By the Content of My Character?

Okay, the presidential honeymoon is over! President Obama has not left the limelight for a minute but not all
of us are enamored with him anymore—his charisma! What can I say? I liked the guy like everyone else did in the beginning. The celebration has ended so that we can focus on the president as the president and not the new Black leader? He himself does not think of himself as a Black president. I mean come on, if you are the president of the United States of America you have to have a huge ego. I don’t think that he would limit himself to a mere group of 40 million plus people. So, why do some, especially Blacks, to keep focusing on his Black status? I will tell you why I think.

President Obama represents to so many people the culmination of years of hope and suffering into the fruit of acknowledgment. The fact that a minority can get a party nomination was astounding to many. Then to actually win the election by a huge margin the first time and a decent one the second time--and to win a second time!!!!! Oh, it has been a party for many elderly African Americans each year of the president's reign.

Now,the older generation has exhaled. What does our younger generations have to benefit from this? You know the 30 somethings and 20 somethings and registered teens? What great things is this presidency that makes so many young people celebrate. And oh, it is not just the young African Americans. It is all young people across those racial boundaries.

We have been spoon feed many years about how crappy the government is and how there needs to be a change. We have not experienced racism or offered it to the extent our parents may have. Some of us would fain that we have, but seriously, those who have been in a racist situation probably had just a one time or incidental episode. Racism still occurs but not as blatantly as before. We wanted a change with Washington and Obama said he would do it. Now we have him! (Even though I did not vote for him either time, but I still like him.)

So, we have started paying attention to him as a president? As soon as something went wrong, the honeymoon was over, and we are at his throat like we have been at the throat of other presidents. After first we seemed to be in the mind of slapping his hand having the mentality of “poor minority, you don’t know any better because your race is new to politics of this level.” Or even worse, some thought “look what happens when you let the minorities play in big politics. They screw things up!”

Things are different. Obama’s first term was eventful. The healthcare law shook things up the first term and part of the second until it was put into law to become a reality. All things work out and we can move past the race barriers for President Obama. We are finally enlightened enough as a nation to say we can see past race, for now anyway. No one judges Bush by his race for his mistakes. Obama will get the same treatment?

Change Has Come With President Obama

This is what I said then:

So what now? We have a new President, Barrack Obama who happens to be of Euro-African decent. What does this mean to the Black community? What does this mean to anybody?

First, I must admit that I did not vote for this man. I had my reasons and I followed my convictions. Now that my president is selected, I support him through and through.

Second, I watched his inaugural speech. He touched on some good points that I would like to mention here.

Our president said, "Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met" (Welt Online, 2009, ¶ 5)

As I listened to the words the first thing that came to my mind is how are these challenges going to be met. I also noticed that his words sounded very similar to George Bush's when he described the US involvement in the war on terror--how he said the war would be long and hard.

My answer to this question of how to meet the challenges we face as a nation came when for the first time I heard a person in public besides myself mesh the fabric of the history of all of our ancestors. President Obama in my mind united our past so that we can work in the present to build a more secure future.

Obama seems to realize, as he should in his position, that in order to succeed in keeping America great we must graft our branches into the root of commonality. All of our ancestors suffered, whether by the whip, as President Obama puts it, or from the bloody feet of pioneers trekking to new homes in the west.

He even connected the wide-eyed new citizens stepping off boats in New York with the hope to make a better life for themselves. If he can rally us together despite our political differences, then I do believe in his Yes WE CAN!!

Third, and I might add it may sound a bit silly, I saw the fulfillment of a dream in the election that moved me in a way that I had not anticipated. Having a person of color in office lurched my mind forward. Monday, MLK day, my family and I listened to the speech given on that faithful day way back when by Dr. Martin Luther King.

It was uncanny how much President Obama resembled Dr. King in speech pattern--the rising and falling in tone and stressing of words.(I listened to President Bush's inaugural address and he did the same but that is besides the point.)

A local radio show played one of the president’s speeches and mixed it with Dr. King's words and the two almost mirrored each other. Now, that is not what made me think he fulfilled a dream, referring to the president.

When the president said
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath (2009, ¶ 32).

I realized that just a few decades ago a Black person cold not even eat in the same place as a White, but now as Dr. King wanted, a person of color can now lead the most powerful nation in the world.

We have no excuses now though some would say otherwise. Obama set a standard of excellence that all men can march to—and women—if we just do it. It is up to Obama, and each of us to change the view of the people around us to become a more changed society—a change for civil peace.

So, God bless President Obama. He is going to need every bit of prayer there is to give to succeed.

So what does this mean to Black people? It means the absolute same thing it means for all others. President Obama is the president of the United States of America and he stands for all Americans.

What I say Now:

What in the heck happened to this country? After Obama, I forgot about his color and focused on his policy. I must say that I am not amused or satisfied with the direction we have gone!