Opinion Not black enough
Youll never believe what this White House is missing....
The Obama White House is too white. It has Barack Obama,raised in the Hawaiian hood and Indonesia,and Valerie Jarrett,who spent her early years in Iran.
But unlike Bill Clinton,who never needed help fathoming Southern black culture,Obama lacks advisers who are descended from the central African-American experience,ones who understand the slave thing, as a top black Democrat dryly puts it. The first black president should expand beyond his campaign security blanket,the smug cordon of overprotective white guys surrounding him. Otherwise,this administration will keep tripping over race rather than inspiring on race.
The West Wing white guys who pushed to ditch Shirley Sherrod before Glenn Beck could pounce not only didnt bother to Google,they werent familiar enough with civil rights history to recognise the name Sherrod. And they didnt return the calls and email of prominent blacks who tried to alert them that something was wrong. Charles Sherrod,Shirleys husband,was a Freedom Rider who,along with the civil rights hero John Lewis,was a key member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee of the 60s. As Lewis,the longtime Georgia congressman,told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,he knew immediately that something was amiss with the distorted video clip of Sherrod that caused her firing. Ive known these two individuals the husband for more than 50 years and the wife for at least 35,40 and theres not a racist hair on their heads or anyplace else on their bodies, Lewis said.
We may not have a nation of cowards on race,as Attorney General Eric Holder contended,but we may have a West Wing of cowards on race. It seems Obama feels that he and Michelle are such a huge change for the nation to absorb that he can be overly cautious about pushing for other societal changes for blacks and gays. At some level,he acts like the election was enough; he shouldnt have to deal with race further. But he does. Who knew that the first black president would make it even harder on black people? asked a top black Democratic official.
Its the same impulse that caused Obama campaign workers to refuse to let Muslim women with head scarves sit in camera range during a rally. Its the same impulse that has left the president light-years behind W. on development help for Africa. In their rush to counteract attempts to paint Obama as a radical/Muslim/socialist,Obama staffers can behave in insensitive ways themselves.
The presidents getting hurt real bad, Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina told me. He needs some black people around him. He said Obamas inner circle keeps screwing up on race: Some people over there are not sensitive at all about race. They really feel that the extent to which he allows himself to talk about race would tend to pigeonhole him or cost him support,when a lot of people saw his election as a way to get the issue behind us. I dont think people elected him to disengage on race. Just the opposite.
The president shouldnt give Sherrod her old job back. He should give her a new job: Director of Black Outreach. This White House needs one.
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