Obama's audacity might just pay off

By: Nancy Mburu
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[ Posted On: 2008-09-23 ]

Note: Article first published before the DNC & RNC conventions

As the US elections draw closer, the world’s eyes are on Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.

Obama is set to receive the Democratic presidential nomination papers this week at the Democratic National Convention, in Denver, Colorado.

Many people were glued to their television screens on Monday night as they watched his wife, Michelle, address delegates who included Obama’s new running mate, Senator Joe Biden. Veteran journalists described it as an "awfully good speech".

The Democratic candidate’s wife retraced the journey how she and her husband, as simple black folk, dreamt of actualising a dream many identify with. She brought tears to the eyes of many women in the audience when she recounted how her family and Obama’s had to struggle to give their children the best.

"I come here as a daughter raised on the South Side of Chicago, by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home," she said.

"(On Obama) What struck me...was that his family was so much like mine... He had been raised by a single mother and, like my family, they scrimped and saved so he could have opportunities they never had themselves."

Many black women hail Michelle as an icon. She is a Princeton and Harvard-educated lawyer who works as a hospital executive.

She also addressed a controversial remark she made earlier in February ("For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country.")

Although the would-be First Lady clarified she was trying to express pride in how Americans were engaging in the political process, some conservatives insisted she had not been proud of her country before her husband’s involvement in politics.

Lynching

Critics also said it was another attempt by a bitter African American to hit back over past and current injustices.

Veteran Fox News talk-show host, Bill O’Reilly, also carelessly remarked: "I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence."

This saw the controversy spiral further since it evoked the bitter memories of racial segregation in the Southern states.

It conjured up images of groups of white men, angry with the state of their lives, getting drunk and dragging the closest black person to a tree to hang him, usually after a violent beating and torture.

Star Jones, an African American woman lawyer and television personality, reacting to O’Reilly’s remark, said: "Imagine, Michelle and Barack Obama having the audacity to think that they have the right to the American dream, hopes and ideals.

"Why is it that when you are referring to someone who is African-American you must dig to a historical place of pain, agony and death to symbolise your feelings? Lynching is not a joke to off-handedly throw around and it is not a metaphor that has a place in political commentary; provocative or otherwise.

"My late grandfather raised his family and lived through the time when he had to use separate water fountains, ride in the back of a bus, take his wife on a date to the ‘coloured section’ of a movie theatre, and avert his eyes when a white woman walked down the street for fear of what a white man and his cronies might do if they felt the urge to ‘party’.

"Be clear, O’Reilly: There will be no lynch party for that black woman and this black woman assures you that if you come for her, you come for all of us."

Such have been the tensions in these campaigns, but the candidates always find a way to go around them. In her Monday night speech, Michelle kept constantly dropping the line: "I love this country."

Analysts say her mission was to humanise her husband and persuade sceptical voters to look past his ‘unusual’ name and ‘exotic’ background to envision him as the next president. Obama has repeatedly faced questions about whether he is a ‘real’ American.

Michelle appeared softer and more relaxed, accentuated by her jade green dress and wet eyes and emotion in her voice. She also heaped praise on the vanquished Hillary Clinton: "She put those 18 million cracks (those who voted for her in the primaries) in the glass ceiling, so that our children can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher."

After her speech, Obama, currently in Missouri, Kansas, appeared on a large video screen by satellite to congratulate his wife. "Now you know why I asked her out so many times," he told the audience, causing laughter. "You want a persistent president."

The Obamas seem to have done their homework well. And now, many who have the audacity of hope can only wait and see if ‘The Superpower’ will elect its first black president ever.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Nancy Mburu -- is a commentator on social issues.

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