Obama - perspectives

[Sean]

As yet another white guy, I agree Cacophony.

And here's an interesting interview with Ann Nixon Cooper, the 106 year old woman Obama referenced in his victory speech:

"Things are changing, changing, changing, and I look for more change now that it's the first black president in victory of faith over fear," she says. "Don't you know, that's quite something to be proud of."

and:

"I ain't got time to die 'cause I've got to see a black president," she said, giggling with excitement. "I've got to see that."

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Honestly I think the race angle is pretty played, but I couldn't help but wonder; is this the first time a president/prime minister/king or whatever you use was elected in ANY country that went against the 'majority' race?

[cacophony]

interesting question. i'm not even sure how you'd dig up an answer without simply being a history expert.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Originally Posted by 34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j

Honestly I think the race angle is pretty played, but I couldn't help but wonder; is this the first time a president/prime minister/king or whatever you use was elected in ANY country that went against the 'majority' race?

Not to sound like I'm attacking you, but this very question fuels racial competition.

Let us hope this is the dawning of a new timeless age of looking past minor differences(race, sex(...), religion, etc) as to what's possible.

[gambit]

Originally Posted by 34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j

Honestly I think the race angle is pretty played, but I couldn't help but wonder; is this the first time a president/prime minister/king or whatever you use was elected in ANY country that went against the 'majority' race?

From what I've heard, Europe hasn't yet. I don't know about other countries, but I doubt the list would be very long.

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by jOHN rODRIGUEZ

Not to sound like I'm attacking you, but this very question fuels racial competition.

Let us hope this is the dawning of a new timeless age of looking past minor differences(race, sex(...), religion, etc) as to what's possible.

i admire your progressive thinking but i'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with your assessment of his/her post.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Originally Posted by cacophony

i admire your progressive thinking but i'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with your assessment of his/her post.

Please elaborate, Momma(1)
Yeah, elaborate(2)

[BeautifulBurnout]

A really cool Flickr page here, set up by the Guardian.

[gambit]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmi..._reaction.html

Well this is disconcerting. Europeans?

There's been an enormous global embrace of Obama, but that story's been told in a way that generally skirts the fact that some Europeans aren't actually that thrilled with the idea of a black president.

Der Spiegel reports that "the Wolf Blitzer of Austria" is among them, and got in some trouble for saying, "I wouldn't want the Western world to be directed by a black man."
The story continues:

Emmerich himself voiced no regret. On the contrary, he even took a harder line in subsequent interviews. Obama's victory was an "extremely disconcerting development" he told the Austrian Standard on Wednesday, because "blacks aren't as politically civilized." Meanwhile, he told Die Presse in an interview published on Friday that Obama has "a devil-like talent to present his rhetoric so effectively."

That does seem to be an outlier, though, in an overwhelmingly positive global reaction.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Austria: birthplace of Adolf Hitler. Home of right-wingers. Politically as significant as that lump of something stuck to the bottom of my shoe..