At another site ...

[Kweli4Real]

populated by primarily African-Americans of diverse political positions, I noticed a trend ... Those of us that continued to back PRESIDENT Obama were/are being accused of being (too) emotionally invested in PRESIDENT Obama, the Man. And because of this emotional investment, we are unable to be critical of his policies and/or tactics, as it would be akin to being critical of the man.

I took issue with this assertion; but I wanted others' take on the matter.

[Number23]

1. That happens here too

Minorities, but particularly blacks, are routinely accused of "voting against our interests" and/or only supporting this president because of the color of his skin.

This type of ignorance is astounding because a) it assumes that black support of the Dem party only began once Obama took office completely ignoring the massive shift that blacks took towards the Dem party almost 50 YEARS AGO after the passage of the voting rights act. So the fact that blacks have voted overwhelmingly for the Dem party for the last 50 YEARS is conveniently overlooked and dismissed because the new narrative is that we're only supporting the Democratic president because he's black.

B) It assumes that black people are so stupid or uninformed that we don't know what our best interests are and who represents those best. Unlike poor whites in the mid-west and South who are so petrified by racial fear that they support a party that OPENLY does everything in its power to kill them off, blacks have identified the Dem party as being the BEST (though damn sure not perfect) option in supporting the interests of the poor and the oppressed -- two characteristics which unfortunately plague the black community and other communities of color. Although I know alot of black people that have become very frustrated with the Dem party over the last 20-30 years and have either become independent (like me), have gone Green (like the beautiful noiretextatique) or don't vote at all.

I know alot of the posters in this forum and many of us have criticized Obama for certain policies and I see alot of black posters here criticizing him. So this idea that we don't criticize Obama is BS. Because we don't scream that he's a "corporatist sell out beholden to his masters (yes they actually use the word masters) on Wall Street," too many liberals think we have blinders on when I would say that an oversized amount of privilege and entitlement on their end has actually affected THEIR vision.

[Kweli4Real]

2. Besides, regarding the voting for PRESIDENT Obama ...

solely because of his skin color ignores the fact that Candidate Obama received a luke warm, skeptical reception from the African-American electorate in the early days of the primary, while HRC's African-American numbers were in the high 60's (until that Bill did his thing that fateful day in South Carolina).

I, too, am an Independant, because of my frustrations with the democratic party. Being sold politically short is nothing new to African-Americans; as I believe you wrote in another thread, we understand that in this country/system we will never get our whole loaf, but we recognize in the general election we are voting for a slice versus having our pantry raided.

[Number23]

3. Exactly

I don't know a black person who thought that some skinny, black, big-eared bloke named Barack HUSSEIN Obama would come within a chance in Hell of winning a single primary, let alone the nomination, let alone the election. No matter how educated he was. No matter how accomplished. No matter how world traveled.

We know all too well that those qualities have not always inoculated us from BS or been a benefit to us before. So alot of black folks put their money behind Hillary because a)we knew Obama didn't have a chance in Hell and b)alot of black folks loved Bill and Hillary was the next best thing. (To be honest, I still am crazy about Hillary though I think she's had several missteps as SoS) I still think we had a bounty of riches during the 2008 campaign. But I'm tickled pink and proud as hell that Obama got the job and I've been EXCEPTIONALLY pleased with what he's doing so far.

[Kweli4Real]

4. I remember the day I heard that Barack Obama ...

first mentioned a run for the presidency. I was like, "Who? That guy that give the speech at Kerry's convention? Okay, I heard he gave a good speech, but who the hell is Barack Obama?"

My support was with my homeboy, Dennis "the Menace" Kucinich -- the one and only progressive in the race. (A man most of the "purity-seeking progressive liberals" on this site failed to support because he did not have a shot at winning because he was "too left-wing." Funny how that works ... white man unacceptable because he's too progressive/Black man unacceptable because he's not progressively pure enough.)

Then, I heard the man talk and did some background work; and was like, "Airright, this might work" ... But I continued to have reservations that America was ready for a Black president.

Those reservations have borne out as correct; but he has played the hands he has been dealt like a pro, despite what many on this site would have one think.

