Newsweek asks how black people will take an Obama loss. When I’m joking, I say that day after the election will be like a few million people went to see Mississippi Burning and Rosewood as a double feature, saw it all together in the world’s largest hypothetical multiplex, then filed out and went to work. It might be best not to ask what’s wrong. You’ll know, and you’d prefer to not have to be told. Trust me on that one.
I’m joking, of course. Yep.
Anyway, here’s a quick synopsis of what my concern would be from an Obama loss — if this black person can’t win, what black person can?
This is the most impressive politician of my lifetime (short, but that’s still the last seven elections). Regardless of how you feel about Obama’s politics — his and mine are not the same — you have to acknowledge that he’s a bad, bad man. And typically, the baddest man in an election wins. It’s a popularity contest, and Obama just blows John McCain off any stage they share. There’s no question who’s the biggest star.
Now, add to that the mistakes of the current administration, and the fact that the party of an administration as bad as this one tends to pay the price.
Tell me now — if this black man doesn’t win, which one has a prayer?
For me, what happens in this election isn’t gonna have me too disappointed about the short term. There’s but so much change Obama wants to make, and far less that he’ll be able to accomplish. That’s just this game, and I understand that.
But if a man with a pair of Ivy League degrees, a towering persona and a staggering resume can’t beat a 72 year-old man whose paired with the least qualified national election candidate in the history of this country, then I will confidently say that there will not be a black President before I die.
I’ll get over ’08, if it comes down to that. I’m not sure about the elections that will follow.
September 28, 2008
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