Iowa got me no doubt, but I still kinda seeing John Edwards. But this speech, after such a brutal race in SC, just got me. It was the end really--"the same message we had when we were up, and when were down, that out of many we are one." I often hear people talk about needing to relate to politicians beyond issues. I never got that before now. It's been great watching this election with my son, because I see a metaphor in Obama has conducted his campaign and how I try to teach him to go through life. Intelligence over bluster. Toughness over machismo. I don't need him walking in the room saying "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK." Truly, there are so many more important things.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Iowa for me
Living in Hawaii most of 2007, people were bout it like nobody's business. But we all were kinda thinking you know, he'll win SC, and maybe NH, but Iowa could be a problem. After Iowa, after seeing how on it the campaign was about the caucuses, I was all in.
Two key moments for me:
1) HRC, "Hardworking white Americans"
Heard it on NPR bring a boat up the Roanoke river in VA. Up to that point I could have voted for either HRC or BHO. Hillary made up my mind for me.
2) Palin's acceptance speech at the Republican convention. Up to that point, I entertained the possibility that BHO could do/say something that would disqualify him from receiving my vote. Instead, McCain disqualified himself.
For all our sakes, I hope that what BHO has shown he is capable of on the campaign trail is just a taste of what he will bring to the presidency. We're going to need it.
The real joy for me with Obama is that I genuinely think he is the best candidate, and a hugely impressive man - the obvious historic issue of race is a bonus frankly.
He is not a black role model; he is simply a role model.
If I have children, they would at best be mixed race, given I am white to the point of transulence - now, as a politician, he will disappoint; that's what they do, and I'm fine with that.
But so far I could not have a better model.
The American dream, pure and simple.
I went in before he announced. I remember when my sister and my self were at a Young Democrats/DNC Winter Conference in D.C. in 2006 We went looking for Obama's table. Hillary and the others had a table with signs, stickers, buttons, and all kinds of chum. Obama's table had no signs but a simple sign in sheet on a plain paper and few pens. At the table were four young women. They were well dressed in dark business suits sitting together. All were women of color. His table was as bad as Mike Gravel. At least Gravel was at his table. He sat there all alone with his cowboy hate. The funny thing was that here was a candidate for President and no one wanted to interview Gravel either. Back to the Obama table. One of the young women asked us if we wanted to help with the campaign and we said yes. I signed up busted butt for him ever since.
I am from NY (now living in TN) and my sis and I caught hell for supporting him. I volunteered for Hillary in the past. Nevertheless, we did not care. We felt he was right for this nation and we were right.
Btw, Mr. Coates what are you doing tonight?
Family, friends, parties, etc..
Well I have been invited to several watch parties tonight. But tonight will sit down with my two little AA boys (5 and 7) and tell them you too can be President of the United States.
I don't need him walking in the room saying "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK."
What does that mean?
I'll keep asking this because I witnessed and was inspired by Jesse's campaigns, as I am with Obama's, but I don't see what folks are searching for metaphors for when the examples have always been there. We can argue (and, frankly, you won't get an argument from me) that Obama's is the best example to date but this idea that there was this reigning and now competing "I'MBLACKI'MBLACK" model strikes me as a false choice and a false notion altogether as if any Black presidential candidate has ever run an "I'MBLACKI'MBLACK" campaign.
Obama has not "broken the mold", he has arguably perfected it (should he win) and, as Obama himself acknowledges, it's because of the debt he owes...
I remember recieving a text from my brother that Obama had won Iowa. I then raced home to watch his victory speech and I surely wasn't dissappointed. Never, EVER, have I been touched by a public official...I remember shivering from excitement. The words were easy "They said this day would never come".
2004 Keynote Speech - Introduced me.
Iowa - Sealed the deal.
South Carolina - I drank the juice and became evangelical.
Today - I voted.
To those who proclaim Obama is nothing more than a good speech, I say: Then you haven't been listening.
It was the 2004 Democratic National Conventional for me. I remember listening to Obama speak and saying to myself: "That man is the future of the Democratic Party." I read "Dreams of My Father" shortly thereafter and have been a Kool-Aid drinking Obama-man ever since that.
