David Axelrod: After Barack Obama, America will never be the same

[In It to Win It]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/david-axelrod-barack-obama-america-130900247.html

In all the years I worked for Barack Obama, I didn’t think enough about the burdens of being America’s first Black president – in part because he bore them so gracefully.

There were bracing moments, of course, like the day, relatively early in his campaign for the White House, when Secret Service agents became a constant presence in his life, given the inordinate number of death threats against him.

There were the overtly racist memes about his citizenship and faith and worthiness, fueled by demagogues and social media, that continued throughout his presidency.

There was the startling outburst from a Southern congressman, who shouted “You lie!” during a presidential address to Congress – an intrusion that has since become more common but back then was a stunning departure from civic norms.

Among Obama’s staff, we dealt with these moments mostly as political challenges to navigate. And while he addressed issues of race, Obama rarely spoke, publicly or privately, about the unique pressures he faced personally.

It took someone else to open my eyes and cause me to think more deeply about the extraordinary burden – and responsibility – of being a trailblazer at the highest of heights in a nation where the struggle against racism is ongoing.

[Irish_Dem]

1. And think about Michelle as well. She knew that her family were sitting ducks.

At any time the worst could happen.

But every day she and her husband got up and did the right thing for their country.

[Ocelot II]

3. What a contrast...

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Some people couldn't stand the fact that a smart, honest, decent Black man had been president, so they reacted by electing a stupid, crooked, nasty White guy who could do their hating out loud.

[dalton99a]

4. +1. From class to trash at warp speed

[MutantAndProud]

10. Warp speed? What is this 2017? They've gone ludicrous speed

And into ‘plaid’

-Spaceballs, always

[Irish_Dem]

7. And what a contrast in wives too.

Yep President Obama is a good, decent, brilliant, educated, classy hard working man.
With a strong moral core.

We went from him to a nasty, ruthless sociopath criminal who wants to destroy
this country.

And regarding Melania, the less said the better.

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

21. Huge (yuge?) contrast in post-presidencies too.

Obama: Starts his own foundation, builds his presidential library in Chicago, uses speaking engagements to inspire people.

Trump: Continues the grift he was passed down from his father, inspires the largest act of domestic terrorism in living memory.

[Irish_Dem]

30. Yes one is a true humanitarian who builds. The other is a ruthless sociopath who destroys.

ETA Welcome to DU.

[usaf-vet]

48. When I left the southern military base I was stationed on until 1969. I really thought.....

..... that I had seen the end of open racism.

We were advised by the base command chain to "not leave the base with black airmen." Even though we worked side by side and all shared the same barracks space.

I grew up in the north and could get home fast enough. Now 50+ years later. I still live in the north and in an area that is very liberal.

Yet the southern states predominately have become more racist not just of blacks but of anyone that is not Caucasian.

It is nuts, and it is being pushed to divide us and thus weaken the political will.

I have not and will not ever travel to any of the Southern states as they all have become worse than the things I was exposed to in the mid-1960s.

Granted, there are small areas in most of the states that are "left-leaning." Austin, Texas, is an example. But these areas are getting rarer and rarer.

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

51. +1

I have not and will not ever travel to any of the Southern states as they all have become worse than the things I was exposed to in the mid-1960s.

When I was a kid, I wanted to go to Hemingway's home in Key West. Unless they do an unfathomable 180 down there, I never will.

All my travel plans are northerly-looking rather than southerly. Only way I'm going south of PA is if it's to Maryland, Delaware, NJ, or DC.

[AZ8theist]

58. We visited Hemingway's home a few years ago....

...I wouldn't be too concerned. Key West is LOADED with tourists. I don't think we ever saw or met actual residents other than the shopkeepers.

Of course, you do have to travel through some of Floridastan to get there, however.....

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

60. Me and planes don't mix.

So I'd have to drive through all of FL, plus several other states. Yeah, no thanks.

Also, because I always have to make this clarification, I completely trust the engineering of an aircraft, I'm not afraid of dropping out of the sky. It's the being in a tin can with 200-400 other people that I can't get away from that makes a commercial flight untenable for me.

[AZ8theist]

67. Completely understandable.

So glad my current career does not require travel.

