Barack Obama keeps referring to himself as a black man. Indeed he goes out of his way to stress that he is "African American." His parents as well as his friends all called him "Barry" when he was growing up, but Obama insisted on being called by his African given name: Barack. For two decades now he has attended a church which describes itself as authentically"black" and unashamedly "African." If this seems strange when you consider the fact that Obama has one black parent and one white parent, it is.
Obama's racial self-definition is derived from the famous, or infamous, one-drop rule which continues to hold sway in America but nowhere else. In other countries, say the nations of South America or Africa, if you have mixed blood you are considered mixed-race. It would be absurd to call a person who is 50 or even 70 percent white a "black" person. Why then does the United States use this weird rule according to which a single drop (or any visible presence) of blackness makes you automatically "black" and "African American"?
Many people think that the one-drop rule is a product of slavery. Not true. During slavery, the general rule was that slave status passed through the mother. In other words, if a white slave master had sexual relations with a female black slave, the offspring would automatically be considered a slave. By contrast, in the relatively rare case that a black slave produced a child with a free white woman, the offspring would be legally counted as white and therefore free. Obama has a white mother and a black father: in the antebellum South his racial status would pass through his mother.
The one-drop rule was a product of segregation and Jim Crow, not slavery. It developed in the postbellum South as a way to enforce a strict line of demarcation between black and white. Without such a rule an intermediate class of mixed-race mulattoes would make segregation increasingly difficult to enforce. Consequently the Southern ruling class mandated that even a modest trace of African heritage was sufficient to count as "black."
Strangely the one-drop rule has outlived segregation and is today embraced by the very groups the rule was designed to subjugate. Today the NAACP and the Black Caucus live by the one-drop rule, defining as "black" and "African American" anyone who has any discernible evidence of black ancestry. Reading Obama's The Audacity of Hope and his recent speech on race, I see no awareness of these ironies and no attempt to intelligently grapple with them. He is content to maunder about "complexity" and the need to "come together" despite our differences.
The deep question for Obama is not merely "how can America transcend race while continuing to have race-conscious policies?" but also "how can America transcend race as long as the one-drop rule remains intact?" Far from producing answers, Obama shows no recognition that these are even questions that need to be addressed. Meanwhile, Garry Wills in the current New York Review compares Obama's race speech to one of the great speeches of Abraham Lincoln. When I read this on the plane I almost lost my peanuts!
How embarrassing it is to see intellectuals like Wills and sophisticated magazines like the New York Review of Books and the New Republic fawn and grovel over Obama! You can be sure that if a white political candidate mouthed Obama's vague and vacuous nostrums, these liberals would not be issuing such hosannas. In this sense Geraldine Ferraro was right, not so much about Obama as about his white "amen corner." They are giving Obama something he has never asked for as a presidential candidate: intellectual affirmative action.
Reader Comments ( Page 37 of 37)
541. And listen to yourselves. First lying didn't matter with Clinton.
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Not true. To me, it always matters.
Godless Heathen Brian at 8:37PM on Apr 16th 2008
542. You're daft if you think Obama's a bigger liar than Hillary.
She was dodging bullets in her memory when in reality Chelsea was there and so were a whole passel of kids, and there was no sniper fire. That's a complete FABRICATION, not a slip.
And she's lied a lot more than that. She's pathological! She even claimed to be named after Sir Edward Hillary, who first climbed Everest. Except that she was five when he did so.
No, Barack is by far the best choice on the table.
Godless Heathen Brian at 8:42PM on Apr 16th 2008
543. Barack might occassionally tell what he deems a necessary lie in order to get elected, and that's not a good thing, nor is an exaggeration of the facts, which he has also done on rare occassions. But Hillary LIVES by the lie. Can't you see that? That's a whole different order of dishonesty.
Godless Heathen Brian at 8:46PM on Apr 16th 2008
544. Dave,
I never said anything about Hilary, lying is always bad, especially when it comes from lawmakers.
"And if Obama is so brilliant, why would he insult the very people he wants voting for him?"
When you state an observable fact it should not be considered an insult. Comments of woes such as those made by Obama's preacher are very common in churches. They complain of injustices, evils, and how the current cultural societies are the precursor for the end of times. If there are hardships in life people will flop in to any religion for hope.
" Where is the proof that dumping Billions more into education makes anybody one bit smarter?"
In Nordic countries, in India and many other countries that have produced graduates well educated on all sorts of subjects. The funding receive from governments and even business is essential to provide all children no matter their class the best education. This funding is what maintains an edge in the education market.
Its not just the government funding that helps these children but the advanced format of education these countries use to teach. They know not all children learn the same way and have created new methods of teaching They have small classes, use less textbooks, use many illustrations and graphs and do hands on projects.
We pale in comparison. We have to revamp the whole education system, not just throw money at it. Its proven to work so why aren't we doing it?
He seems to be incredibly naive about a number of issues, particularly Islamic Radicalism.
What issues? What about radical Islam is he naïve on?
goddess1prevail at 11:14PM on Apr 16th 2008
545. I agree with Dinesh. As the mother of 2 biracial daughters i would feel betrayed if my girls only identified with the black side of themselves just as if they denounced there black sides of the family. It seems to me that Barack is over compensating for something like he is trying to prove himself as being black, when as far as i have learned he was raised by white people. Regardless of the fact if his grandmother was supposedly racist she still loved him and raised him and gave him everything he needed while his parents basically abandon him. If i were her I would be rolling in my grave for his words about her. Barack talks about hope and change but i would really like to know what change is he offering? I have heard anything new. He sounds like a pro wrestler to me! GO Hillary! Its time a woman ran the country.
Jen at 10:21PM on Apr 19th 2008
546. Why do people argue about who lies about what?
They ALL lie every last one of them lies about something. Its just a matter of which one of them gets called out for it, HELLO politicians only tell us what we want to hear and then they do what they want.
Jen at 10:27PM on Apr 19th 2008
547. What has happened to all the Statesmen and women? You evolutionist believe we are evolving, then shouldn’t we be able to produce men and women of the same caliber as our founding fathers?
I must agree they are all self serving liars. They do not have America’s best interest in mind. Much less the American people’s interest. Surely we can do better. Can’t we?
Man_in_Wilderness at 11:55PM on Apr 19th 2008
548. Mo,
Well put. Most people do no want to hear the truth and when they do - they get defensive - like some of your readers and they try to show their intelligence by using $3 words but all they do is show that they have about a 5th grade education in history.
Tony at 4:51PM on Dec 1st 2009