Aw man, now I've got Dead Mike stuck in my head!
"tonight will sit down with my two little AA boys (5 and 7) and tell them you too can be President of the United States."
What a wonderful moment to share with your sons. I have wondered, does Obama's victory means the same thing for my jewish daughters?
"Obama is nothing more than a good speech"
Heh. Having heard what a compelling orator his is, I actually made a point of not listening to his speeches. Good thing there's YouTube. I can finally hear what I've been missing!
I knew I would vote for Obama one day halfway through his 2004 speech.
Three sentences into his Iowa victory speech I completely cracked. I started crying. I think my wife thought I was having an affair because she didn't believe the reason for my behavior. I made my first ever contribution to any candidate ever immediately after Iowa. One month followed another and it started to really add up too.
Now let's bring this thing home for the win. What a historic night tonight.
I was hooked after 2004, but I didn't think he'd run in 2008. After Iowa, I was all-in.
I think we all forget just how improbable that victory in Iowa seemed. In the light of his victory there, his speech, on an emotional level, was phenomenal. I remember standing in my living room, a few feet in front of the set, blown away.
Thanks for the post TNC. You're pretty much must-read territory for a lot of us at this point.
I watched the speech at the 2004 convention and thought, "I wish that guy was running..." and then, "he needs to write Kerry's speeches" and then, "he's going to be the first African American President." I just thought it would be 2012 or 2016. I actually didn't want him to run this year and was afraid when he announced that it was too soon. I thought maybe he'd get too beat up and then not be viable in the future. Boy, was I wrong...
The Right Thing
by Theodore Roethke
Let others probe the mystery if they can.
Time-harried prisoners of Shall and Will—
The right thing happens to the happy man.
The bird flies out, the bird flies back again;
The hill becomes the valley, and is still;
Let others delve that mystery if they can.
God bless the roots!—Body and soul are one!
The small become the great, the great the small;
The right thing happens to the happy man.
Child of the dark, he can out leap the sun,
His being single, and that being all:
The right thing happens to the happy man.
Or he sits still, a solid figure when
The self-destructive shake the common wall;
Takes to himself what mystery he can,
And, praising change as the slow night comes on,
Wills what he would, surrendering his will
Till mystery is no more: No more he can.
The right thing happens to the happy man.
I understand people feeling like they have a civic duty to vote for president (even though, the more local the election, the more important it is to your actual political interests, but whatever); what I don't get is all the pride from people who have voted.
Blaming our nation's troubles on a single administration or person is a lazy rationalization, and holding individuals responsible for what are systemic problems actually opens the door for continued corruption and individual irresponsibility. To just say Bush was the worst president ever, is to fall into the trap of thinking that getting rid of the man is more important than actual reform.
I think all the one-dimensional enthusiasm of this campaign is going to make it unnecessary for Obama (probably) to push for real change, since people will feel justified automatically when they see a new president-elect tomorrow.
Just my two cents.
I just got off the phone with my 80 year old, Irish-born, Army veteran, retired construction/utility worker father who we used to compare to Archie Bunker back in the 70s. Kennedy Democrat (of course) who voted for Reagan twice (of course). He never liked the Bushes. I asked him who he voted for.
"I voted for the black lad," he said. "I don't have much faith in that other guy."
And no, "lad" isn't derogatory. Anyone under 60 is a lad to him.
This is an unfathomably great day.
Nquest,
There is no mention of Jesse Jackson in this post. There is no mention of any other presidential campaign--besides Barack Obama's--in this post. I understand that Jesse Jackson was--is--really important to you. I also understand that Jesse Jackson paved the way for Barack Obama. The post is about the joy I've gotten watching him campaign, and how he's reinforced some of the things I teach my son--among them, you don't need to flash who you are to the world, just be the thing.
I really wasn't talking about that lesson in comparison to other campaigns. Even if it's read that way, I'm not sure why that has any more to do with Jesse--if we're talking about presidential campaigns--than it has to do with McCain (POWPOWPOW!). I don't know what you're seeing here.
I agree with you and changed right after I witnessed this too. I was a very big fan of john Edwards as I think the socio-eonomic disparity in this country is ridiculous and Edwards was the only–and in reality still is the only–candidate that mentions the lower class along with the middle class. But there is just something about Barack that is just too powerful to deny. This is where I finally saw it.
It was Iowa for me. I supported him before that, but I held back partly because I hadn't seen that much of him, but mostly because I didn't think there was any way he could win, and I didn't want to get too invested in a longshot campaign. But after he won Iowa, and I watched his speech afterwards, I was completely sold.
Doug T writes: "But after he won Iowa, and I watched his speech afterwards, I was completely sold."
Hard not to be. I just couldn't see why most Dems would prefer a return to Clintondramaland, and it turned out they didn't.
It was Michele, stumping the weekend before Iowa, explaining that they needed people to organize for the caucuses, for the general, and then after that to pass legislation in Washington. That strategic sense, added to the wisdom and the words, was my first glimpse that the guy I wanted could actually win.
Okay, so I was doing fine. I drove to the polling place, found a spot to park, and got in the “A-L” line. There was about a half an hour wait, so I bought a cup of coffee from the kids who had ingeniously set up a refreshment table by the front doors of the elementary school. The couple in front of me had a very happy baby. It was all good.
When I finally got to the front of the line, I gave my address and received my ballot. I walked over to the voting table, picked up my Sharpie, and filled in the bubbles—just like on the S.A.T. At that point, I was almost home free. I walked to the back of the gym, put my ballot into the scantron machine, returned my privacy folder, and accepted, with thanks, my sticker.
Then it was out the door and down the hallway. The line was long—very long, especially for Connecticut, which is not a swing state by any stretch of the imagination. There were the doors. If I could just get through the doors and to my car…
Suddenly, a fifty-year-old African American woman merged next to me. She had just voted, too, and she had an “Obama/Biden” button on her jacket. I held the door open for her as we went outside. It was 6:33 A.M.
As we walked in step down the sidewalk in front of the school, she turned to me. “Thank the Lord,” she said. “The sun’s coming up!”
I got into my car and wept.
Yes we can. And yes, I did.
There was no singular moment for me. I voted for him on Super Tues, but still wasn't sure he could really pull it out.
Hate to say it, but watching the will.i.am probably is when I really began to realize, believe that the US just might be ready to do this.
I remember Rev. Wright hitting and thinking, there was no way that he was going to be able to navigate that firestorm. And he did.
I remember watching the Gibson debate and Obama looking completely fed up and worn out, and the next day him shaking the haters off.
I remember when folks were all worked up about FISA, and Obama gave them the I appreciate your enthusiasm, but imma do me...
I remember the right getting all drill baby drill, and Obama hit them with: that's dumb, but if it's that big of a deal to you, knock yourself out.
I remember the increduolus McCain, blinking, blinking, ZERO????
I agree with some, maybe most of his ideas, disagree on others, but I'm all in because I trust the guy, because I trust that when the ish hits the fan he'll deal with it like a president should...
I think the importance of a good speech is vastly underestimated. How rhetorical ability ever got to be a negative (especially from the party that brought us Reagan, who really had nothing else going for him) is beyond me.
I was "all in" for ANYTHING this man wanted to do after I read a piece on him in the NYT Sunday magazine around the time Dreams From My Father was published....I kinda forgot about him until the 2004 DNC. And then I KNEW. I was one of the first to sign up for "grassroots for Obama New Mexico" in 2006? Could that be????? Did the campaign start percolating that long ago? Whatever......
I don't expect miracles, but I know we will get his best effort, that he will demand the same of us, and that the tsunami that is the "ground game" will continue to be of service to our country.
AMEN
From James Wolcott today: "Should John McCain prevail and the Republicans hold the White House, I shall favor the footlings with a chin-jutting chunk of eloquence entitled "Despaireth Not--The Uses of Adversity in a Season of Sorrow." I've got edifying quotations from Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and John Wayne from The Sons of Katie Elder all lined up, just waiting to be slotted in.
