Barack Obama’s Worse Enemy: Black Americans

Barack Obama’s worse enemy is not the KKK or some neo-Nazi group.  It is not even radical Islam.  No, Obama’s worse enemy turns out to be none other than black Americans themselves.  Why?  Because racial pride and loyalty has resulted in American blacks having a kind of puppet like—and thus uncritical—acceptance of just about anything that President Obama might say.  This in effect makes blacks a liability for Obama rather than an asset.

I am prepared to give a nod to ethnic pride and loyalty.  There is no doubt a place for these things.  Alas, what is also true is that ethnic pride and loyalty can be taken too far.  They are taken too far when they preclude the possibility of constructive criticism.  Or, to put the point another way, ethnic pride and loyalty have been taken too far when any criticism, no matter how constructive, marks the person as a traitor.  Insofar as the sentiment among blacks is that a black individual is less black if that person takes issue with Obama’s views, then blacks are none other than an enormous liability to Obama. 

The idea, of course, is not that blacks should be looking to find every flaw and weakness that President Obama might have.  Rather, the idea is that blacks, no more and no less than any other ethnic group, should serve as a constructive sounding board for Obama, and this they cannot do if like so many puppets on a string blacks simply nod their heads in approval to whatever Obama says. 

The point here has nothing whatsoever to do with the intellect ability of Obama.  It is far too obvious that he a man of considerable intelligence.  However, no one is so intelligent that there is no room at all for constructive criticism and challenges.  Accordingly, it is most unfortunate for Obama if all that matters to black Americans is none other than the fact that Obma is black.  Indeed, there is a very poignant sense in which they betray him. 

Barack Obama is not America’s pastor or the pastor of black folks.  He is not a pastor at all.  Rather, he is the President of the United States.  The point here is that the uncritical acceptance of what a pastor says is one thing; whereas the uncritical acceptance of what a president says is quite another; and it is entirely out of order.  Blacks do not owe Obama an uncritical acceptance of what he says.  Obama, of course, has made no such claim.  Alas, this does not negate the fact that a great many blacks hold just this view.  So we have what is surely the irony of ironies here: Contrary to what blacks undoubtedly suppose, their uncritical acceptance of Obama, far from contributing the greatness of his presidency, is an enormous liability to the Obama presidency. 

The preceding point holds all the more so if Obama uses as a political tool the uncritical acceptance of his views by blacks.  For in that case, we get something even more perilous.

Bishop Mandell Creighton is observed that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  The uncritical acceptance by blacks of whatever Obama says could in effect contribute to his very own corruption precisely because too many whites are afraid to criticism him for fear of seeming racist in their own minds or being accused of racism by blacks. 

Students who protested President Obama’s speaking at Notre Dame, given his views on abortion, were said by some politicians to be disrespectful of the first “African-American president”. 

What a shameful thing to say about the students.  The students in question at Notre Dame were protesting the man’s views on abortion.  The color of his skin was entirely irrelevant. 

Needless to say, this example speaks to my very concern precisely because it is so unequivocally ludicrous.  And I ask what exactly is one supposed to do out of respect for the fact that Obama is the first “African-American president”?  Genuflect?  Lie prostrate so that he can walk upon one’s back? 

And guess what?  There are many black people who—dare I say it—are opposed.  In fact, it has been said that abortion is none other than a form of genocide against black people.  A Google search under “abortion as genocide against blacks” will reveal just that. 

Now, if I understand things correctly, the blackness of these individuals is not called into question just so long as they do not express their disapproval of Obama’s views on abortion.  So, there you have it: Just when you thought that the premise of this blog-entry was totally ludicrous, the opening line of argument suddenly has an air of plausibility to it. 

For many, the idea is that blacks are black first and then Americans.  This is wrong.  This is because everyone is a human being first and everything else comes second.  Accordingly, if black loyalty is invoked to deter blacks from fully participating in the public debate about social and political issues, then black loyalty effectively diminishes the humanity of blacks by undermining their citizenship. 

Now, you will notice that Obama has not so much as even gestured towards the reality that many blacks find abortion unacceptable.  The point here is not that blacks more so than Latinos or Asians or Native Americans or whomever deserve special mention.  Rather, there is the issue of Obama using the “supportive silence” of blacks as political muscle to press his agenda. And if this is right, then guess what we have?  Not a white person manipulating black people in order to advance her or his ends, but a black person doing so.  And this Obama could not do but for the servile silence on the part of blacks in the name of being supportive of Obama. 

Far from inspiring active citizenship on the part of blacks, the blanket and unreflective support on the part of blacks for Obama constitutes none other than servility masquerading as black pride and loyalty.