[Number23]

5. I don't quite get the Kucinich love

Sure, he's as cute as a bug and says all of the right things, but he is WOEFULLY ineffective. I can't get behind anyone with a track record for passing legislation like his and who gets so little support even from voters in his own party. The support he's gotten in the presidential primaries in which he's run is embarrassing. And he is every bit as much of an opportunist as any typical politician -- I've heard plenty about him being against abortion until he decided to run for president and then was suddenly pro-choice.

It's interesting to me that his flip flops, 180s and back flips get excused and explained from here to Sunday but if Obama shies away from a campaign promise under the realization that it will take longer or more resources than he thought, he's a "corporatist sell out more in tune with the suites than the streets." (Yes, child someone actually typed that mess here.) But again, this is right in line with the blatant double standard that Obama has to endure as the first black president.

The DADT repeal has been an excellent example of the black tax on Obama. I saw so many people looking for every excuse to NOT give this president even the slightest bit of praise for the repeal despite comments from just about every source that he made DADT repeal a top priority and worked on everyone 'til it got done. The same folks crediting Truman with desegregating the military worked triple overtime trying to deny that Obama played a major role in the repeal of DADT. It was jawdropping, if not at all surprising.

[Kweli4Real]

6. Being from Cleveland ...

where Kucinich served as Mayor, I follow him pretty closely and have a different take on him. He has been consistently progressive in his approach to governance and he is the only legislator that comes up with progressive solutions to the problems facing this nation. (I had not heard about his abortion flip-flop -- I seem to recall his being pro-choice since the late 70's, when I started following politics).

My political man-crush on Kucinich began when he stood up to the corporate establishment that wanted to close the city-owned power generation plant in favor of allow the private electric company to be the sole provider. That decision was met by the establishment doing everything it could to drive the City into bankruptcy. It worked and it led to Kucinich's being rode out of town on a rail. But at the end of the day, his position was vindicated, as the private electrical company proved to act as any monopolistic entity does, e.g., raising rates, abysmal customer service, frequent hours long black-outs; whereas, the city-owned company continued to maintain low rates and provides great customer service and, in the 30 years that my mother has used the service, she never been without power for more than an hour.

But rather than chucking politics, Kucinich came back even more progressive. Kucinich's problem is that he is completely ignored by the media (and his own party) because he is so liberal. Kucinich actually introduced a single-payer health plan BEFORE PRESIDENT Obama had uttered the words healthcare reform -- it was ignored. Kucinich introduced legislation regarding the ending of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- it was ignored. He recently introduced legislation that would allow the federal reserve the power to directly fund stimulative efforts; rather than the preferred current method of funding the banks so that they might fund stimulative efforts -- it will likely be ignored.

I agree that folks (especially around here) are breaking their backs in efforts to minimize PRESIDENT Obama's accomplishments. I just laughingly ask them, "So, was the deal REALLY that bad?" And personally, I think PRESIDENT Obama got more out of the deal than we know.

[Number23]

7. That makes perfect sense

And I didn't mean to imply even for a second that YOU had Kucinich love. My comment was meant generally, as I'm sure that you've seen the Kuch lovefest that blankets DU every time the man utters a syllable. He even won an imaginary primary against Obama last year. That really says all that you need to know about DU in a nutshell (emphasis on "nut").

It worked and it led to Kucinich's being rode out of town on a rail. But at the end of the day, his position was vindicated,

You're one hell of story teller, Kweli. I love the way that you write and express things. Thanks for this personal story about Kuch. But when you say that Kuch is ignored, why do you think that is?? I don't think it's solely because he's "too liberal" -- Weiner got more press; Grayson got TONS of press when he was telling the repubs to get bent down in Florida (a beautiful sight but I have no doubt that's what cost him his job) so what is it about Kuch that makes so many just look right through him?

I think he does come across as weird (the UFO references); he comes across as every bit the opportunist as other politicians (according to DU, some liberals will NEVER forgive him for voting with Obama on healthcare reform); and his record for getting legislation passed is abysmal. He introduces lots of bills -- some of which actually sound great -- but I believe that he has only been effective at getting a handful passed. That sounds like a man with alot of red marks on his record, rightfully or not.