[electric_blue68]

72. I remember reading for awhile in the ?'00s that The South was improving; Black people were moving..

back there - those who had Southern roots.


I guess it changed again for the worse?

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

77. The racism isn't worse

It's the same racism, in some ways. But in others, things did get better. Not a great deal better, but better than how it was before the Civil Rights Act.

The ex and I were stationed in Mississippi in the 80s, but lived off-base. Black and white people lived in the same (not ghetto) neighborhoods, shopped at the same stores, went to the same movies, attended the same schools, and so on.

The remaining segregated places were the churches, country clubs and the beaches, and the latter two were a rich white trash thing, rather than how ordinary people dealt with each other.

Nobody batted an eye at interracial couples. First time I saw one, I held my breath and started looking for either an exit, in case things got ugly. Nothing happened. They got waited on at stores and restaurants, same as anyone else.

I went clubbing with my black roommate when I was on a TDY assignment at the same base in the late 80s. None of the locals, either employees or other party animals, thought anything of us hanging out together in public. And we weren't the only interracial groups at any of the clubs, either. Black and white friends hanging out together was common--and unremarked upon.

And that was Mississippi.

Now maybe in the more backwoods parts of the South, the racism is more toxic. But, for the most part, things are not at all like the Jim Crow days.

Really.

[COL Mustard]

82. In many cases, "Southern Hospitality" is just a thin veneer

If you scratch the surface, you find ugliness right underneath it.

I grew up in the Deep South and left as soon as I could.

[usaf-vet]

93. Thank god I live in a part of the country where none of this hatered is a daily event.

Sure, there are likely still bigots lurking in the shadows, but they know the MAJORITY outnumbers them.

[Straw Man]

69. Well ...

Trump: Continues the grift he was passed down from his father, inspires the largest act of domestic terrorism in living memory.

I think David Koresh, through Timothy McViegh, still holds that record.

[PatrickforB]

86. In terms of death toll maybe. But January 6 was a direct attempt to put our republic to death.

That ranks right up there in terms of long-term potential for human suffering.

[Maru Kitteh]

64. Regarding Melania, the one thing to say about her

is that she deserves him. I think that covers it nicely.

[Irish_Dem]

66. Yes her punishment.

[niyad]

12. From sublime to obscene.

[mountain grammy]

31. The plain and simple truth.. well said.

[Lonestarblue]

46. Amen! Perfect description.

[niyad]

14. She talked about it in, "The Light We Carry", at least obliquely. The pressures

were almost unimaginable.

[Irish_Dem]

29. We will probably never know the full extent of her terror.

She knew the odds for her husband.

She probably worried the most for her young children.

[electric_blue68]

71. I prayed for his/their safety every day.

[raging moderate]

78. Yes, some White House windows were shattered by bullets.

I remember one such episode happened when the girls were there alone with their grandmother.

Horrifying!

[electric_blue68]

87. Woah, no! It sounds very vaguely familiar. Who'd want to remember something like that!

[raging moderate]

89. Someone who wants to prevent a repeat.

I hope various law enforcement people are remembering it.

[Irish_Dem]

85. I did too. I was also worried about the Secret Service back then.

Too many hooker and booze scandals.

And probably some racist agents.

[electric_blue68]

88. Hmm didn't even think about the Secret Service! ...

But my prayers were - all coverage!

[Irish_Dem]

91. Yep ya did good.

[electric_blue68]

94. Ty 🙂

[malaise]

2. This is the main reason they want to erase history

Obama shattered all their racist myths. Given opportunity we are all equal and if your worldview is white supremacy, rewriting history, racial hatred and lies about reality are the essence of your imaginary superiority.

[reymega life]

6. I doubt they can erase an historic presidency

I loved Obama from April 2008-2012.

[jimfields33]

20. Was perfectly great from 2012 to 2016 as well.

[wnylib]

25. And still is, as a human being.

[jimfields33]

65. Absolutely true!!!!!

[electric_blue68]

73. I think 2012 - 2016 was in a way even worse for white racists because they might be able to...

construe in some crazy knotted logic that 2008 - 2012 it was a "fluke".

But to be reelected?!
That was some kind of "affrontery" to them!
imho

[MutantAndProud]

8. They'll rewrite your social circle too if they can

Or erase it. We all succeed against it or we all lose. The machines are running overtime now and are being programmed to target and erase all threats. It’s no accident AI cloning of models, actors, and voices is happening so quickly.

