Obama as a President - Essay Example

Obama as President: No Positive News for the Minorities When Barack Obama won the primaries and became the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer for the 2008 elections, a great number of the minorities were elated. Many Americans of Asian, Latino, and African descent welcomed the candidacy because they believed that anyone from among them who gains the coveted and most important electoral post would surely represent their interest. Their numbers may not be enough to compel the White-dominated Congress to introduce policies that would reflect their interests but an African-American president, hopefully, can bring about social change that will be in their favor. Such expectations, however, are largely based not on Obama’s platform of governance or on the intrinsic characteristics of the Democratic Party. Instead, these are merely founded on the mere color of Obama’s skin. It is obvious that while it may only be right that American minorities pin their hopes on Obama, entirely trusting that he can produce the changes that they desire is not. Granting that Obama would indeed become the voice of racial equality in during his presidency, it must be pointed out that the problem is, in fact, systemic or structural. It would take a massive overhaul of government and American society itself before the issues plaguing the minorities in the country can truly be resolved. Considering that Obama is facing a Congress made mostly of representatives from the opposition Republican Party and that he is under constant pressure to compromise even his personal convictions in favor of a less fractured white-dominated government, it is only clear that minorities should not expect too much from his presidency. In two years since Obama rose to the presidency, the hopes of the American minorities are beginning to shatter. Obama may turn out to be no different from all the other presidents who came before him. The issue of race has always been a very sensitive one in American society. This is indeed ironic since the United States always prides itself with being the most democratic country in the world, one that provides equality to all, regardless of their race, religion, and political beliefs. When an African-American was chosen by the Democratic Party to become its presidential candidate in 2008, many thought that the age of post-racialism has arrived. The minorities began to feel that the discrimination that they have experienced would soon be gone. For many of the White majority, welcoming Obama’s candidacy was not so much because of the causes that he espouses but rather for the relief he provides from the guilt of upholding discriminatory attitudes toward the minorities. This is definitely not a well-grounded standpoint. Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D, a member of the Department of Psychology faculty of the University of Illinois explains that “personal relief from guilt and shame is really not a good enough reason to consider race in electoral politics.” (2008) Lyubansky admits that a Black president does not in any way mean that the country’s racial problems would soon come to pass. Menachem Rosensaft, founding Chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, points out that the reason why majority of Jews support Obama’s candidacy is due to the fact that “most American Jews are mainstream progressive, with a highly developed social conscience” and that “they support civil and human rights.” (2008) The Jews are a minority when compared to the Christian religions that dominate in American society. However, they did not support Obama because they see him as coming from a minority too but because they also espoused the causes that he promoted. It is therefore, clear that while many racial minorities provided fuel for the Obama’s successful presidential campaign, there are other minority sectors, not necessarily based on race, which saw promise in him because of his political standpoint. This is where the problem lies. Obama may not be able to change the color of his skin but he can surely change his political views and uphold policies that are contrary to what he promised during the presidential campaign. Being the president of the land, he is objectively not just subjected to public pressure but also to the stand of the legislative body, now currently controlled by the Republicans. A single Black Democrat, even if holds the reigns of the federal executive body, cannot impose his will, no matter how noble and just it is, if it runs against the congressmen, senators, or the public itself which, in varying degrees, may have held concepts anathema to the interest of the minorities. The truth is that the racial issue is not just based on the color of one’s skin. It is an adjunct of social inequalities that persist in modern-day America and that continue to worsen as the economy has yet to recover from the stagnancy and inflation that began during the Bush presidency. Being so, this problem, therefore, cannot be solved with the ascendancy of a Black president. Discrimination against minorities cannot be separated from the problems of joblessness, homelessness, and lack of educational opportunities, which are all symptomatic of a country in economic crisis. Therefore, unless Obama can fix the economy, the mention of racial equality by his administration would certainly be rhetoric only. For Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, an academic who comes from the Latino minority, Obama’s