all-american obamas
by Jeremy Skinner
Published: April 11, 2008
In December 2006, before Barack Obama announced he was running for president, he emailed holiday greeting cards to his supporters, which included a black and white family photograph evocative of John F. Kennedy and his family almost fifty years ago. First-time visitors to the Obama campaign’s website see the same photo. Beyond the Camelot vibes exuded by the photo, there are many similarities between the Obamas and the Kennedys – Ted Kennedy noted these when he so enthusiastically endorsed Obama in January. As I look at the photograph today in the current context of the presidential race, one similarity stands out: the Obamas are (brace yourselves, white people) a real all-American family.
Of course, we are voting for a president, not a first family, but surely the family is of some importance. Luckily for them, the Obamas genuinely appear happy and in love. Fair or not, the same has rarely been said about the Clintons.
Now, however, it appears that it might not fully apply to the McCains either. First, the New York Times reported an alleged affair during McCain’s run for president in 2000. Although the report was disputed, at least two former aides said that something was going on between McCain and a woman not named Cindy. Then, this week it was reported that multiple (unfortunately unnamed) sources saw McCain lash out at Cindy, saying her makeup made her look like a “trollop” and calling her a rhymes-with-hunt.
In the end, I didn’t choose my candidate based on any of this, but apparently the contrast of the all-American Obama family was threatening to his opponents. Without an affair, such as a Lewinsky, to capitalize upon and without a major character flaw, such as an uncontrollable temper, to highlight, opponents decided to attack his patriotism – indeed, his Americanism. (In this case, there has been a healthy dose of racial division as well; for example, a McCain surrogate just said this: “They can have their Tiger Woods; we’ve got John McCain!”) However, Barack Obama’s speeches at the Democratic Convention in 2004 and in Philadelphia last month – in which he speaks with such inspiration about unity and the promise of America – have partially immunized him from such attacks.
Therefore, his opponents have used his personal connections as a basis on which to impugn his patriotism and try to make him seem like the “other.” While this was most true with Jeremiah Wright – whom Hillary Clinton’s surrogates also shamelessly continue to invoke in their pitches to undecided superdelegates – some people have chosen to attack his wife, Michelle. Two months ago, Michelle said, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.” Immediately attacked, she clarified that she was really proud for the first time because Americans were hungry for change and she saw that she was not alone in her frustration.
Those, like holier-than-thou Cindy McCain, who chide Michelle Obama for saying she was finally really proud of her country are the same people of privilege, especially white privilege, who regularly ignore America’s complexity. Cindy said she has always been proud of America and always will be. I love America’s promise, but I am not proud that my country treats gay people as second class citizens. I am not proud that we are the only people to have ever used an atomic bomb. Most of all, I wouldn’t say I have always been proud of a country in which citizens were attacked with fire hoses and dogs just a few decades ago.
Michelle was really just putting into her own words one of the most famous poems of the 20th Century (and my favorite), “Let America be America Again.” Calling for our country to finally live up to its ideals, Langston Hughes wrote parenthetically, “America was never America to me.” In the end, any fair reader sees that not only is the poem highly critical, but it is also fiercely patriotic.
Indeed, it is quintessentially American. Just like Barack and Michelle Obama.
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(6)
April 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
It amazes me that as American citizens we actually think we have some good candidates this year. Of all the Americans in this country who are so wse, so selfless and so trustworthy. How did we ever end up with individuals like the coniving Clinton’s, elitist/unamerican Obama’s, and the oh so old/ignorant McCain? Is this really the best we have to choose from…from all of America. The Clinton’s may not be happiest couple of the best representatives of our nation. But we know what we are getting with the Clinton’s. The Obama’s are the farthest thing from “American” thinking that have ever run for office. Michelle Obama has more entitlement issues then any liberal can stomach.
April 16th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
In response to the comment above:
1.Politicians are coniving by definition. Do not expect your oh so wise and “selfless” Americans to run for office.
2.Define Unamerican and I am sure you will find your definition of American lacking. We are no country of angels, how can you expect our representatives to be so?