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

24. I knew Fox quote News unquote would eventually become what it is today.

However, my previous estimates put it at about 10-20 years from now. The engine is being ran at max RPM. But, if you know anything about engines, you'll know that you can only do that for so long before the engine destroys itself.

[MutantAndProud]

5. They cannot take away that achievement

No matter how many revisionist tactics they use.

My family has quadrupled their lobbying efforts to get me to ‘not think of conservative as a bad word’ and to not look at the lies obfuscations and slander.

I miss those 2007-08 debates. They were a treat for a liberal in a conservative family.

[raging moderate]

79. Tell your family they are NOT conservatives. They are reactionaries.

Conservatives want society to stay where it is and make only careful, gradual, necessary changes.

Reactionaries want what the Trumpers want: to throw everything back to where it was long ago. In a mythical golden past.

[MutantAndProud]

80. They just criticize the reaction to their reactionary behavior

There is no getting through to them. In my case they literally sided with someone who assaulted me because I ‘harassed him’ by speaking to him about it when he didn’t want to hear it. So. There are sometimes limits to with whom you can discuss what and for how long.

[CrispyQ]

9. It woke a lot of us white people up, who were lulled into thinking racism wasn't so bad anymore.

Last edited Sat May 20, 2023, 01:33 PM - Edit history (1)

I'd been riding the bus for years in a liberal area, but still saw subtle ways women of color were treated differently than I was but even I was stunned by the reaction on the right to a black man running for president. I stupidly thought the Republican Party or the media or both, would shut Sarah Palin down with her racist rhetoric & her gun target poster. But no. And here we are, the Republican Party thoroughly entrenched with the white supremacists, & the media hot to re-elect Trump, all for ratings. If he gets elected to the presidency again, this country is over. I honestly believe that.

If only we had something on him, something we could use against him.

[LakeArenal]

15. This is the way I felt too.

However. I lived in Madison WI which turned out to be a liberal bubble not a nationwide reality.

Obama and family were the epitome of any American dream.

Foolishly I thought we as a nation had finally “made” it.

[CrispyQ]

17. The 2008 Democratic Convention was held in Denver,

just down the road from me. The whole area was electrified with energy! It was amazing! I had some friends who were bloggers, all that was pretty new back then, & the energy was incredible! I've never watched inauguration ceremonies, but I did that year. I remember how cold it was & that Michelle had that fabulous coat but they had such happy expressions! It was like coming out of a dark tunnel.

[Polybius]

44. Not stirring up anything, but why capitalize one but not the other?

Either both lowercase or both capitalized would be more fair.

[CrispyQ]

47. Edited. -nt

[Prairie_Seagull]

11. Historically Obamas Presidency was/is bigger than even 'they' knew.

One of the proudest moments of my life. I have to admit, I was thinking we had turned a corner. Little did I know...

[CTyankee]

16. I remember how well I felt during his presidency. Everything seemed so good and decent.

To this day, I can't believe how we as a nation could turn around and elect TFG. It was a psychological blow and even tho we have President Biden and his greatness and decency, I still think about the damage that TFG did.

[musclecar6]

13. Yes

We were lucky to have 2 first class decent giving people in Barack and Michelle. If Comey hadn’t pulled that stunt close to the election, Hillary might have squeaked thru in spite of Putin’s best efforts to stuff the electronic ballot box.

Unfortunately we had to suffer thru the runaway incompetent stupid sociopath and buttressed by the mean spirited hell bent white nationalist republican congress. The good news is, the majority of the voters rallied to put Joe and Kamala in office.

[jcgoldie]

18. The Mind of the South

WJ Cash

Written 20 years before Obama was born and its central thesis is what the first black president blew up. As long as poor white folks had white privilege then they would endure any level of economic hardship. I may live in a double wide or a shack with a dirt floor and work for peanuts and have no opportunity for any sort of mobility, but I will endure it and support the system that ensures my privileged status because at least I'm not black. That was enough until suddenly the president, the figurehead of the single highest status person in the country was black. If thats possible then what good is it to be white and if it doesn't give any privileges then what do I have? Nothing. So freak out and do anything abandon every ideal of decency to claw it back starting with the tea party in 2010 and running right through the trump maga movement and Qanon.

[Layzeebeaver]

43. This is what its all about

and the right wing fuel thrown on it.

[raging moderate]

83. Ulysses S. Grant noticed this strange fact about the South.

I read his memoirs. While in college at West Point, Grant visited the plantation-owner family of a classmate and fell in love with the guy's sister. Ulysses S. Grant came from a family of do-it-yourself hardworking craftsmen/farmers in the North. Grant's Abolitionist family were all hopping mad and refused to come to the wedding. Grant's new in-laws gave him a slave as a wedding gift. Grant and this guy went to work together to build a little cabin so Grant's new wife could learn how to live the way he had been raised (apparently she was really a pretty nice, brave girl). Grant wrote that the other white people were horrified that Grant was also doing the actual labor; they kept coming over to try to get him to stop. Grant said this was humorous to him because everybody in his little settlement back home constantly did daily manual labor - unless you were poorly (sickly). As soon as the little cabin was finished, Grant took this "wedding-present slave" guy over to the local courthouse and gave him his legal freedom papers. The whole time, other white people kept trying to stop him from giving this guy his freedom, pointing out that Grant could get a lot of money if he simply sold this guy.

Later, when he was a Civil War general, Grant noticed that the lower-ranking confederate troops seemed to be very competent in doing the actual labor of digging trenches, securing supplies, and setting up camps. As a life-long laborer, Grant could tell that the tools issued to these troops were obviously inferior. As were the narcissistic, "aristocratic" rich men chosen as officers, swishing around on horseback, barking imperious orders that showed they knew nothing about these activities. By the way, I also read a book called "The Economy of Slavery," in which the authors noted that they had discovered that the rich plantation owners obviously had warped the tool culture of the South by always ordering and buying only the cheapest tools, and getting local hardware stores to stock mostly cheap inferior tools. So Grant was not the only person to notice this.

Also, I once read a little book by a man who had become an Abolitionist right after college after a visit to several plantations in the South. He said he lost weight because he could barely stand to eat any food, out of basic compassion for the horrible emaciation and obvious severe injuries suffered by the brave black people who were waiting on them at the table. He noticed that his rich hosts were oblivious to these injuries. He also noticed that there were some poor white people living in the area. While they were in better shape than the black people, they seemed underfed, exhausted, and depressed. So they were being conditioned to tell themselves and their children, "well, at least we are better off than the black people."

[betsuni]

90. +1

[zipplewrath]

19. I always said

His most important accomplishment was to be there for 8 years, so that 10 year olds would grow up thinking that this is what a president looks like.

[xocetaceans]

22. Not to interrupt the hagiography...

President Obama's election was a historic change in the course of the US. It was beyond important that he be elected.

"Si Te Puedes!"
"Yes, you can."
"Yes, we can."
etc.

I still recall the fantastic feeling of working to get him elected.

President Obama was much better for the country than John McCain would have been. Mitt Romney would also have been quite inferior to President Obama.

However:

What did not happen was a prosecution of the bankers.

What did not happen was universal healthcare.

What did not happen was the codification of abortion rights.

etc.

So, however respectable, honorable and accomplished President Obama truly is, he and his Administration - by their failure to significantly improve the basic economic and social realities that confront most US citizens on a daily basis - laid the groundwork for the cynical rise of Donald Trump.

Yes, Trump and his ilk exploit racism and they are not to be excused for that or for any of their gross misdeeds or their corruption.

However, they did not simply arise out of a background of pure racism as much as it might comfort a former member of the Obama Administration who might wish to pretend otherwise.

Instead, what happens is that Democratic Presidents seem consistently to quail, to fail to have the courage of their convictions.

Just look at President Biden's negotiation charade with Speaker McCarthy as an example of this. Will the negotiations inevitably hurt the people who voted for President Biden? Yes, they will. That is what the GOP wants. Will President Biden stand against that? No. He and his staff have indicated a willingness to let the GOP have its way. And so the shortsighted pragmatism of not wanting to fight the GOP will alienate those who are hurt and this will possibly resuscitate Trump and the GOP's chances - after an insurrection no less! How badly does one have to screw up to allow such an opponent back into the game? This is President Biden's make or break moment. We'll see what he chooses to do, but it looks like he is going to make the same mistakes that President Obama made and that will be terrible for the US.

