i haven't blogged in a while because 1) i've been busy and 2) i haven't had anything to say.
this semester, i took an econometrics class that i thought would be the death of me, but i ended up with an A. partied over that today.
in other life news, i've narrowed my graduate school applications to these schools: oxford, london school of economics, yale princeton, uc-san diego, minnesota, michigan, and boston college. like i said on twitter, i'll probably be rejected from all of them and end up at wal-mart or mcdonalds. but someone's gotta do those jobs, too, right?
anyway, i had a twitter convo with one of my favorite NYT columnists, charles blow, today about obama and race. blow is a liberal and he's not afraid to admit it, something i really respect and try to emulate. but, sometimes i think he focuses on race a little too much, and despite its tremendous exigency in both politics and society, sometimes it really isn't a relevant aspect in the public discourse.
one of the things i've respected most about obama is the way he doesn't linger on his race. he's truly a president of the people, blacks and whites alike. despite his presidential victory being a monumental achievement for minority groups, he hasn't focused on it too much. mr. blow said he was the "green mile" president, i.e., he's a black man with a lot of power but no aggression - blow called it a stereotype. but it's not a racist stereotype, mainly because for a stereotype there has to be a precedent (we've only had old white men as presidents).
second, if you take away the race aspect of the "green mile" metaphor, then every president falls into that same category. bush made big promises, many of which were never realized. clinton was the same way. that's part of politics, but it's where obama's finding the source of most of his criticism, both from the left AND from the right (especially from the right). despite keeping most of his promises (blow cites politifact and says that he's kept 123, broken 24 and compromised on 39), many of them have lacked popular support. and example of this is healthcare reform, which was full of back room deals and old washington political games. america's dissatisfaction with his first two years is exacerbated by the fact that the promises he's failed to keep are biggies, eg, environmental protection, but we'll save that for later.
with that said, the discord surrounding obama doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he's black; rather, it has to do with his politics. blow is right in saying that the left's expectations for obama were way too high, and from the beginning, as a lot of people pointed out, he was destined to fail because of it. the fact that he's weathered the storm this long says a lot about the great job he's doing. personally, i wish he wouldn't compromise so much, i wish he would move a little farther left, use his keen political foresight to maneuver his social and economic initiatives through congress and leave the white house knowing he tried his hardest to do what he promised his (liberal) base he would do. but, he needs to stop pretending that there's a different way to do it.
maybe i'm way off base, but it seems like a lot of people i talk to are leaning republican lately because they pick a side and stick with it - even if it's an opinion you disagree with, you can rest assured a tea partier isn't going to change her mind. granted, most tea partiers are lunatics (i live in mississippi, so just take my word for it), but their commitment to conservatism, no matter how off-base it may be, is attractive.
supporters of obama who are "liberal" have a hard time calling themselves liberal because obama avoids labeling himself the same way. so if i walk around and call myself a liberal, i'm not associated with obama, but rather nancy pelosi (who i also love). i think that's at the heart of recent polls' low numbers for people who identify as liberals.
because of this polarization, the only options in modern politics are "yes" and "no". and with obama trying to take the middle road, there aren't a lot of people willing to support him. the left attacks him for being to soft and the right (no surprises here) accuse him of being a socialist dictator bent on creating an obamaist empire (a stretch, but whatever).
to conclude this post that's already too long, dissatisfaction with obama isn't based on his race. in fact, it surprises me that there haven't been any major racist gaffs about obama yet.
the real reason obama can't catch a break is because he's doing his job the right way - trying to pull two polarized and increasingly factionalized political parties together, compromising on tough issues, and growing from an inexperienced idealist on whom everyone left of center rested their "hope" to an experienced president who knows how to work a system he claimed he could change.
but, no matter how hard he's trying, no matter how much he's grown, he's going to fall short sometimes, and the beauty of the american system is that we can criticize him when he does. it's imperative, though, that our criticisms be fair and balanced (i'm talking to you fox news) and that our suggestions for obama's improvement be realistic. to allow for fair criticisms, we have to take race out of the picture, and we can't write off everyone who disagrees with him as a racist just because he happens to be black. double standards, especially in politics, are unacceptable.
good luck, president obama. i'm rooting for you, but i'm not going to be scared to call you out for what i think are sometimes mistakes.
and thank you, mr. blow, for making me think about this. as always, i'll look forward to your next column.
