Top Ten Reasons Blacks Support(ed) An Obama Presidency - And Why We Need to Reevaluate Things

As I continue shedding old skin and reordering my thinking now that I'm outside the Matrix I find myself revisiting my support of Barack Obama. While I would still likely vote for him again I have to think of all the ways I can benefit from this alliance while measuring it for reciprocity. You can't ask for anything until you know what you want though. I'd like to think of myself as enlightened on some topics. Still with other issues I am just now realizing how much I'm learning. Discernment is more valuable than all the coltan in the world.

So aside from the usual arguments from people about how we need to give Obama time (sounds like an excuse) or how much is on his plate (he wanted the job) I want to explore the reasons why he gets so much support from blacks and what influences that decision.

1. Michelle Obama and the (assumed automatic) kinship she's thought to have with other black women. Also the one we want to have with her.
   
2. Powerful Symbolism - aka the "razzle dazzle" "pomp & circumstance".
   
3. Seen as validation of  blacks' worthiness - continuing to use outside signifiers instead of building strategic alliances.
   
4. Not Clinton/Edwards/Mccain. 
   
5. He's a man - because if it was about qualifications and race more would have voted for Cynthia McKinney.
   
6. Emotional payoff - the comparisons to MLK (and somehow NEVER to Malcolm X). 
   
7. Cheap thrill to stick one's tongue out at whites.
8. Believed the promise of "change".
9. Decided he was "black" enough after the Clintons started race-baiting. 
   
10. Many (most?) think he will look out for black interests strictly because he identifies as black.

We need to rethink our loyalties. Black women actually represent the single largest percentage voting block for Obama, yet I don't recall him discussing ANY specific agenda or policies that directly and singularly assist us. I know health care, green energy and other things will benefit everyone but still we have a unique set of needs. This doesn't mean our needs can't be addressed but we have ensure that they are and be prepared to walk away if they aren't. Will blacks actually do that?

The White House Council on Girls & Women doesn't have a prominent placement or direct contact on the White House web site. It has potential to be a heavyweight office but like everything else we must measure how things have improved from their previous condition and what are expectation for the future are. He nominated Regina Benjamin to be the next Surgeon General and she gets attacked for being overweight. I saw the larger black community's complete SILENCE on this issue with few exceptions and only after WHITE oriented-media and feminist organizations stood up for her. How many black men publicly decried her treatment? Now think of all the print and tv time given to covering Skippy Gates - why even the President stepped into the fray. People spend their time and resources on things they love - not things they feel obligated to. I find it rather challenging to even have a conversation around the Idol worship going on. Blacks are NOT prepared for the brewing backlash. We are spend, spend, spend with NO safety net. 

If financial advisors like Suze Orman urge people to save at least 8 months' salary in cash to use for a rainy day fund when the times were "good" to cover during the hardships and unexpected tumbles then how much more should we be doing this for our political lives? No wait, our "actual" lives. We know whites have been stockpiling weapons. The KKK has resurfaced - they're never far away. I'd like to petition the Justice Department to classify then correctly as a domestic terrorist group and use the full weight of the Federal gov't to crush them once and for all. 

Then there's these birthers, the teaparty participants and all those other agitated people who showed up for the McCain/Palin rallies. They haven't gone anywhere. The only thing I'll mention with regards to Skippy Gates (since I've discussed why he's NO friend to black women) is how he's considered an upper class, non-threatening black man. If it's open season on grandpa then it's open season on ALL blacks and not just the men. Black women are also victims of law enforcement railroading tactics.

Tyra Banks Show On the Obama Effect: Will Black Men Get It Together Now? pt 3

Man Who Claims That He's Doing His "Best" For His Child

His best may not be what's in the best interest of that child but I guess that's open for debate. He's being rather vague about his activities and placing limitations on himself as if to say, "don't expect much from me". To be fair, there are a lot of fathers who are doing their best and due to unresolved issues between parents, the kids get stuck in the middle. Somehow though I suspect this particular man is someone who was not at his best to begin with so there's only so much room for growth. This is why it's very important for a woman to know how to choose the very best man possible if you are going to procreate. There's no guarantees, but like vegetables and fruit damage is recognizable if you know how to look for it. Unlike fruit you can't cut around it to make it palatable. 

That goes both ways but is far too likely to swing far to one side than the other. I'd also ignore those statistics being touted as "fact" because they don't reflect the reality for the majority of the African-American population. There's a 70% out of wedlock birth rate and Black women are the least likely group to be married in this country. Black women also outnumber Black men and factoring in (illness, incarceration and other unsuitability if similar standards are applied that other women in the country use across the board) the pool of available AND quality Black men drops down to under 5%. If this is an example of a "typical" Black male who is going to be "transformed" because of an external factor: the Obama effect - then Black women are going to be extremely dissatisfied. I'd go as far as to say doomed, but that may sound too harsh. As the segment opened we were already informed the woman who mated with this man is greatly dissatisfied. Let this be a cautionary tale. I'd like the Tyra Show to continue this discussion and of course get perspectives from Black women and how they've been affected.