Obama's Sistah Souljah moment
It is interesting that the candidate that most emulates the Bill Clinton '92 campaign style is not Hillary Clinton, but Barack Obama. Directly confronting the uncomfortable realities of American racism, this was the '08 campaigns' Sistah Souljah moment. Just as Bill Clinton used the offensive words of an obscure rapper to demonstrate his ability to cross the racial divide, Barack Obama has used the offensive words of his own pastor to establish himself as a leader for Americans of all races.
Obama's speech addressed racism in a way that confronts and elevates all Americans. With honesty and passion, he spoke his truth and his story to America. Now we await America's response.
Obama's speech addressed racism in a way that confronts and elevates all Americans. With honesty and passion, he spoke his truth and his story to America. Now we await America's response.
Advertisement
Disagree a bit.
1. Sistah Souljah was not an obscure rapper back then.
2. Bill Clinton threw Sistah Souljah under the bus, without knowing the context or if she actually said what she said.
3. Bill Clinton continued to signal to white America that he was going to "lock up the darkies".
March 18, 2008 10:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're absolutely right, Fabooj.
No comparing these two speeches.
March 19, 2008 8:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. How can you compare Clinton's intentional race-baiting to the speech that Obama gave today? That's ridiculous.
March 18, 2008 10:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bill Clinton earned the nickname "the first black president" because he understood the nuance of racial division. He was willing to confront racism in both blacks and whites. By confronting the violence in rap music in front of a predominantly black audience, Clinton displayed a political courage, something no other white Democratic politician dared to do at the time.
That speech marked Clinton as a different type of politician and provided a political narrative that led to his eventual victory. Far from race-baiting, or promising to lock up the darkies, he stood out as a politician willing to risk alienating an important constituency.
I favor Obama and this speech was, in my opinion, clearly a cut above any political speech given in the past 40 years. I believe that Obama's speech today will be marked as a turning point in this election, just as Clinton's 92 speech was a turning point.
March 18, 2008 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, Bill Clinton didn't "earn" that nickname and Toni Morrison didn't mean it to be a compliment. You need to read the full text of what she wrote to understand the context. You, like Clinton, didn't get it. It was a put-down, highlighting Bill Clinton's baser instincts... she was basically calling him a womanixing glutton. Re-read it. It's not a pretty picture.
"After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas. And when virtually all the African-American Clinton appointees began, one by one, to disappear, when the President's body, his privacy, his unpoliced sexuality became the focus of the persecution, when he was metaphorically seized and bodysearched, who could gainsay these black men who knew whereof they spoke? The message was clear "No matter how smart you are, how hard you work, how much coin you earn for us, we will put you in your place or put you out of the place you have somehow, albeit with our permission, achieved. You will be fired from your job, sent away in disgrace, and--who knows?--maybe sentenced and jailed to boot. In short, unless you do as we say (i.e., assimilate at once), your expletives belong to us."
The Sistah Souljah moment was not meant to "heal any wounds" but grub for some votes among skittish WHITE CONSERVATIVE voter. It was meant to move Clinton more firmly to his DLC center. In your world he may have looked like a different kind of politician. In mine, he was just another white man.
Obama's speech was very different. We all need a little more time to fully grasp just how powerful that speech was.
This was not Sistah Souljah: This was America, come to your senses. America, fix this problem. America, grow up. Perfect yourself.
March 19, 2008 8:47 AM | Reply | Permalink