Eugene Robinson: A New Kind of Pride; "Even if John McCain somehow prevails..."

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: A New Kind of Pride
By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, November 4, 2008; Page A17

....It's not that I would have calculated the odds of an African American being elected president and concluded that this was unlikely; it's that I wouldn't even have thought about such a thing.

African Americans' love of country is deep, intense and abiding, but necessarily complicated. At the hour of its birth, the nation was already stained by the Original Sin of slavery. Only in the past several decades has legal racism been outlawed and casual racism been made unacceptable, at least in polite company. Millions of black Americans have managed to pull themselves up into mainstream, middle-class affluence, but millions of others remain mired in poverty and dysfunction....

Along came Barack Obama, a young man with an unassailable résumé and a message of post-racial transformation. Initially, a big majority of African Americans lined up behind his major opponent in the Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton. The reason was simple: In the final analysis, white Americans weren't going to vote for the black guy. Better to go with the safe alternative.

But an amazing thing happened. In the Iowa caucuses, white Americans voted for the black guy. That's the moment Obama was referring to when he said his faith in the American people was vindicated. For me, it was the moment when the utterly impossible became merely unlikely. That's a fundamental change, and it launched a sequence of events over the subsequent months that made me realize that some things I "knew" about America were apparently wrong.

Even if John McCain somehow prevails, that won't change the fact that Obama won all those primaries, or that he won the Democratic Party nomination, or that he raised more money than any candidate in history, or that he rewrote the book on how to run a presidential campaign. Nothing can change the fact that so many white Americans entrusted a black American with their hopes and dreams.

We can all have a new kind of pride in our country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/03/AR2008110302660.html?nav=most_emailed

[FrenchieCat]

1. If John McCain somehow prevails, it would be a shameful event

of which this country could not take pride in. It would condone the type of methods the McCain camp used in their run. The lying, name calling, and simplifying while discussing no policy issues. The dividing and belittling various people and geography, etc....

So, I'm not sure what Mr. Robinson is even talking about. :shrug:

[Doctor_J]

2. Heart-felt, and wrong

If McSame prevails it will crush the spirit of the country and hopefully lead to a major uprising. That would leave a new kind of pride. If McSame prevails and we don't do anything about it, it will signify the end of America.

[file83]

5. "Token" wins won't mean shit if McCain/Palin destroy what remains of our country.

I agree with you 100%.

[Metta]

3. A reasoned, measure, just in case response.

He's a good guy, anyway.

[bunkerbuster1]

6. yeah, let's not knock him for erring on the cautious side

Good for Eugene for not taking anything for granted.

[polichick]

4. Thanks for posting that - I love Eugene Robinson!

[mrbarber]

7. I will still beg for the worlds forgiveness.....

If McCain/Palin somehow win. As should all Americans.

[WVRICK13]

8. Another Democrat Placating the Masses

Seriously, we have to get our heads out of our asses and be confrontational when we hear bullshit. We cannot be nice guys to assholes.

Those token wins are nothing. We have the support to win the big one and if we don't it was stolen. What are you going to do if that happens?

[ailsagirl]

9. STOP IT