OBAMA: "For Americans spooked by a black man in WH-He promised an elixir for their racial anxiety"

[kpete]

“It was as if my very presence in the White House had triggered a deep-seated panic, a sense that the natural order had been disrupted. Which is exactly what Donald Trump understood when he started peddling assertions that I had not been born in the United States and was thus an illegitimate president. For millions of Americans spooked by a Black man in the White House, he promised an elixir for their racial anxiety.”

MORE:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/12/politics/obama-memoir-promised-land/index.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/barack-obama-i-still-believe-america/617073/?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

[lamp_shade]

1. Boy.... did he NAIL IT.

[JI7]

2. YUP, Exactly this .

[Statistical]

3. Speaking truth. Other people have said similar things but Obama just cut to the heart of it.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Ooo... gotta order that book!

ETA - just looked at my past orders and I DID already pre-order it 2 months ago (September).

[Blasphemer]

20. So did I! Two copies - one for mom and one for me! nt

[PatrickforO]

5. Finally, he is speaking out. Let me express my hope that whomever felt this

'deep-seated panic', and were 'spooked' by a Black man in the White House, read these lines, weep for their own stupidity, and hang their heads in shame.

Obama was far, far superior to Trump as president.

[MadLinguist]

6. If I may -For the sane world, Trump's very presence in the White House triggered a deep-seated panic

and a very real sense that the natural order had been disrupted.
For millions of Americans spooked by a narcissistic, racist dimwit in the White House, Biden promises an elixir for our rationalist, humanist anxiety.

[Roc2020]

8. THIS!

Absolutely 100% correct. Trump had the same effect but more importantly expect 65 to 75% voter participation going forward. GREAT!

[roamer65]

9. The world order has been disrupted.

Dump has accelerated the decline of the United States.

[roamer65]

7. It was racism.

They hated a black man being president.

Plain and simple.

[nycbos]

10. As LBJ said

"If you can convince the lowest white man he is better than the best colored man he won't notice you're picking his pockets."

[SunnyATT]

17. Right! And to finish LBJ's quote:

"Hell, give him someone to look down on and he'll empty his pockets for you."

[Delmette2.0]

28. The Dipshit did exactly that.

He picked the pocket of our Treasury by amounts we may never know.

[hibbing]

11. But, but, but...I thought it was econcomic anxiety? n/t

[niyad]

12. . . .

[Evolve Dammit]

13. Exactly. People clinging to guns and religion. He nailed that too.

[Boomerproud]

14. He got heavily criticized for that comment.

It shows you how honest people get treated.

[Evolve Dammit]

29. Honesty is something Americans don't really care about or want. Undermines everything.

[MrScorpio]

15. There's a massive segment of white America that goes out of it's way to hate and fear Black people.

They'd use any excuse, including seeing a Black guy in the Oval Office to justify their bigoted feelings.

[IsItJustMe]

16. Very insightful and thoughtful writing

Brought a tear to my eye as I was reading it. Thought I had given up hope on this country after the 2016 election. As long as there is life though, there is hope. I am afraid to hope again, but here goes.

[Reader Rabbit]

18. I've been saying this for years, although far less eloquently.

Racists lost their s*** when a Black man became President. For years, they soothed their mediocrity with the delusion that "at least I'm better than *those* people." When a brilliant Black man became the leader of the free world, they immediately ran to the BS artists who told them all the lies they needed to hear to convince themselves that their mediocrity was still, somehow, superiority—that they hadn't built their entire sense of self worth on racist lies.

[SunSeeker]

19. Boom! Exactly. Every Trumper I know is a bigot. That's not a coincidence. nt

[AwakeAtLast]

21. Delicious appetizer!

Can't wait to read the whole book!

[RainCaster]

22. Obama was such an excellent man, it will be good to have Joe back in the WH

Joe learned a lot from Barack, and taught him as well. They were a good team, and I expect to see the same with Joe & Kamala.

[Blue Owl]

23. K&R

[BobTheSubgenius]

24. Do you think someone would lie about something like that?

Just to gain a perceived political advantage? Really? Surely no one would do that.

[Cha]

25. Fuck.. and now "he's" Done.

[KentuckyWoman]

26. Where to begin.

The level of this is so far beyond . From the overall message all the way down to the word it is a masterpiece. That one paragraph alone is more than most can give in a lifetime.

[misanthrope]

27. I think President Obama shortchanges the role of racism

in the GOP before his election. His election didn't change the Republican Party, it just uncovered its primal nature.

Race had been a central but officially unacknowledged tenet of the Republican Party since the 1960s. The Southern Strategy is well known by now. Obama's election unmasked what was poorly disguised.

I covered that first day of Tea Party protests in spring of 2009. In my smallish Southern city -- ranked 133rd by population -- a place dripping in Old South symbology, we had a proportional turnout bigger than numerous cities. Their were remote broadcasts from the three radio stations then carrying right-wing talk radio.

The tax increase they protested was non-existent under the new administration since Obama signed onto a $288 billion tax cut months earlier. So then what could they have been protesting? What had changed at the White House in the last three months that would have stoked their ire?

It was apparent what they didn't like was Obama's sheer presence. Looking at the crowd's ethno-demographics and listening to their rhetoric, it was obvious what was really shaking their foundations.