say they are not.
Obviously, individuals have different life experiences that shape their outlooks in different ways, and it's futile to think that any one person's opinion (on anything!!) can represent even a vague outline of "the whole truth", but a sticking point like that---which as we all know lurks just beneath the surface of the media's only-now-fading Obamamania---does make for some head scratching. Especially to an outsider.
If nothing else, it probably shows how subjective "truth" can be.
That's just peachy if you're a neurotic like me who has an unhealthy [[i]]obsession[[i]] with the whole "truth" concept. XP
I've never believed in "the Obama Effect" simply because I don't believe that's human nature.
Except...
Except....
Dammit! It really IS true that the men's undershirt business was ruined for years just because Clark Gable wasn't wearing one in "It Happened One Night."
So...people will follow the lead of an undershirt-less Hollywood actor, but apparantly not a President. Huh.
(Do we know if HE wears undershirts?...)
Media fabrication... Also what's the phrase "Bigotry of Low Expectations?".
I want to clarify...I did not say The Obama's (as in the family) are an anomaly. Barack Obama, the President, is. I believe it will be some time before another Black man is bestowed with the honor.
Folks, it's too early to tell. Can you PLEASE let the man do his job?
Not to beat a dead cliche, but Rome wasn't built in a day. What makes anybody think that Obama can rebuild what his predecessor tore down over eight years in the span of 11 months?
I agree with uppity negro. This is the sort of thing is best understood in hindsight. Certainly we have no idea how the president's address to schoolkids affected their performance, outside of anecdotal accounts.
I think way too much weight is being put on President Obama's shoulders. He has the skill set and determination that will hopefully make him successful at his job. Expecting him to be all that and then some is asking for disappointment. And I think the most useful lesson that a person gets from growing up in a household with two married parents is that marriage is hard. Plain and simple. In fact being in a serious long term relationship is hard. Holding up a couple's marriage as the ideal example is neither fair to them or useful to a couple aspiring to be married or stay married.
So the phantom post returns...
**cue Twilight Zone music**
since u added the "Yes We Can" question, I think Mitchell over at Negro Intellectual answered that best in his post "There is WORK to be Done!" There is WORK to be Done!
There is WORK to be done and it is unending. Thanks Uppity for he link. Yes WE can.
Honestly, I don't think he's changed much. He's just highlighting what was already there - successful black families. What's new to the world is common knowledge to black people.
If anything, the only change that I've noticed is that there are even more black people in commercials than I remember seeing. And the quality has stepped up too. Black people are promoting everything from finance to green energy. I just saw a commerical for a guy promoting alternative energy fuel on broadcast tv tonight.
[quote]Stuff like this is best understood in hindsight and contextually. [/quote]
Uppity Negro:
For ME Barack Obama is a scaled up version of what the Black Community already has running it at the local level. What policy departures from what we see locally does President Obama stand for? Thus - how realistic is it to expect some radical transformation?
I keep hearing people say "Obama has change the way BLACK MEN ARE VIEWED". This is implicitly an EXTERNAL REFERENCE. When we start talking from the inside of our community outward it becomes clear that the policies and the preferences of most Black folks is to have our CONSUMER relationship with the federal government expanded.
People want to be made "in receipt of benefit", unconcerned as to increased capability of their own communities to organically produce their own living standards per the control that they now have over their local institutions.
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