Although I clearly was not an Obama supporter and wasn’t celebrating his victory through the night, I want to mention that I do think it’s cool that a black man won. Whatever major political and philosophical differences might separate us, I am happy for the elderly black woman crying tears of joy on the news this morning. I can only imagine what this feels like to people who grew up during segregation. Nothing in my experience helps me understand just how big this moment is to many, just how heavy the weight was that seemed to lift from their shoulders. So, for that reason, I’m glad that a black man won.

I don’t know if I am in quite the same group of loyal opposition as Jonah Goldberg, but I agree with this:

Well, I think we members of the loyal opposition should be able to make distinctions simultaneously. It is a wonderful thing to have the first African-American president. It is a wonderful thing that in a country where feelings are so intense that power can be transferred so peacefully.

So, yeah, cool. As Michele Castano says,

Yes, we have a new president. We have a Democrat president. But we have a black president, and that’s an important distinction to make, because it means something.

It means this nation has progressed. It means the line Jackie Robinson broke in 1947 has been extended to the farthest possible reaches. Imagine going back in time to 1955 and telling Rosa Parks “One day a black man will be president.” It would be like going back to the 1940s and telling people we would one day walk on the Moon or fly to Mars. What seemed impossible in one time, becomes reality in another. That is progress. Progress is something to be proud of.

So, again, cool. But, wonderful as it is that the country has made it clear that it isn’t as racist as some would have you believe (which lots of us knew already — where is Britain’s or France’s or Germany’s black head of state?), wonderful as it is that voting for a black person just isn’t a big deal for most people, and 2008 is not 1955 (which lots of us knew already), I do wish it wasn’t this particular man, with his particular ideas, with his particular charisma, and with this particular upcoming Congress.

And I wish that this victory meant that the country could move beyond a focus on race (as John McWhorter thinks is due) — beyond group-think of all kinds — and that the media and politicians would now, finally, allow all of us to be something other than members of groups or parties or ethnicities, to be talked to as something other than a demographic. But politics being politics, that won’t happen.

Anyway, to so many Americans who’ve waited their whole lives for a black person to be elected President and never thought they’d live to see it, congratulations.

About Scott Stein

Tags: politics & government, race & culture //