Should Obama triumph, I'll be ready with a little hiphop number in prose called "What Do You Think of Community Organizing Now, Pasty-Assed Motherfuckers?" It's quite the house-rocker, though were Obama to win by only a few paltry points, I might have to 'humble' it down to conform with the new national mood of phony-baloney centrism."
Hah!
New Hampshire. Yes We Can!
For me it was pretty late. After all the primaries, in fact. I liked him well enough, and was ready to vote for him, no problem, but still had my doubts if he really had what it would take. Then I read "Dreams of My Father," and it opened my eyes as to exactly what his life experience had been. That's what the people who think he's just an affirmative action-baby miss, what the people who put Sarah Palin's "executive experience" over his miss . . . the weight and value of his total life experience. A man who knows what it is to be black in a white world, who knows what life is on the South Side of Chicago, who knows what it is to live in a mud hut in Indonesia, as well as life at Harvard and Columbia.
I'm a bi-racial Ivy Leaguer, too, but I don't support Obama because he's "just like me," the way the Joe Six-pack crowd seems to identify Palin as "just like them." I support him because he's like me and so much more.
Ben's post is beautiful. I walked to my polling place this morning and started to cry just looking at people streaming in to vote. A mixture of awe and hope and anxiety. I've never felt this way about an election, and I've been voting for decades. Part of my anxiety is for Obama - all the expectations we have put on his capable shoulders. My fear is that our expectations are so high that some will be disappointed, especially if they feel that after voting, their work is done. Uh, no.....
As TNC said, Obama is intelligence over bluster, and toughness over machismo. Oh, how we need that. And the added thrill - it's so absolutely thrilling! - of electing a black man president. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime. And even more - being so excited to vote FOR someone wholeheartedly rather than against someone. Priceless.
The post is about the joy I've gotten watching him campaign, and how he's reinforced some of the things I teach my son--among them, you don't need to flash who you are to the world, just be the thing.
And my question is essentially that, by definition, no Black person running for president is going to go about flashing who they are to the world. Indeed, all kinds of Black people, politicians and professionals at all levels, go about their business, achieve great things large and small without saying or shouting "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK."
My post was all about why teaching against the phantom "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK" is important to you. And let me correct you: Jesse is no more important to me than Barack Obama is. Neither one of them represents me in terms of what I'd really like to see.
So you are mistaken. The same way I defend Obama against untruths and hyperbolic emotional angst against him is the same way I've defended Jesse. As such, my only personal investment in either of them is being honest about who they are.
Obviously there's some reason why you feel the need to teach the anti-"I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK". I merely asked you why in the context of what Black presidential candidates have done before, what reasonable people would expect from Black presidential candidates, let alone the Black conventional wisdom of what a Black presidential candidate would have to be anyway.
As for McCain and POWPOWPOW... Please. The day you used the campaign or example of someone White who doesn't broadcast to the world who they are then and only then should you ever try to run that line... like Obama's "blackness", Obama being "black" and not wearing it on his sleeve or whatever your anti-"I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK" has nothing to do with the lesson and example you want your son to learn from.
Further, there are Colin Powell and Condi Rice... Neither of them "flashed" and, despite their politics, especially early in the Bush administration, Black people generally respected their accomplishment and example.
So why is Obama so important? Why not Bill Gates?
I'm asking because the lesson you're trying to teach, to me, is intuitive. I don't understand why you feel there is a need for the lesson in the first place. But maybe that's a product of our different backgrounds and/or personalities.
"Then I read "Dreams of My Father," and it opened my eyes as to exactly what his life experience had been."
Exactly. After his speech in 2004, I decided that I must find out more about this guy. I read the book, and have been eagerly awaiting his ascent ever since. The book was filled with such introspection and self-reflection, it was hard to believe that a politician had written it. That's why those who have read the book can only laugh when you hear him called a racist, or a radical. Those couldn't be further from the truth.
I don't think I will be disappointed. I realize he is just a man. On top of that, I'm fully aware he is a politician. But he IS different, isn't he?
