Obama on verge of breakthrough along racial divide: He could do in politics what Woods did in golf

[DeepModem Mom]

San Francisco Chronicle: Obama on verge of breakthrough by carving path along racial divide
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has made his place in the history books as an inspirational orator who has become a serious African American candidate for president from a major party - but now, he is approaching what could be his biggest moment of truth. Political observers say Obama's future will depend on whether he can make the jump from being a distinguished presidential contender to what some have called the Tiger Woods of American politics - an African American who can cross the racial divide and inspire people of all races as the party's nominee.

"This is a question about the attitudes of the mainstream - and particularly white Americans - in how they regard a black man who is superb in his field ... (and) this is why Barack Obama has a chance to become president of the United States in 2008," said Phil Trounstine, who heads the San Jose State Survey and Policy Research Institute. In a recent essay, he argued that Woods, another mixed-race man of high achievement, "has opened up a pathway for Obama in the American political psyche as no one before him."

Trounstine, who was communications director for former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, noted that a select few hugely successful African Americans - Woods, media mogul and talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, retired basketball star Michael Jordan and comedian Bill Cosby - have become cultural icons. Those star African Americans, all in entertainment and sports, have managed what no African American in politics has yet accomplished at a national level. They have, in effect, erased the racial divide by building loyal constituencies and fan bases composed of millions of Americans across all demographic lines.

What Woods did in golf, Obama could accomplish in politics, Trounstine suggested....

***

The conventional wisdom is that "Hillary is your basic Democrat, your father's Democrat, so to speak," (Morris) Fiorina said. "Obama is the face of a new generation." As a young African American man seeking to break the bounds of convention on many levels, "it could be one election cycle too early for Obama," Fiorina said. "But maybe not."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/13/MN1DTAV4L.DTL&type=politics

[flpoljunkie]

1. Obama will be holding a rally tonight in San Franciso at the Bill Graham auditorium.

[AtomicKitten]

2. Can't wait!

Gobama.

[Lucinda]

10. Hope you have a great time!

No one comes where I am - deep in East TN. :)

[AtomicKitten]

13. Thanks!

We don't get much in the way of campaign traffic here in California (just the fly-by fundraisers :) ), and I'm sorry to hear you get even less.

[Lucinda]

17. I grew up in LA county - never made it up north

I'll happily pay the price to live in the Smokys now. Sucks being in Republican land sometimes, but its a touristy area, so I see signs of hope in bumper stickers from time to time. :)

[AtomicKitten]

24. I would love to go to battle with the GOP in a red state.

Of course this born and bred Californian probably has no clue what it is really like and am standing all blustery with hands on hips! Ha, ha.

Watch your tail, cowgirl.

[Lucinda]

31. It's tougher than you'd think. :)

Reason doesn't have a permanent residence here. Sweet, nice people, really hard heads.

I miss California at times. Haven't been there in about 15 years.
Hope your taking pics tonight! Would love to see them.

[AlCzervik]

22. see you there! Really looking forward to it. My daughter is really excited.

[AtomicKitten]

25. My son is coming with me.

We'll be the ones being asked to quit taking pictures! Ha, ha.

[AlCzervik]

26. us too! She's got both her batteries charged.

[Josiah1982]

3. isn't he like 46? That's a "young" man?

46 is middle aged. WELL INTO MIDDLE AGE. If he lives to be 92 he is right there---Middle age. He seems to be in the same age group as Hillary. Besides they are both Boomers. I can tell you he is not the face of my generation. He's old enough to be my father.

[insanad]

5. Life BEGINS AT 40!!!

Hey Josiah,
You're young enough to be my son, and while I consider your generation the HOPE for our future, you're part of the generation that can barely spell and can't find the U.S. on a map. YOU will be 46 some day as well and YOU will find out how much the world has to teach you between now and then. Even when you're "Middle Aged", you will see yourself as young in heart, spirit, mind and if YOU are lucky enough to be as well preserved as Barack Obama, you will have women begging to just be in your presence and fantasizing about all kinds of amazing things. Barack and I are at the end of the baby boom and WE are just getting started. He represents the best in all of us, young, old, black, white, rich and poor. He's the quintessential polyglot blend of culture, race,economic history, well rounded experience in many facets of the American experience and he's so damned smart and elegant that I can't wait to tip my hat (an old fashioned way of showing respect) as he passes by in his Presidential Parade. If we're all lucky we'll get to call him President Obama for the next eight years. His leadership will impact your young life and YOU will be the benefactor of his accumulated wisdom and still youthful energy. Smarten up you little shit.

[jaysunb]

8. Amen !

:thumbsup:

[AtomicKitten]

33. Welcome to DU.

That's one hell of a post.

Thank you. :thumbsup:

[insanad]

42. I've been here for a while, just invisible

Thanks for the compliments. I post all the time but apparantly I'm not yet viable. Nance Greggs told me to post more often with my own titles and she too complimented my writing, but when I post I think it goes into a special magician's bin with the disappearing rabbit. I leech off the other posts just so I can see my own words in print (yes, I'm as needy as any here) but also because I hope my words have some value and impact. Thanks again for noticing. I'll pinch myself to see if I'm really here or not.... ouch, yes, i'm here and I pinched more than an inch. I'd better get offline and go excersize.

[AtomicKitten]

45. Well, don your hip boots and wade in.

Don't be a stranger.

:hi:

[Josiah1982]

44. "Smarten up you little shit."?

And YOU think YOU have "wisdom" to impart.:eyes:

You have nothing to say that I would care to learn. Obviously not everyone gets better with age, some just get bitter.

[insanad]

47. Does your mommy know that you're playing on the net instead of studying for your times table test?

I hate to be a Narc, but I'm going to have to tell her at the next PTA meeting and YOU'RE going to be grounded young man!!

Josiah, I'm not a bitter old geezer but a very very well rounded 45 yr. old woman who has lived long enough to see the effects of the post Viet Nam War years, the post Nixon era, the post Carter and even the post Reagan,Bush, & Clinton years. That gives those of us who are old enough to be your mom or dad enough accumulated wisdom and perspective to post balanced and fair comments on this site. Take some time off and finish your education, get a real job, raise a family and THEN come back and point out how old and outdated Barack or his supporters are. Yes, you're still acting like a little shit but we all were young and arrogant and stupid once. I forgive you.
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/opinion/walthandelsman/blog/2007/11/animation_baby_boomers.html

[Josiah1982]

49. Who is asking for forgiveness?

Not I. I don't really care how old you are. You seem to be fixated by insulting anyone younger than yourself (I detect a green-eyed monster lurking in your words). You have the gall to think of me as juvenile when your post is, well, puerile. Thank you for being the first person to trigger my iggy button. You fail to amuse.

[Benhurst]

6. You are right. He's not young, of course, any more than Hillary Clinton is.

But then they are not OLD either; but I know they must seem to be so to one your age.

He's got some good things to say. I just wish he'd stop pandering to the American cult of youth by pretending he's something he isn't.

As they used to say, never trust anyone over thirty -- especially 16 years over. :rofl:

[AspenRose]

9. I think JFK was 46 when he was president (and assassinated)

and he is regularly referred to as having been a "young" president.

[Benhurst]

12. Yes, but he was a president, and an assassinated one at that.

But Obama is not yet president. And he is not particularly young for a United States Senator. Sam Young, at thirty, was young for a senator.

And he and Hillary are of the same generation, whether they seem young or old is in the eye of the beholder. But if either becomes president, it will not be a Kennedyesque passing the torch to a new generation. Even Bill is bit young to be Obama's father! :rofl:

-

[Benhurst]

37. Excuse the brain fart. Sam Young = Sam Nunn, former senator from Georgia.

[babylonsister]

11. It's young for a candidate, I think. nt

[Benhurst]

16. Yeah, and forty is ancient for a baseball player or a ballet dancer.

Bottom line, though, for good or bad, both he and Hillary are of the same generation. If either is elected, no "torch shall be passed." And who knows, there may be one or two more Baby Boomers elected before it finally is.

[beaconess]

20. He and Hillary are not in the same generation

[Benhurst]

27. FYI: They are both baby boomers.

A baby boomer is a person (human) born between 1946 and 1964 in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, or Australia. Following World War II, these countries experienced an unusual spike in birth rates, a phenomenon commonly known as the baby boom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer


Obama was born in 1961, making him a baby boomer.
Clinton was born in 1947, making her one as well.

Obama may be younger, but he is every bit the baby boomer Hillary is, and pretending he is part of a "new generation" is just silly.

[beaconess]

39. "Baby boomer" is not a "generation" - it's a tag given to people born during a certain period

No matter what Wikipedia (hardly the most reliable of sources) says, Obama and Clinton are not in the same generation.

[Benhurst]

41. All the "generations" are just tags, but useful ones.

Perhaps his should be just listed as Generation Whatever -- as in whatever works for the campaign.

What good ideas Obama does have, and he does seem to have a few, too often get left behind for campaign gimmicks and slogans, such as the old as the hills "he'll bring us together" routine, which had whiskers on it when Tricky Dick Nixon used it 1968 and was last trotted out by George W. Bush the self-proclaimed "unifier, not a divider" who promised to bring both sides together in Washington just as he claimed to have done in Texas. Yeah. Sure.

Unfortunately for us all, when it comes to the major issues facing and dividing this country, both he and Hillary are spending far too much time trying to draw distinctions between their records and positions which are, in truth, all too often barely distinguishable, which then forces both of them back into mouthing slogans and trotting out campaign gimmicks.

[Josiah1982]

48. The U.S. Census Bureau states that "Baby Boomers" are those born 1946-1964

Obama and Clinton fall into that group. I don't know why it's such a problem to accept. Could it be because Obama wants to make people think he is in the same age group as those who are 18-29? Is being a "baby boomer" a bad thing? It seems Obama is implying it is, by relegating Hillary to that group and he likes to think he is somehow, hip and young.

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/006105.html

[beaconess]

19. He's young for someone in the presidential pool

It's all relative.

[jaysunb]

28. Bill Clinton was 47 when he became President

N/T

[beaconess]

38. And he was young, too

[Sparkly]

23. Politician years are like dog years, only in reverse. nt

[hisownpetard]

4. Isn't that a bit like saying that Desmond Tutu is the Tiger Woods of apartheid? nt

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Posting this, I expected a bit of controversy over the analogy. nt

[noiretextatique]

14. yeah, it's a ridiculous comparison

i am almost starting to feel sorry for him. what will happen if he doesn't live up to all the expectations? i remember a time when people right here on DU were saying colin powell should be the democratic nominee for president. having said that, i would vote for him if he is the nominee.

[hisownpetard]

18. Dear Black&Blue - So would I. I know what the OP meant, it just struck my funny bone. nt

[ellisonz]

35. No.

[hisownpetard]

36. Oh.

[sampsonblk]

15. This stuff might have been valid 6 months ago

But now, he's just a politician. In fact, rather than reach across racial lines, he might want to try to get a few black people to vote for him.

[beaconess]

21. "Breakthrough along racial divide" means "white people don't think of him as black anymore"

Not necessarily a good thing.

[Bluebear]

30. "She's very pretty for a colored girl."

My parents would say that when noticing a black woman with straightened locks and fair skin, conforming to white America's view of "pretty" at that time.

Your statement is true.

[noiretextatique]

46. like oj , if he falls out favor

he won't be in the honorary white man club anymore. one of the reasons why i don't believe america is ready for obama.

[David Zephyr]

29. I wonder who the emcee and "singer" will be?

Barack should be brave enough to bring his homophobic singer and emcee to San Francisco.

[BlueButGlad2]

32. Thanks David. I agree.

Thanks David. I agree. I am so disappointed in Obama. First he panders to the middle class with tax cuts that given our defecits, the country can't afford. Then it's paid family leave. More pandering. I think that is just going too far.

Then he keeps on this guy to entertain religious supporters who thinks being gay is a choice. If the guy had inaccurate racist attitudes he would have been dropped in a second, but Obama sticks with him. I took myself off the Obama email list and I explained why. Join me in saying No to Obama (and I hate that it has come to that!)

[Bluebear]

34. Welcome to DU bbg

[calteacherguy]

40. It would truly be transforming, even more so than having a white woman elected President.

And then there is the simple who is the better candidate regardless of race or gender question.

In my opinion, it's Obama.

[BenDavid]

43. I do not doubt Obama will one day break through but as

long as he and wife believe the black community does not have the intelligence to vote for a black man. Did any of you see the Michelle Obama talk? It was so bad even the msm did not run it because it was so horrible, and I could not believe how condescensing her attitude towards african americans were.Donna Brazzle said Michelle Obama was wrong in suggesting that blacks would not support a black candidate.They would support a black candidate if they thought he would help more with their agenda, and said that Hillary Clinton is the one that the black community believes once she is president will do more for the black community.

According to Mrs. Obama, her husband isn’t polling better among African-Americans because in the back of their minds, many blacks think “others” are better.In other words Mrs Obama truly thinks African American are not intelligent enough and somewhere deep in their minds believe only a "white" candidate can make their life better.

Race card? Reverse race card? whatever it is Michelle Obama should know better.

Ben David

[Imagevision]

50. "He could do in politics what Woods did in golf" -> I couldn't put it better myself!!!