Sorry Black Folk, Obama is Not Your Friend

Black folks have drunk the Kool-Aid and are too far gone to realize the truth - that Barack Obama is a shrewd, political hack who could give a damn about the Black masses and is very much about the status quo -- and furthering his political career.

But JJ, he's not running for the president of Black America! He's running for the president of All America!

Right. So let me ask you this, when Regan had his "I'm running for president," coming out party in Philadelphia Mississippi, do you think he was sending the message that he was running for all America or just white America?

While you're readying your response to that quip, here is a response to an excellent piece over on Black Agenda Report, that fully and accurately breaks down Obamaism:

It seems to me that the biggest problem we face today is the myth of the two-party system.
As long as we all pretend that there is any difference whatsoever between the major political parties in this country, we will continue to be vulnerable to manipulation by those global corporate entities who are really in charge.
A wet-behind-the-ears, newly elected junior senator does not have the wherewithall to mount a successful, dragon-slaying campaign without some powerful mojo from outside interests.
Nearly one hundred million dollars on hand before he was barely introduced to the millions of small donors who supposedly funded his campaign?
A manipulative, Rovian primary strategy that gamed the process in a style mastered in a ridiculously short political career, one spent almost entirely running for office and winning not on merit, but on technicality?
This is not the campaign of a committed politician, this is a carefully orchestrated puppet show.
The man behind the podium is a self-admitted blank screen, a chameleon, a shape-shifter.
To black Americans, he is redemption, validation, the culmination of the struggle, fulfillment of the dream.
For white Americans he is vindication, exoneration, absolution.
To young America he is hope, the promise of the future, the sign of the times, the prospect of things to come.
He's a liberal, he's a conservative, he's a hawk, he's anti-war, he's progressive, he's right-wing, he's black, he's white.
You name it, he is it.
What could be better?
Yet that is who he is only because that is who he is scripted to be.
In reality he is none of those things.
He's a two-bit political hack who can't seem to form a coherent sentence without a TelePrompter, let alone formulate or even explain a comprehensive, complex position on any government policy.
He simply looks the part for which he was cast.
In the minds of the string pullers he's the preferred winner, his opponent an equally scripted and cast, acceptable alternative.
What's so sad for black people is that to be so emotionally invested in what amounts to little more than an elaborately produced made-for-tv-movie is a sure-fire prescription for heartbreak.
The tragedy of buying the hype is there is no return policy, no money back guarantee, no recourse whatsoever.
What happens after the heartbreak is what worries many of us older folks, can our people endure such large-scale disillusionment?
Because the bottom line is whether he succeeds or fails those who look to him to be the reality of a common destiny realized are bound to be devastated when they realize it ain't about you.
And it never was.

But JJ, he's just saying and doing what he's doing so white folks will vote for him. Once he gets in to Office he'll really be for us Black folks!

Right. As Ed over at Dream and Hustle points out:

Oh, please spare me the nod-wink-nod “when Barack Obama gets in the office, he will take care of Black people - he just can’t say it on the campaign trail”. That no different than an irresponsible Black male telling a female if he gets her pregnant, he will “do the right thing” without any explicit commitment.

And we all know how well that has worked out for the Black community. I do wonder though, after the debacle that was the Clinton presidency (NAFTA, Welfare Reform, expansion of the prison industrial complex) why are Black folk so willing to believe that any politician running for president will do anything for us outside of take out votes and then give us his ass to kiss? Y do we sell our vote for so little? Why don't we demand that folk give us concrete ways in which they plan on helping us before they get in office (or get the nomination) and if they don't, we let them know we will take our vote elsewhere or sit home?

I know. I know. I wasn't always this down on Obama. I admit I got caught in the Obama wave a bit. But that was largely because Hillary Clinton pissed me the hell off. And if being ra, ra for Obama was what it took to sing, "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," then so be it.

But my reservations about him have always been the same: That he was a corporate hack who would throw Black folk under the bus at the first opportunity.

And boy he wasted no time in proving me right. First his pastor, then Black fathers, and then the rest of black America to boot. He's doing what I like to call the Corporate Shuffle: Wanna get promoted in Corporate America? Just hate on Black folks and you'll show "The Man" you're not like one of those Negros.

But JJ, Black people do need to do better! 70% out of wedlock births, high incarceration rates, illiteracy, unemployment, you're just an apologist for irresponsible behaviour.

Right. So all those unemployed, under employed white folks are that way 'cause the system is bad but Black folks are that way because of our innate pathological tendencies? Let me ask you this: When has Obama EVER given a lecture to those good, God-fearing, gun-toting, hardworking Americans that he's been pandering to so much as of late?

Name a time.

Find me some video.

Has he said to them that there lack of an education is part of the reason why they are in the economic situation they are in (contrary to popular belief anti-intellectualism in not just a Black thing)? How about their racial bias that kept them voting for a party that could give a damn about them but since it wasn't the party of Niggers and Spics then they gladly did so year in and year out? How about the living above their means that had them using their homes as ATM's and now has left them flat broke and in major debt? Anything on that? No? Yeah. I thought so.

When white people experience hard times, there's a systemic issue. When Black people experience experience hard times, it's because we don't take "personal responsibility, for our actions. Am I the only that sees something wrong with that?

And on one final note: Why is Obama doing all this lecturing to folks whose votes he needs if he wants to be elected. As Ed said:
What kind of politician would tell a group of potential voters to “take responsibility” and what kind of freaking mess is that? Politicians pander to voters to get their votes, they don’t tell them to do anything. Show me in political history a candidate telling potential voters to take care of their themselves…please show me.

Yeah. Show me too.

Wise Words From Black Angenda Report

From House Slaves, Field Slaves and the Obama Predicament:

On the plantation, it is likely that many of the field slaves who managed to talk their way into the big house entered fully conscious of the likelihood that the humiliation they would suffer there would reach intolerable limits. Those contemporary field slaves who live vicariously through would-be President Obama, will be well advised to, like their ancestors, continue their journey toward 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with open eyes, and a frank realization that the presidency is not a political panacea - and possibly not even a palliative pill for the ills of America's African population. If we are to achieve genuine liberation, all political options, including revolution must not only remain open, but be pursued as though the world had never heard of Barack Obama.

And that's all I'm saying Black folks. Be happy that Barack has a shot at the Big Whitehouse. Celebrate it. Rejoice in it. But recognize that it doesn't change anything. Recognize that anyone who is willing to "abandon his pastor, ignore his community, commit to a corporate and Zionist agenda, and pander to bigots," will likely keep doing such if it means he will keep his job.

What do you think the flag lapel pin was all about? It was directed toward those bigots voters who have questions about Obama's "patriotism." Expect to see more of that. And the more of that you see, the more Black folks become the boogie man and the more Black pathology is put out there as the cause of our problems and not the systemic racism that confronts all Black people from birth.

Just be prepared is all I'm saying. Rejoice for Barack's presidency like you did for OJ's freedom but recognize -- it doesn't change anything.

Our New Step In Fetch It In Chief - Andrew Young

I once called Bob Johnson our Step In Fetch It In Chief. However after the asinine comments Andrew Young made a few days back I shall have to take the honor away from Johnson and hand it over to Young.

My favorite line from the whole debacle, "Bill is every bit as black as Barack," he said. "He has probably gone out with more black women than Barack."

Yeah 'cause a. That's something to be proud of and b. That determines how Black you are. I mean if that's the measuring stick we live by for deciding who's Black and who's not Black then many a southern white politician is Black. Hell Strom Thurmond must be really Black 'cause he fathered a Black baby. Oh and let's not forget Thomas Jefferson. He had a whole family.

I am Not an African-American

Since I've changed the focus of this blog to deal with all issues concerning Black women...not just romantic ones...I am going to kick off political debates/conversations on A Big Butt and a Smile because, while I've been politically apathetic as late, I recognize Black women have a lot of power in this upcoming election and need to be well informed to wield it.

To kick off the political discussion I"m posting apiece I originally wrote back in my college days at the University of Miami and retooled a few years back. So here it is just as I penned it a few years ago with minor (very minor) changes.


I am not an African-American

I am not an African-American. Don’t call me an African –American. I’m an American. Period. I was born here as were my parents and grandparents and you would have to search many a generation back before you found anyone in my family who originated from the continent of Africa. It’s time black people in this country stop trying to identify with a land whose culture is not their own. It’s time we stand up and say “This land is our land” and let everyone know we have a right to this country as much as anyone.

I understand the need for black people in America to find an identity all their own. We are as displaced as a people can be. Brought here in the early seventeenth century, first as indentured servants then as slaves the richness of culture these individuals brought from their various tribes was systematically ripped away from them. Maybe in calling ourselves African-American we feel we can retrieve some of that richness that is lost to us and was stolen from our people so long ago. However the atrocities of the past are just that, the past and trying to identify with lost cultures isn’t going to help us achieve the respect and prosperity that has alluded us for so long in a country that is still hostile to those of African descent.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way suggesting we forget about the past. It’s important to study and learn from your forefathers’ triumphs, mistakes and pain. Continuously changing our identification however, is not the best way to use that knowledge. We’ve had several “identities:” from Colored to Negro, Black and now African-American. How can we expect anyone else to know who we are if we’re not sure of our own identity? How can we expect to come together as a people if we can’t agree on something as simple as to what to call ourselves? Hell the government is not even sure who we are if the census form was any indication with their Black, Negro, African-American non-hispanic category.

I say dispense with all of the confusion. We’re American. The sweat of our brow helped build this country. Benjamin Banneker a black man, helped design the white house. Something as simple as the traffic light and as life saving as the blood transfusion were created by black people. Americans. From music, to dance, to literature we have given much more to this country then it has have ever given to us. We can be proud in simply calling ourselves Americans because we have more then earned that right. It’s time we make use of it.

I was once asked if I viewed myself as an American first and black second. The answer is as long as America views me as black first then I’ll always be American second. But I’ll never be anything other then American.