Nquest,
I can't really debate with you, if you're not going to honor what I've written. Here's what I wrote:
"I understand that Jesse Jackson was--is--really important to you. I also understand that Jesse Jackson paved the way for Barack Obama."
Here is your response:
"And let me correct you: Jesse is no more important to me than Barack Obama is. Neither one of them represents me in terms of what I'd really like to see. So you are mistaken."
Here is what I wrote:
"The post is about the joy I've gotten watching him campaign, and how he's reinforced some of the things I teach my son--among them, you don't need to flash who you are to the world, just be the thing.
I really wasn't talking about that lesson in comparison to other campaigns."
Here is your response:
"And my question is essentially that, by definition, no Black person running for president is going to go about flashing who they are to the world."
I tell you Jesse's important to you and you turn it into me saying that you think Jesse is MORE important than Barack. I tell you that what I wrote wasn't supposed to be taken in comparison to other campaigns by black folks. You take it that way anyway.
You presume to know more than, no offense, you actually do and say:
"As for McCain and POWPOWPOW... Please. The day you used the campaign or example of someone White who doesn't broadcast to the world who they are then and only then should you ever try to run that line"
In fact, in this house, we talk about people from all walks of life as models. I wrote a post last week about Barack's grandmother. Talked to the boy about that. Had him read it. I talked to my son about why I voted for Bloomberg--in contrast to Guliani--and what I liked about him and what was worth emulating there. I'd do that for anyone who I was supporting and really liked. Barack, obviously, more so. Not because he's better than Jesse. Not because he's better than Condi, though I agree with him more. And not because he's better than Colin. But because he's running right now. Because he's going to be the first black president. It's Barack because that's the news right now.
I'm trying to see your perspective. Maybe there is something I'm missing. All I'm asking is for the same courtesy. Confront me on what I've written. I can't defend things I didn't say.
Nquest is some type of very peculiar troll. I haven't figured him out yet, but he really doesn't make sense from post to post. If he's not a troll, he's intentionally obtuse.
TNC,
You can't tell me Jesse is important to me. How exactly do you know that? I said Jesse is no more important to me than Obama is not as a comparison but as a point of fact/information. You assume Jesse is important to me simply because I've mentioned him before.
On the subject matter (no debate necessary, just information) I simply attempted to ask or state to you, as you did to me:
"I don't know what you're seeing here."
That's my whole point. I don't know why you feel there is a lesson for your son to learn or why Obama reinforces a lesson I'm saying I feel no one has to learn.
So I'm looked at what you wrote and my reaction then was the same as yours now:
I'm trying to see your perspective. Maybe there is something I'm missing.
All I've done was stipulate to what I see as a way for you to explain to me what I'm missing from your perspective. I'm not trying to debate you. There is nothing to debate. I'm trying to understand where you're coming from.
As for this...
But because he's running right now. Because he's going to be the first black president.
You make it harder to understand. What about Obama being the first Black president is important if anyone one, regardless of color/ethnicity, can serve as the lesson-example for your son on that "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK."
What "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK" lesson did you teach your son with respect to Obama's grandmother?
My specific question is about why you feel there is some reason for this "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK" lesson. I've been very explicit in saying that and why I don't understand where you're coming from.
I don't know whether it's something about your son, personally, (does he go around saying "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK" all the time) or what? I'm saying from my perspective, I've never needed the lesson and I can't help but to question why the lesson is needed in the first place.
Why are you teaching your son the "lesson"? I just don't understand where you are coming from.
I talked to my son about why I voted for Bloomberg--in contrast to Guliani
And what does any of that have to do with the "I'm Black" lesson?? The need for it?
"I don't know whether it's something about your son, personally, (does he go around saying "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK" all the time) or what?"
Okay, its official. Nquest is DEFINITELY not being serious.
If he's not a troll, he's intentionally obtuse.
I'm potentionally intentionally obtuse because TNC's son has to learn the lesson that he doesn't have to go around saying "I'm Black" because what??
Because that's the default for Black boys unless they are taught that lesson? What?
