03/18/08:Embrace Michelle Obama's view of America and share her pride - Scott Rodman
Posted March 18, 2008
Commentary: Embrace Michelle Obama's view of America and share her pride
Fon du Lac Reporter
On Feb. 20 in a political rally in Milwaukee, Michelle Obama said: "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country" — a comment that instantaneously reverberated around the country.
The Reporter published two national columnists' reactions branding Barack Obama's wife as unpatriotic.
Columnist Michelle Malkin (Feb. 21), who calls herself a "woman of color," reprimanded Obama for being unpatriotic and liberals for protesting too much. She framed the issue as one of patriotism and listed all of the reasons, including the first manned trip to the moon, why Obama should be proud of her country.
On Feb. 25, Linda Chavez wrote: "…it (the comment) speaks to a much larger division between liberals and conservatives over the meaning of patriotism." She concluded that conservatives are much better than liberals at patriotism and admonished that the "woman hoping to be the country's next first lady could take pride in that."
Mrs. Obama spoke in the context of her life as an African-American and as a woman. I think she was inspired to have a renewed sense of pride in America by Barack Obama's groundbreaking and unexpected success as a candidate enthusiastically supported by people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, income brackets, educational levels and geography. What she expressed was genuine excitement over where this country is headed.
There is no doubt that Mrs. Obama enjoys the fruits of being the wife of a U.S. senator and her husband, his status as a senator. They would not deny this. But the simple truth is that if Barack Obama were in New York City and not identifiable as a U.S. senator, he might not be able to flag a taxi for no other reason than he is a black man. Or on any given day, they might be subjected to "jokes" about lynching and nooses by TV talk show hosts as we have seen in the media recently.
Even though she is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard and has worked for prestigious law firms, Obama is ever mindful of those of her own race that live in despair and cannot hope for the kind of opportunities she has had. It is from this context that she sees "a light at the end of the tunnel." These are words of praise, not despair, and certainly don't emanate from a lack of patriotism.
In order for our community to move forward on cultural and ethnic diversity, we must be able to understand the language and frustration of patriotic non-white Americans. The columnists' criticism of Obama is given currency by not one, but two, consecutive attacks both written (and hence validated) by "women of color."
In other words, if black and Latino women commentators say it's so, it must be true.
As the presidential campaign heats up, candidate Obama will become more critically vetted. Some attacks will be political and criticisms of these attacks will be covered by "if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen." Others, like this criticism of his wife, will sidestep the reality of racial dynamics. We look for "our" newspaper to give us a balance of views on these issues.
We should have embraced Michelle Obama's comment and shared her joy. We can imagine that her sympathetic husband and/or her husband's campaign staff probably said something like: "It's all right dear, the country is just not ready for that kind of frank talk."
Let's do better the next time.
Scott Rodman is a Fond du lac resident.He points out that he has had many multicultural experiences, including some as an attorney in New York State representing blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans.