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Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Senator Barak Obama's Big Risk









Why I don’t want Barak Obama to Win the White House

I’m not an American, so my observations are those from offshore. But, for the first time in a very long time, American politics are actually interesting. Suddenly, gone is the absolute criterion that only a white male could be seriously considered to occupy the office of President of the United States.

We can all remember that England went through the same mindset until we got Margaret Thatcher, and then many people considered she was the best thing since sliced bread was invented. America, overall, is growing up to realise that prejudice, the act of pre-judging, is usually self-defeating. For the first time, both a woman and a black man have been considered serious contenders for the presidential office.

Hillary Clinton has dropped out of the race because Barak Obama collected the greater number of votes for the Democratic Party’s nomination. We can be sure that for Mrs Clinton that really hurts as she felt some time ago that the nomination should have been hers. But she has been strong in defeat and she is able to muster up the necessary political will to throw her support behind Mr. Obama in the interests of the Democratic Party.

For the time being, she has done a very noble thing in the interest of American women. She has taken the concept of a woman in the White House to a very high jumping off point. She can do no more for the time being. She should reject an invitation from Senator Obama for the number two slot, and he should not offer her that position.

I’m sure that Barak Obama really wants to be elected to the White House, but I hope he loses out to John McCain by a narrow margin. He will have made his point in so much as he needs to at this time. Hillary Clinton has elevated the role of American women in the mind of the voting public, and that means that if a woman can be seriously considered for the White House as President, all women in America must reasonably and seriously be considered for anything that they wish to do.

Barak Obama can stop right now and he will have achieved the same type of heroic result, in that he has raised the place of all black people in America to the same level as whites. That happened in one quantum leap in a very short period of time. If he is defeated at the polls in a respectable finish, he most likely will see the threat against him and his family recede. No-one is talking about this, but we are all thinking about it. Most of all, I’m certain Senator Obama knows the risks associated with his historic run for the White House.

America has a very dark side in the form of white supremacist with guns and the will to use them. Homeland Security will have to be especially vigilant as the biggest threat will come not from overseas terrorists, but those of a home-grown hue.

Leaving out of the equation the risk factor against his life from the rabid racists who must be wondering what on earth is transpiring, there is also the very fact that the present administration is leaving such a mess to be sorted out, I sincerely would not inflict that on either America’s first black or female president. The problems left behind and generated during the past eight years will take several decades to be turned around, so, by all means, leave it to John McCain, another Republican to sort things out, or more likely, to take the blame for not being able to do so. When the world sees a woman or a black man at the helm I want their time in office to be remembered by everyone as the best of times. Instead, the years ahead will be very difficult and a lot of people will suffer hardships that cannot be alleviated any time soon. Those problems will not be the doing of the new administration, but that’s who will get the blame.

Of course, were it possible for either a woman or a black man to do the impossible in eight years and bring America back from the brink, that would be something worth celebrating.

So, sorry Senator Obama, I really don’t want you to “win” the presidency. I don’t want you to have to bear that cross, nor do I want you to put your life in mortal danger for just being there. Your crusade has reached its pinnacle and you have elevated a whole nation of American black people, and black people around the world. You join such historic black figures as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who had a dream; former Secretary of State and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell; former U.N Secretary Kofi Annan, and the present Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, among others.

You could quit while you’re ahead, but that’s not the American way, and I know you wouldn’t do that anyway. So, please be safe and accept the appreciation of a grateful tribe from around the world. You took us to another level, with dignity, and you gave hope and raised the bar. Already it can be seen to be changing the mindset of people from I can’t, to “ Yes, absolutely, I can!” There can be no turning back. In the words of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr, “We have seen the Promised Land!”

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael