Obama: Not Magic

Barack Obama already lost when he took the stage in Philadelphia today. But he acquitted himself as admirably as any Democrat possibly can. If I were a liberal and a supporter of Barack Obama, I would feel fully vindicated.

I think Obama has exposed everyone who nominated him to be the Magic Negro and he put it right back on them. if he were a Republican, he would have couched the exact same reversal in terms of personal responsibility and not a prerequisite to 'us' solving problems of health care, but the reversal was made. It is not Barack Obama's job to clean up the racial mess in America. It is your job. And every American from this point forward who wants to paint Obama in the colors of racial reconciliation is lazy. Period. No excuses.

Article A

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

 

Article B

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

 

The great charade of this debacle is that critics and fans from the left and right have placed the burden on Obama to be their magic negro, to prove once and for all that Americans are capable of bridging racial gaps. Obama certainly was willing to take on that mantle as the leader of the free world, and why wouldn't he? The president is many things to many people. But when push comes to shove, there is only so much of that symbolism any reasonable man can shoulder, and Obama has demonstrated a bit of wisdom in shrugging off that responsibility today. He disowns no one, and takes no responsibility for their dysfunctions. That's on you.

There's really nothing left to say.