presidency does not guarantee the betterment of all racial minorities as long as governance is dominated by the elites through the Democratic or Republican parties. He asserts that “every four years, we all go back to our self-made corner and choose among the lesser of two evils - Mondale, Dukakis, Bubba, Kerry,and now Obama… in doing so, we waste time, energy, and precious resources all fundamental to advance the hard process of organizing social movements.” (Bonilla-Silva and Ray 56) He insists that it is not the presidency that really matters for the minorities but rather the establishment of solid organizations that can be employed as instruments for advancing their causes. Beset with lingering questions about his capability in uniting Americans, regardless of race, in order to solve the economic problems plaguing the country, Obama made it clear during the 2008 presidential campaign that the racial issues would not become obstacles in his effort to lead the country out of the rut. Andra Gillespie, a political scientist based at Emory University, says that “when Barack Obama got elected… this meant that he wasn’t supposed to address racial issues and that if he did discuss racial issues there would be a whole backlash.” (Zengerle) However, this puts Obama in a bind because racial disparities are often more evident as problems related to unemployment and the lack of educational opportunities. He could not expound on the urgency of social welfare policies, employment generating measures, and the broadening of educational services without touching the racial angle created by the issue. If he does, he could be accused of using the race card again, which has often been considered as one of the factors that promote racial hatred. The widening gap between the White majority and the several minorities in American society should not be attributed to just differences in culture or worse, on skin color or shape one’s eyes. Such differences would certainly not matter if everyone feels that they have the same opportunities in employment, education, housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities. However, as long as inequalities in these respects are prevalent, it would always be convenient for people, whether they come from the majority or the minority, to attribute their woes to racism or racial discrimination. The poor Whites, which comprise the grassroots bulk of the rabidly anti-Obama Tea Party Movement, “would join the rest of the disenfranchised poor in believing that their President doesn’t understand them, can’t relate to them, and, for the skeptically inclined, doesn’t care about them.” (Lyubansky) Even the poor Blacks would be first filled with hope, because someone in the White House shares the same skin color. However, since Obama is just mimicking the same economic programs that were implemented by previous administrations, foundations for the continuation of unemployment and lack of education opportunities remain. Therefore, regardless of race, the American poor and working class would continue to experience bad times ahead. Americans may have thought that the thorniest issue confronting their society is racial discrimination and the corresponding conflicts that arise between the White majority and colored minorities. The truth, however, is that it is not so. The single most important problem that must be addressed is economic disparity. Once government, Obama’s or otherwise, focuses on this particular issue, it will naturally implement policies that would serve the interest of all the economically disadvantaged, whether they are Whites, Blacks, Asians, Latinos, Pacific islanders, or other racial groups. In March 2008, Obama delivered a speech in which he dealt with the issue of race relations. Articulating on his post-racial platform of governance, he said that “investing in the health, welfare and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.” (Obama 138) These words are indeed post-racial in character as these see beyond the divide based on the racial differences. While Obama was able to expound on the necessity of making the economic wealth of the country distributed more equitably, there are stumbling blocks that would certainly make the task more difficult, if not, impossible. The fact that healthcare reform policy met heavy opposition from the Republicans and other conservative sectors of society only proves the point that he alone could not guarantee that the racial minorities in the country will finally see the opportunities that Whites have offered to them. The problems that the minorities continue to encounter despite America’s boasting that it is a land of equal opportunities, cannot be overcome by just the election of one man even he truly represents their interests. Works Cited Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo and Victor Ray. “Its Real! Racism, Color Blindness, Obama, and the Urgent Need for Social Movement Politics.” Ed. Graham Cassano and Richard Alan Dello Buono. Crisis, Politics and Critical Sociology. Boston, MA: Brill, 2010. Lyubansky, Mikhail. “The Racial Implications of a Barack Obama Presidency.” The Smirking Chimp, 13 July, 2008. . Obama, Barack. Words on a Journey: The Great Speeches of President-Elect Barack Obama. Rockville, MD: Arc Manor, 2009. Rosensaft, Menachem. “Why American Jews Voted for Barack Obama.” The Huffington Post, 14 November, 2008. . Zengerle, Patricia. “Analysis: Race Issues Beset Obamas ‘Post-Racial’ Presidency.” Reuters, 21 July 2010. . Read More