So, yes, President Obama had the opportunity to be a great President. Did he succeed? There are mixed reviews.

[jcgoldie]

26. Right so its the fault of Democratic administrations...

...that the GOP perpetually obstructs their progressive agenda. Obama expanded healthcare to more people than the country had ever seen and you are saying he should be blamed for not getting universal healthcare? That somehow that is partially responsible for the rise of Trump? Disingenuous.

[Peregrine Took]

28. +1

[wnylib]

32. Complete and total nonsense to

claim that Obama set the stage for Trump. Also indicates a gross lack of information about political trends in the US going back to Richard Nixon and intensifying under Reagan and the Bushes.

You fault Obama for not establishing universal health care. If he had held out for that, there would still be no health care for the millions of people who are now covered via the Affordable Care Act, aka Obama Care. Presidents have been pushing for universal health care since WWII. Obama is the only one who got even close to it and who managed to increase health care coverage for such a huge number of Americans. The negotiations that achieved that feat were phenomenal in the face of public racism from the members of Congress that he had to deal with in the negotiations.

Considering McConnell's open statement that his primary duty was to stop Obama from accomplishing anything, it is nearly miraculous that Obama managed to save us from a depression as bad as the one of the 1930s, and that he also got health coverage for uninsured Americans.

And you gripe that his accomplishments weren't perfect by your standards? Oh puleeze. Those things had NOTHING to do with Trump's win in 2016. Trump won by appealing to a racist backlash, by assistance from Russia, and by misogynistic attacks against an opponent that the right had been vilifying since 1991.

Trump is only the symptom for a national disorder that has been festering for decades in this country, long before Obama was even in politics.

[sheshe2]

40. Thank you. 💙

[Solomon]

81. Yes. Thank you.

Such bullshit! Thanks for saving me the time!

[pandr32]

36. I can't disagree with your main points except the failure to have courage.

Democrats show their decency and commitment to our laws and principles, which are genuine characteristics that define us. There is and has been lots of grueling mud-wrangling, but Democratic leaders stop short of using tough, final measures to reach goalposts. We did impeach Putin's puppet--twice, but every time we do it seems our opposition gets worse, more insane, more ruthless. We cannot be the same monster, albeit doing it for different reasons. Ordinary non "woke" Americans cannot see the difference--especially with all the bot armies and the mainstream media making it worse.
We walk the walk.
It is hard to take, especially knowing we really cannot make good deals with MAGA Republicans in office. I wish more of them would be facing charges for their sedition. That would be helpful.
For the record, Obama's presidency achieved plenty to feel good about. He was not only a good president here at home, but on the International stage as well.

[BannonsLiver]

38. What an absolute pant load.

I’m embarrassed for you.

[sheshe2]

41. +1

[uponit7771]

49. Unfair criticism is bashing, none of the negatives you listed fall mostly on Obama admin shoulders

[betsuni]

55. Obama had a filibuster-proof majority in the senate for four months and ten days for the

first two years of his presidency and Republicans controlled the House for the rest of his term. What are you even talking about?

[Skittles]

63. Obama told us to "move forward" regarding the crimes of BUSH INC

they literally lied their way into a WAR

I will also add that Hillary faced / would have faced far more hurdles, and women are over HALF the population

[New Breed Leader]

92. re: Not to interrupt the hagiography...

Will President Biden stand against that? No. He and his staff have indicated a willingness to let the GOP have its way.

No they haven't.

[xocetaceans]

95. You're late to the game. Keep up.

Specifically, if you're posting well after the fact. Don't blame others if the public statements and the reporting thereof change.

[H2O Man]

23. Recommended.

[moreland01]

27. Which candidate was the "maverick"?

It wasn't John McCain, and it certainly wasn't Sara Palin!

[Arthur_Frain]

33. I must have mis remembered it then

I thought it was that shitstain Alito that yelled “you lie”.

[3catwoman3]

35. It was Representative Joe Wilson from South Carolina.

If looks could kill, the glare he got from Nancy Pelosi would have vaporized him.