I most sincerely hope that that type of stereotyping isn't going on here and that people don't think that it's a self-evident truism that, unless TNC's son or some other Black kid aren't taught the anti-"I'm Black" lesson, that they will invariably go around saying "I'm Black" (whatever that means, you know... like my first question).
I mean, seriously... Teaching the meaning of manhood/toughness is the same plane as how Blackness or Black identity is constructed? Is that what this is about?
Some teaching against a perceived negative tide of "I'MBLACK" (whatever that means when constrasted to "POWPOW"... "victim"??) in Black culture that's similar to how manhood/toughness messages get communicated in American culture like "real men don't cry", "real men don't let someone disrespect them", etc., etc.?
Yup. That was it. I gave my first political donation and signed up to work the Texas caucuses that night.
Nquest,
No one can debate you because honestly, you don't make much sense. Its hard to even discern what your point is. You typically make huge, sweeping generalizations about one, tiny portion of someone's post. Its really bizarre. I guarantee you that most people STILL don't know what your point is. Its pure rambling. And its not the first time you've done it.
Yes, but Nquest made me re-read the original post three times, and I advised my husband (in the hearing of my 14-year-old son) that he needs to put the whole blog in his regular rotation.
Intelligence over bluster.
Toughness over machismo.
Sound across the board, and helpful to have stated that succinctly.
Stacy, I'm glad you get some kind of gratification out of doing the color-commentating, play-by-play here.
lol
TNC can just pronounce with all the powers vested in him that Jesse Jackson is important to me (which is real funny given recent caveats in his threads) and now Stacy has the magical powers to dictate to me when I'm being serious.
I am serious about the obvious.
"Intelligence over bluster."
Given the campaign, it's easy to see how Obama's intelligence is preferable to McCain's bluster and, of course, how being competent, in and of itself, is preferable to either making a lot of noise when you don't know much or making a lot of noise even when you know your stuff.
Understood.
Same with "Toughness over machismo." Understood. It easy, at least to me, to see how those things get confused, especially in the political arena.
Now the "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK" thing doesn't match the logical equation established by the other two -- for the reason I've stated.
Stacy, please feel free to explain what I'm being obtuse about. To me, TNC presented attributes or what-have-you that are often mistaken one for the other. Fill in the equation for me.
"Toughness over machismo."
"Intelligence over bluster."
"__________ over I'MBLACKI'MBLACK"
Again, these are things are often mistaken for the other. So break it down for me, I'm "obtuse", what is "I'MBLACKI'MBLACK" often mistaken for so much so that some life lesson can be taken from Obama's campaign.
What attribute has Obama exhibited, again, that's often confused with whatever "I'MBLACKI'MBLACK" is, the way machismo is confused with or considered toughness, etc.
Talk to me.
I guarantee you that most people STILL don't know what your point is.
Stacy, the "most people" approach is no substitute for you illustrating what you're saying.
Notice how Sporcupine went with the first two...
It's easy to claim I'm "rambling" Stacy. It's harder to show how there is something:
(1) Wrong with me asking about that one thing, "What does that mean?" (which, of course, was the only thing I was curious about and still have no answer for).
(2) Unclear when I state that I feel that it's "a false notion altogether" whatever the "I'MBLACKI'MBLACK" stuff was all about.
But go, ahead, help me out. No debate needed. Just an explanation. What is the "I'MBLACKI'MBLACK" stuff all about?
How does it follow the pattern of the other two things mentioned re: what "toughness" is/is not, etc.?
You're done. You just graduated from misrepresenting me to misrepresenting yourself--in one thread. You say this one minute:
"I witnessed and was inspired by Jesse's campaigns"
And then this the next:
"You can't tell me Jesse is important to me."
We can debate about whatever, but there has to be a modicum of honesty. I asked you to at least debate with what people are writing. But you're not even being honest about what you're writing. That is the essence of trolling.
Find another blog. I don't want it here. And I don't want people who'd do that here. Got a problem with that, shoot me an e-mail.
Ta-Nehisi said
"I don't need him walking in the room saying "I'MBLACKI'MBLACKI'MBLACK." Truly, there are so many more important things."
Like what?