Are Blacks Too Invested in Obama’s Success?

This is a particularly difficult blog for me to write, as I run the risk of further alienating my liberal friends, who somehow believe that I want to see Obama fail. This couldn’t be further from the truth, but more on that later. I feel that the black attitude towards Obama is important to consider, and hope that my friends will not take offense, but see this as a challenge to think a bit more deeply about how they perceive Obama, and how they see themselves in light of the Obama Presidency. The key issue here as it appears to me is that as the Obama Presidency goes, so goes the psyche of blacks that have invested far too much in his success as a source of our identity.

This week I posted an entry to FaceBook on the Fairness Doctrine, whose title happened to have Obama’s name. None of the criticism of my post was in response to the Fairness Doctrine, but was entirely about how Obama is fixing the mess that George Bush created or how Republicans just want to see Obama fail so that’s why they didn’t vote for the pork-laden, almost $800 billion stimulus package. In both cases, one would think there were simply no other available explanations. Without a lengthy treatise, I would like to first respond that George Bush was not alone in Washington. There is also a bicameral Congress composed of Republicans and Democrats, who are the ones that write and pass the laws, who could override George Bush’s veto pen if he didn’t sign a bill into law, and who could also prevent him from going to war. This is not a monarchy nor a dictatorship, but a republic. The President may set policy direction and use his office as a bully pulpit to encourage the passing of certain legislation, but he must ultimately depend on Congress to pass laws.

Any mess that Obama is cleaning up is the responsibility of George Bush and Congress, as well as policies carried over from previous administrations. While the Republicans spent recklessly when they controlled Congress (up until two years ago), it was Democrats who were largely responsible for encouraging the subprime mortgage mess that led to the financial crisis, through pressure they exerted on financial institutions to make loans to people who couldn’t afford them, and the sweetheart treatment they gave Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when these government sponsored enterprises were failing miserably. The very situation that created the opportunity for banks to engage in the dangerous financial instruments that led to the global financial crisis was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, ushered through Congress by Phil Gramm, a Republican, and signed into law by Bill Clinton. So there is plenty of blame to go around. Unlike many of my Democrat friends, however, as a Republican I have no problem criticizing my own party because I know it is made up of imperfect people like me.

Secondly, I cannot imagine that Republicans, en masse, want to see Obama fail. There could certainly be a small minority of ill wishers, which is within the bounds of the human condition, but somehow my liberal friends don’t see that human nature applies to Democrats as well. What we need to understand is that there is no reason to believe that Obama’s policies are necessarily efficacious and should thus go unopposed because the people voted for "change." Success and failure cross color and racial boundaries, and are most decidedly colorblind. The fact is there are fundamental philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans, and it is entirely reasonable that for these reasons Republicans have not signed on to the stimulus bill, instead proposing another version they see as focused on stimulus and infrastructure, without additional massive spending lacking a stimulative effect that future taxpayers must pay back with interest.

From a black perspective, having too much invested in Obama’s success because he is black will only be a hindrance to the realization of a colorblind society, and will be a huge disappointment to the psyche of blacks if his policies prove to be unsuccessful. Obama’s successes should have no bearing on the identity of black Americans, and neither his failures. Obama’s successes or failures should reflect on Obama as an individual, and on the viability of the U.S. government to maintain a free republic based on free market capitalism, instead of an inevitable slide towards a nanny state (which appears to be where we are headed). Now is the time to set race aside and evaluate Obama solely on the content of his character and his ability to successfully govern. That means he is open game for criticism on any all policy decisions, and we should all welcome the debate.
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