Alito mouthed “Not true,” IIRC, and shook his head.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

75. Alito mouthed the words "Not true" when Obama warned that "Citizens United" might mean foreign money

could find its way into political campaigns.

[Mr.Bill]

34. And trust me, the first woman president

will face these challenges in even greater amounts. If the first woman president were to be black, we have right in front of us the woman who can meet those challenges in Kamala Harris. She has been breaking through glass ceilings for her entire life and always did it with grace and class. She will be a president to be proud of, for sure.

[yobrault1]

37. Like many POC in North America

There are things you just handle and deal with when being the only or the first POC in any given situation. Maybe we weren’t the first president and leader of the free world. We have often found ourselves being the only or the first of our color sitting in a particular seat. You must appreciate that you must represent the very best of you and he did that very well. He had the right temperament to be the first. He won’t be the last.

[Marthe48]

39. Read the whole article

Brought tears to my eyes

[PXR-5]

42. It started when he became the nominee.

Here in semi-rural NC almost everyone was a democrat.
My neighbor was given free land during the Great Depression under the condition he would farm it forever.

During WWll that restriction was lifted, but he, his son and now his grandson still farm a bit of it in his honour.

They were all proud democrats, until that "n*gg*r" won the nomination, they flew the flag upside down and started watching the Faux.

We have lost those folks forever.

[BumRushDaShow]

45. "It took someone else to open my eyes ..."

I'm glad that "someone else" did because even he (along with Plouffe) took loads of potshots and hurled them straight at Obama, despite being staffers, and that continued after they left his employ. And despite the claim of "figuring it out" with the nomination of Sotomayor, I think it is only NOW, after the complete opposite of an Obama was elected to office, who eventually tried to overthrow the government from within (and hasn't let up), with the complete support of the GOP, did he finally "get it".

The entire Obama family had to persist in their lonely walk through a gauntlet of a cluttered and lethal minefield the entire 8 years of that Presidency due to booby-traps that were laid by members of the entire political spectrum. And that continued the 4 years after, as he was (and still is) hounded with the "Why didn't he {fill in the blank}?" bullshit.

[betsuni]

76. +1

[Prairie_Seagull]

84. BRDS, +1, but that last para is choice. nt

[Blue Owl]

50. K&R

[betsuni]

52. K&R

[reymega life]

54. how did we not respect Obama

I loved his first term even when I was mot critical of it hes probably th best president but how did we go from this guy to a gameshow president?

[betsuni]

57. Because when Obama was elected there were about the same number of white Democratic and

Republican voters. The Bush administration destroyed the economy and his wars were deeply unpopular. People were saying they were independents because it was embarrassing to admit to being Republican. Of course the Democrat won in 2008.

By 2016 stupid white people were clearly majority Republican and Trump the perfect candidate, right-wing hate radio come to life. That's how it happened.

Had nothing to do with Obama, Hillary, Biden, Democrats despite all efforts to blame them.

[demigoddess]

53. Obama was my favorite president. I was for Kennedy but Obama turned out even better.

The racists just couldn't stand that he was so smart and such a good president. They have been having fits about it ever since. Shooting people and ruining the country has been their response.

[Vinnie From Indy]

56. Well done & spot on!

Thanks for posting.

[NowISeetheLight]

59. I Remember

I remember watching Obama announced the winner on TV in Grants Park. It made me proud to be American. Despite still being a registered Republican in AZ then I voted for him (twice). I remember seeing Jesse Jackson on TV with tears in his eyes. I really thought America had turned a corner.

Today I view it differently. Despite the reality of Americas accomplishments during the Obama administration, the white supremacists treated it as a rallying cry that Trump made OK to publicize. It disgusts me. Watching what has happened, especially with Trump coming into power, it’s really opened the reality of these people.

I guess what makes me sad is they have so many supporters. I’m a late 50s white man. I don’t feel threatened by knowing someday I wouldn’t be the “majority’. Being gay I’ve always (secretly) been a minority anyway. I’ve been lucky I could pass for straight. I’ve had gay friends who are effeminate who couldn’t. African-American (and other) people, like President Obama, had to overcome so much. It makes me sad.

It makes me think the fact people growing up don’t know the reality of America. This is part of what makes the book and diversity bans in some of these states so insidious. They’re trying to rewrite history… just like the Nazis did.

