I could never really reconcile Barack Obama's belief that we were, as a country, good people with some notable exceptions, with my understanding that the evil, resentful folks were quite numerous, not a fraction; that they were legion and quite simply, just not in the spotlight, but lurking in the shadows and waiting to pounce. The election of a black president took care of that. That they supported and continue to rally behind a man who inflames the politics of division and fear and whose slogan is a thinly-veiled call for a return to an era when only the straight, Christian, white man had any voice or power, and who kicked off his political career by questioning the citizenship of the first black POTUS, well, that is not a coincidence by any stretch of the imagination.
But, at the time, I thought, "If this, in my opinion, misguided concept of the United States of America is what inspires Obama to keep pushing on, more power to him."
Sadly, this ugly side of the US, thriving with every passing day it seems, is confirmation to our international detractors that we are the greedy, ignorant, pompous, racist hypocrites they've always seen us as. Trump is undoubtedly the Ugly American stereotype come to life to grab the White House, but his millions of followers underline the fact he's not alone and has tapped deeply into the vast sea of deplorables.
I was reminded of all this as I read the esteemed Charles P. Pierce today.
Obama never really understood the American people the way they are. He understood them the way he wanted them to be. The constant appeals to the country’s better angels rang hollow through history; even Lincoln couldn’t really summon them, because he got shot in the head, and then Andrew Johnson found political advantage in stirring up the race hatred that still burned throughout the country. The Cynic still believes, as he wrote the first time that he considered the phenomenon of Barack Obama:
"Why would anyone have faith in America, which is not tough but fearful, not smart but stupid, and not shrewd but willing to fall for almost anything as long it comes wrapped in a flag? Why would anyone have faith in Americans? Barack Obama says that he has that faith because of his own life, because he was able to rise to the point where he can be thought of as president of the United States. He is the country's walking absolution. That's his reason, the cynic thinks, but it's not mine. There has to be confession. There has to be penance. Being Barack Obama is not enough. Not damn close to enough. And it wasn’t. Virulent racism and crazy conspiracy theories attended his every move for eight years. One of the craziest was pushed by the guy who became his successor. This was not an accident."
All of the forces that produced the current president* were on vivid display during Obama’s eight years in office—the racism, the xenophobia, the lust for “taking our country back.” Guys with guns used to stalk the parking lots of arenas in which Obama was speaking. For eight years, Obama was presented with prima facie evidence that everything he said in that famous speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention was sadly wrong, that his optimism was misplaced, and that the better angels of our nature were, as they are from time to time, off-duty or rolling sevens in Vegas.The 44th POTUS is out making speeches, emailing Democratic constituencies and exhorting us all to put up a fight in light of the further destruction of our beloved country by the toxic orange cloud and its henchmen. But I've got to wonder, is Obama's recent presence on the national stage, part of his trying to still convince us of his view of a united state of America that, frankly, never existed? Is he attempting to make amends for not fighting enough and by virtue of inertia being somewhat complicit in this disaster? Is he embarrassed he got played by the GOP on the ACA? Is he regretting not standing defiantly behind Merrick Garland's nomination? Is he ashamed he let Mitch McConnell con him into not alerting the American public of the Russian election meddling? I hope so.
Yes, he was and is a good man. I, for the most part, continue to be proud of the job he did as my president. And the disrespect he was subjected to, essentially for being a man of color who dared to become POTUS, I will NEVER forget and will NEVER forgive the perpetrators of such assaults on his character and his family. But the dude fucked up some major shit by not being the stereotypical Angry Negro his foes, admittedly, were salivating to peg him as. But sometimes you just gotta say fuck it. And now, it's too late.
[Esquire: Barack Obama Needs To Get His Hands Dirty]
