I am rubbing my eyes in disbelief and wonder. It can’t be true that Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan, is the next president of the United States.
But it is true, exhilaratingly true. An unbelievable turnaround. I want to jump and dance and shout, as I did after voting for the first time in my native South Africa on April 27, 1994.
We owe our glorious victory over the awfulness of apartheid in South Africa in large part to the support we received from the international community, including the United States, and we will always be deeply grateful. But for those of us who have looked to America for inspiration as we struggled for democracy and human rights, these past seven years have been lean ones.
After a perfunctory acknowledgement of the 3,000 slaughtered innocents on 9/11, Bishop Tutu does not miss an opportunity to tear down George Bush. Most of the article is vintage “bash Bush” tripe.
Tutu is more politician than prelate. Much more.
To Reagan: “How was you meeting with Tutu?”
Reagan: “So so”
My sentiment exactly, perhaps less.
Certainly more partisan than pastor.
Tutu deserves admiration for his role in the past, but not much credit for his current vision. His is clearly a tunnel vision focused on the trees while oblivious of the surrounding forest.
I don’t understand…what’s he so excited about?
RE: “An unbelievable turnaround.”
Not really. It happened because it’s a pretty natural thing for America to do. Not revolutionary, not extraordinary, just . . . normal.
The people elected whom they wanted, most of them for utterly non-racial reasons.
I think that was a pretty bad choice, myself, also for utterly non-racial reasons.
“What is he excited about?”
For Bishop Tutu who has fought aparteid for most of his entire life, and knowing that the US had only within his lifetime seen segregation abolished, why is it surprising that he would be both amazed and inspired by this election? It tells the nation and the world that any child, regardless of their color, can aspire to lead our country. That is a pretty impressive message – particularly in countries (like China and North Korea) that for years have portrayed us as being a profoundly racist society. For countries whose people who know very little about our political parties and the candidates’ particular political stands, they see a person who is black, has a foreign sounding name, whose father was not a citizen, whose family was far from wealthy, and yet even he can be president of this country. It is a very inspiring message.
Whether you agree with Obama’s politics or not, the election of a true AFRICAN-American is quite an achievement – if for no other reason than to demonstrate the level to which our country is becoming color-blind. This is why countries like Kenya are having public celebrations for him. It is a celebration of what they understand as the American dream – a perfect rags to riches story.
I don’t find Bishop Tutu’s celebration to be surprising at all.
“The people elected whom they wanted, most of them for utterly non-racial reasons”.
And I wonder now what a lot of people will do with the “we’re-living-in-a-racist-country” wind taken out of their sails.
It is way past time most recognize that the much vaunted Nobel Prize winner is vastly overrated.
This does not mean Gretta is wrong. But it is becoming increasingly evident from the feedback what the election was in many minds really all about. Not so much the election of Barack Obama the politician/candidate. As the election of this nation’s first African-American president. Even people who gush and cry over his election do not seem to get around to mentioning his oh I don’t know policy and platforms and background and experience and qualifications. Hope we can be honest about that!
Obama was not elected because of South African Apartheid; he was not elected because he was intellectually or morally superior to any other candidate; he was not elected because he had better policy ideas.
No.
He was elected for two reasons only:
1) He speaks well, even if he says nothing in his speeches,
2) He’s not Republican
That’s it.
I have no interest in anything Abp. Tutu might have to say.
#10 – libraryjim I agree with your list but surely an obvious third reason must be added:
3) He is African-American.
Rick, I thought about adding that, but didn’t want to be seen as ‘racist’. 😉
[blockquote]For countries whose people who know very little about our political parties and the candidates’ particular political stands, they see a person who is black, has a foreign sounding name, whose father was not a citizen, whose family was far from wealthy, and yet even he can be president of this country. It is a very inspiring message. [/blockquote]
I find it superficial and, frankly, not a little unseemly.
Bishop Tutu is perfectly aligned with TEC. Enough said.
For a good part of the last century, American has captivated the imagination of the world. For good reasons. Freedom, for example.
But in general, the world has felt bullied by George Bush. Granted, most of us don’t feel like he did so. But then, we’re Americans.
Obama won, but remember, he won even though he supposedly had little experience or ability. Its not like he had lots of money of his own – he raised it from lots of sources (an indication that people were pretty committed to him). It’s not that he had effective political connections (Ayers and Wright weren’t exactly… beneficial). He was able to convince effective people, however, to work for him. That, in itself, is remarkable.
He defeated the most powerful force in the Democratic party. Then he defeated the Republican party, a party that was energized by Palin. His organization, by all accounts, was pretty flawless. Even the current Bush admitted that.
Was it white guilt that made people vote for Obama? That assumes that another Democrat couldn’t have won, or that they wouldn’t have voted for another candidate more joyfully.
Perhaps his being African American gives people a chance to elect the rarest of creatures: a smart, politically astute person who thinks that government can help people, and help people help themselves.
But its true, I’m going to have to thank George Bush for not caring what the American People think about him.
Jeffersonian,
I think you might not be looking at this with the same lenses as, say, someone who comes from Obama’s village in Kenya. Look at the pictures of their celebrations – do you think they have access to Obama’s policy papers? Or that they have the same level of understanding of the intricacies of the American political process as the average American?
You have numerous people of color in 3rd world countries who have little access to either education or news. They may know that the general international opinion of Bush was that he was not an internationalist. And they now see that our country has overcome our own racial predjudices enough to elect a person of color as president, whose father was an immigrant from Africa.
It isn’t superficial to them or unseemly. It is inspiring. It is the quinessential American story, and it gives them hope. Even if you vehemently disagree with the outcome of this election, when seen through the eyes of someone who has lived a life of profound poverty, or oppression, or aparteid, it is about as “what’s best about opportunity in America” as you can get.
RE: “even though he supposedly had little experience or ability.”
He had plenty of experience at political campaigning. Not certain where you got an opposing idea to that. He has little experience in running a state or corporation — but those are two different things.
You already knew that — you just decided to conflate the “little experience” argument to mean two different things entirely.
Ya’ll may be too young to remember THE UGLY AMERICAN but it definitely predated GWB and it will hound Obama because the world hates America. Tutu is a naive individual. Perhaps now he can ask Canada why they haven’t had a nonwhite Prime Minister or any Arab country about their non-Jewish Prime Ministers. It’ll give him something to do because reality is Bush is gone in a few days and Tutu will need a new target of opportunity.
Bets on how long before he reverts to type and attacks America?