[Tarheel_Dem]

61. Thank you David. Being of AA descent myself, I have some experience with the burden of being..

the 1st minority in certain spaces. I expect it's much like being the first "anything" that isn't straight white Christian male. Obama wasn't allowed to do and say what many pundits & critics demanded him to, but I believe that makes the possibility of another future minority POTUS who will be able to go even further. We sometimes forget that as the first black POTUS, Obama had to be palatable to white America, while maintaining his support amongst the rest of us. It's a tricky position in which to find one's self.

[electric_blue68]

74. no doubt! I remember the whole thing about him not appearing as...

an/the "angry Black man!" to white people (of which I'm one)

Otoh for me Black people have so many reasons to be righteously angry, but bc of racism it sometimes needs to be applied judiciously.
(hope this makes sense)

So President Obama had to walk a thin line.

[Tarheel_Dem]

96. "A very thin line" indeed. And you're right, anger needs to be applied "judiciously". There's a...

reason why Obama was our 1st AA POTUS. I remember in the early days of Obama's candidacy, his mixed race heritage wasn't immediately embraced by the black community, with complaints that unlike forerunners such as Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton, he wasn't "black enough". Obama walked a tight line to get elected in the first place, and I don't know why anyone expected him to take the oath of office and immedately become Malcolm X. It boggles the mind.

[electric_blue68]

97. Fairly waaay back I was hoping either Rep Ron Delemns, or Julian Bond might have become President...

I did vote for Jessie J in his first run for President. In fact it was cool bc he cane to my neighborhood for a rally, and Steve Van Zant introduced him.

Now I can't remember the batch of Dems running in the primaries the second time Jessie ran. I was thinking of voting for him but this is what happened the first time.

A neighbor of mine, and myself voted for JJ in the primary and both of us had been thrown off the rolls when we went to vote on Election Day! While another friend same voting place of ours who didn't vote for JJ was not tossed off the rolls. Hmmmm.... I think we used provisional ballots.
I didn't want that to possibly happen again so I didn't vote for him the second time he ran.

I could see why some in the Black community might say Obama "wasn't Black enough".
Did you ever see the "New Yorker" cover were he & First Lady Michele were dressed up like '60's Black radicals?

Speaking of Malcolm X I have a not typical story (for a white family). I was 12 in '65. My family lived about 4-5 blocks away from The Audoban Ballroom. After he was assassinated my mom was sad about it. I found out she would hear him on the radio. She said, "He spoke so lovingly about his people" (possibly vs how he spoke about white people - I don't know know if she got to hear him after he returned from Mecca).


I guess to a white racist any Black person even just being calmly assertive about justice & equaiity (not "aggressive" [and what is the continuum on that]) is seen as a "firebrand!!!!".

[Tarheel_Dem]

98. Very interesting history there. Thanks for that. I remember the poutrage among Obama's foes...

and some of his more outspoken "allies" when he remarked on the stupidity of a black professor being manhandled on his own front doorstep, simply because a white police officer (obviously) didn't think he belonged in the neighborhood. Of course, for Obama's foes, it was red meat; but surprisingly, among some of his more strident allies, Obama should have shown more outrage. I remember thinking at the time, this is gonna be a tumultuous 8 years.

[Faux pas]

68. Kickin'

[calimary]

70. I remember that "you lahhh!" jerk.

I remember the look of shock and indignation on then-Speaker Pelosi’s face as she scanned the House to see who it was. I bet she knew.

[FakeNoose]

99. What took David Axelrod so long to write this?

I know he has immense admiration for PBO and Michelle Obama....

Mr. Axelrod was sitting on "Ground Zero" in 2008 while America's racist Repukes totally lost their shit when Barack Obama won the election. He continued working at the White House for the next few years, then switched to Obama's re-election campaign. After Obama won his 2nd term, I believe Axelrod left White House employment and went back to the private sector.

All I'm saying is that he could have spoken up before this. Well maybe he did, and the news reporters haven't paid attention? I don't know. He wrote a book about Obama's two Presidential campaigns and the time in-between, which I read and found immensely interesting.

Please David, don't be shy. Remind America what was great and special about Barack Obama. Remind us all the reasons why we loved PBO's Presidency. Thank you!