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| Letters From London |
| Humorous Views on London Culture, Royals, Gossip and Politics |
It's the Miracle, Stupid - 7 November 2008
“Obaaaama! Obaaaama! Obaaaama!” To anybody not in a coma or living in a cave for the last
two years, this election has been touted as the end of America’s sleepwalking apathy, their
paralysing passivity and the awakening and vocalising of the proletariat.
While all that may be so, the rallied masses, which went close to the edge of messianic adulation
(a bit scary), responded when the contents of their wallets were threatened. “Get your hand out
of my back pocket you banking bastards or I’ll have to shoot you. Maybe I’ll vote first.”
Lest we forget. America is the land of laissez-faire, the land of individualism. It’s all about ‘you
can make it’. No ‘we’…but a disquieting ‘me’. When that ‘me’ is threatened, Americans get
annoyed. “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Obama's victory is largely a result of his winning over two-thirds of young, first-time voters, 66%
of Latinos, 95% of the black vote and more money than a banker’s bonus. The most puzzling is
why we didn’t see Gwyneth at the polling station? She has been seen at the opening of every
shoebox. Surely she had a skimpy, transparent or tight ‘go Obama!’ dress with accompanying
bondage stilettos.
Throughout the history of America anyone not the whitest of white has been seen as inferior,
impure, un-human, un-deserving, un-worthy, un-American thus subjugated to endure poverty,
torture, death. Duality made manifest: a bi-racial president elect in a virulently racist country. It’s
a miracle, stupid.
To call Barack Obama ‘black’ demeans those who are black. It perpetuates that ‘one drop’ racist
position keeping those who have that drop second-class citizen at the best of times. It limits their
heritage. The fact that his white mother and maternal grandparents raised him shouldn’t be
devalued either as they clearly embraced his black heritage. The man is not black. The man is
black and white. Ignoring Michael Jackson, would this not be the ideal? It’s a multi-cultural world,
stupid.
“Dead!…Dead!…Dead!” Not the rantings of the racist whites, but the words shouted in a fit of
rage by Obama’s first appointee, chief of staff Rahm (‘Rambo’) Emanuel, directing his outburst
at the Clinton enemies on the night after Clinton was elected. Accompanying his verbal response,
he plunged a knife into a table. Gosh.
Watch this space. New man. New leader. New president-elect Obama has demonstrated his
forward thinking already; all-white-male/token-woman line-up of economic advisors. Very
progressive. Very 2009.
“The giggling girls want a puppy! The giggling girls want a puppy! Give them a hypoallergenic
puppy! Give them a hypoallergenic puppy!” The mutt hunt has generated more interest on his
web site than any other issue. The Marxist masses have spoken.
“Obaaaama! Obaaaama! Obaaaama!” To anybody not in a coma or living in a cave for the last
two years, this election has been touted as the end of America’s sleepwalking apathy, their
paralysing passivity and the awakening and vocalising of the proletariat.
While all that may be so, the rallied masses, which went close to the edge of messianic adulation
(a bit scary), responded when the contents of their wallets were threatened. “Get your hand out
of my back pocket you banking bastards or I’ll have to shoot you. Maybe I’ll vote first.”
Lest we forget. America is the land of laissez-faire, the land of individualism. It’s all about ‘you
can make it’. No ‘we’…but a disquieting ‘me’. When that ‘me’ is threatened, Americans get
annoyed. “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Obama's victory is largely a result of his winning over two-thirds of young, first-time voters, 66%
of Latinos, 95% of the black vote and more money than a banker’s bonus. The most puzzling is
why we didn’t see Gwyneth at the polling station? She has been seen at the opening of every
shoebox. Surely she had a skimpy, transparent or tight ‘go Obama!’ dress with accompanying
bondage stilettos.
Throughout the history of America anyone not the whitest of white has been seen as inferior,
impure, un-human, un-deserving, un-worthy, un-American thus subjugated to endure poverty,
torture, death. Duality made manifest: a bi-racial president elect in a virulently racist country. It’s
a miracle, stupid.
To call Barack Obama ‘black’ demeans those who are black. It perpetuates that ‘one drop’ racist
position keeping those who have that drop second-class citizen at the best of times. It limits their
heritage. The fact that his white mother and maternal grandparents raised him shouldn’t be
devalued either as they clearly embraced his black heritage. The man is not black. The man is
black and white. Ignoring Michael Jackson, would this not be the ideal? It’s a multi-cultural world,
stupid.
“Dead!…Dead!…Dead!” Not the rantings of the racist whites, but the words shouted in a fit of
rage by Obama’s first appointee, chief of staff Rahm (‘Rambo’) Emanuel, directing his outburst
at the Clinton enemies on the night after Clinton was elected. Accompanying his verbal response,
he plunged a knife into a table. Gosh.
Watch this space. New man. New leader. New president-elect Obama has demonstrated his
forward thinking already; all-white-male/token-woman line-up of economic advisors. Very
progressive. Very 2009.
“The giggling girls want a puppy! The giggling girls want a puppy! Give them a hypoallergenic
puppy! Give them a hypoallergenic puppy!” The mutt hunt has generated more interest on his
web site than any other issue. The Marxist masses have spoken.
