[dubman]

mmmm ok.
it's hard to tell whether his sudden affectation was true or condescending. you cant fake it without sounding doubly obvious so maybe it was a response to the sudden informality that presented itself. my boss comes from the south and you couldnt tell. when told "oh wow i'd never have guessed" she immediately reverted to "weel ah c'n talk like this if ye wonted"
so it's hard to say. he's not a southern man but he suddenly talked like everyone else did when i went to an all-black school for a couple of years, and i'm in california, so i'd lean towards it being pretty natural to his background.

but, huge points on insisting that those concerns be adressed instead of poking fun and turning his back, waiting for security to boot him out. obama clearly didnt have an answer ready and did admirably, sticking to what he's done professionally. the only problem is that these are still pat answers that clear the name but present the same sort of inefficacy of "statements and policy" that look good but dont amount to beans for the people it's meant for. granted, the questions werent exactly fair ("what are you going to do about institutionalized racism and the system that silently supports it/doesnt care/will fuck us over every time") but i was just waiting, aching for obama to address that core frustration with something along the lines of "the things that i've done as a senator i've been able to do as one voice out of 100. imagine what i can do for you as president of the united states."

because it's true. whats obama going to do about predatory loans, the jena 6, or a cop shooting as a senator? make statements. lots of statement, enact legislature that will be broad and more of a symbol than anything effective. there's no saying that as president situations like these are automatically not like that. they often are. but the president, as we've seen in the last 8 years or so, sets the national tone. simply being commander in chief works more subtly than any well-meaniing policy, condemnation, or support. and if you give a shit enough as president something *will* be pushed.