Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric
Good point ... I hope that agreeing with you doesn't put me in the dreaded click   ... and it is worth noting that the expectations of the first black President were set so high that no man or woman could live up to them. There were blacks in positions of power before Obama. Con Rice comes to mind: a black woman for chrissake as Secretary of State! A woman with two doctoral degrees. But blacks in America know that the white America is just waiting for them to screw up. To say that they are tiptoeing on eggs doesn't even come close to the reality. Obama is one smart cookie ... he knows that he represents two constituencies: America, and Black America ... and the hispanics, and the asians.
And of course the yanks are still rattling the saber; and still using it more than many would wish. But you can't change foreign policy overnight. The US is withdrawing from Afghanistan ... and they've given up on Iraq. But along with many others they are looking closely at Iran and North Korea. They still stand square behind Israel. For that matter so does Canada. And it would be a mistake to overestimate the power of the President. Sure, he is commander-in-chief of US armed forces; but, he can't just do anything he damn well feels like doing.
If the ultra-right Republicans, the Tea Party et al., don't support Romney because he is too liberal  and the 80% of Americans who support Obamacare get behind the President, Obama will be the next President of the United States. And I for one believe that he will do much better, and be much more adventurous in his second term. |
As you say, there have been other high profile politicans.
As well as Conodolezza Rice, Jesse Jackson springs to mind.
But when Jackson was at his political peak, no way, even just a few short decades ago, was America in the mindset to elect a President, who happened to be black.
As for Martin Luther King. I bet no way would he have dreamt this momentous change would happen so soon.
In a country, where until recently, one woman's choice of seat on a bus, could make her a very important figure in world history.