So who’d a thunk it? Who’d a thunk that after all this time, America was thinking about trying to elect a black man for president. I know I didn’t. But maybe it’s not as strange as it seems. In this age of media driven, reality-show, American Idol loving, PR and marketing oriented thinking, the time is ripe to throw a brother up there and see how many votes he can get. What is it about Obama that is so mesmerizing? I listened to his speech at the convention; didn’t do much for me. All the hope and change stuff is a bunch of smoke and mirrors to keep him from having to address the really tough issues. Same old stuff as far as I can see.

But I think there are a couple of things at play here that are allowing Obama to have so much success. First of all let’s understand that the presidential race is a popularity contest more than anything else. Did I mention American Idol? AI gets people all caught up in the contestants stories and the back and forth between the judges. The quality of the artist has little to do with it. Which is fitting since the recording industry has little use for talent. Their forte is marketing. They’ve been selling the public “marketable product” for decades, not music. The Presidential race and politicians in general are selling the public a marketable product. That’s why there is so much emphasis on how much money has been raised by each candidate. The media realizes that success is directly tied to the strength of the marketing campaign. Now they’ve caught onto the idea of running celebs or the family members of successful politicians. It’s the John Belushi, Jim Belushi effect.

Obama is in a good position because his publicists have given him a strong brand, the candidate of change. Of course presidential elections are frequently about change. After the Democratic candidate screws the public in favor of their corporate overlords, the public clamors for change. The public is generally to uninformed to realize that choosing the other side of the two party duopoly, the Republicans, is not change at all. So the Republicans get their chance to stick it to the body politic and the results are not surprising. Obama said change first and loudest and his background make his words seem real. After all he doesn’t have much of a record for people to throw in his face. He’s not a white male, we’ve seen enough of them. He’s not African American if we define African Americans as being the descendants of enslaved Africans exported to the Americas. His ties to the dreaded civil rights establishment are just about nil. It’s as if the the cat dropped in from outer space (and of course most Americans could point out Alpha Centuri before they could find Kenya on a map). If only that damned Farrakhan had kept his mouth shut (If Farrakhan likes you that means you’re an anti-semitic Jew hater who thinks Hitler should have finished the job).

His opponent, Hillary Clinton tries to play the change card but she comes off looking like a joker. After all she’s already lived in the white house, she already took a crack at health care reform and she has to rely on a record of 34 years of public service to combat Barack’s inexperience. If she’s been part of this corrupt system for 34 years that makes her part of the problem not the solution.

The other advantage that Obama has is the symbology of his race. This is a situation that I noticed quite awhile ago. Minorities are used as symbols in the western media. The Asian represents mathematical geekiness and eastern mysticism. ex: Mr. Miyagi or Kwi Chang Kane. American Indians represent nature and spirituality. Any one old enough to remember that Indian guy crying about pollution in that commercial way back when? Black folks take on the role of the noble savage. That’s an old concept. His role is usually to sacrifice himself, his dreams, his dignity in order to save the white hero. Hattie McDaniel won the first Oscar to be awarded to a black American for her role as Mammy in that apology for white supremacy called Gone with the Wind. In it, she helped that no-good floozy Scarlet O’Hara to thrive before, during, and after the Civil War. It took another 70 years or so for another black actress, Hallie Berry, to win another Oscar. This time for providing sexual healing to that scumbag Billy Bob Thorton in Monster’s Ball. Yeah he executed Hallie’s husband in the movie, but it was most important that Billy redeem himself and save his own soul. In The Green Mile Micheal Clarke Duncan plays a big black brute with the power to heal. He is wrongly convicted of murder but spends the whole film saving white folks from themselves. He’s not a person but a symbol. I don’t think there are any other black folk in the film to help him flesh out his humanity. After performing countless miracles they fry him anyway. He saved the important people. He’s no longer needed. The list goes on. Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance helping Matt Damon get his swing back. Morgan Freeman, playing God no less, has nothing better to do than help Jim Carey . . . umm, not be such a putz. And if the black guy can’t save a caucasian, he can at least act cool thereby inparting cool onto the white character.

What’s all this have to do with Obama? Everything. Because this whole election is nothing more that a huge sitcom and Obama is playing “Mammy”. He’s going to save white America from itself. And if he can’t do that he can at least act cool so when other countries look at us, especially those pesky third world ones, we’ll look cool too.

Even still, I’m starting to get into it. How can you, as a black American, not be drawn to his success. Not that I expect him to change much. He may take some of the rough edge off of the corporate driven militarism that the country has always been involved in, but at the end of his term I fully expect the Palestinians to still be getting their asses kicked by the Israelis and the majority of black Americans to still be living in ghettos or soul sucking urban wastelands. There still won’t be a single payer healthcare system and the fallout from Iraq will still be dogging our time and treasure.

I understand that this country is run by monied interests. I understand that political, educational and especially economic systems need to be fundamentally altered. I understand that while the American public may be tired of being shat on, they still really don’t care about us shitting on anybody else. And I hear a lot of his (white) supporters talk about making America what it used to be. Oh God no!! Even still, assuming Obama doesn’t take a bullet in his chest, I think I’m going to have to register and vote for the brother, register to vote for the first time in my life, just to piss off a certain segment of the population if he wins.

Then again, come election day, maybe I’ll just sit around picking the lint out of my navel. That would probably be a better use of my time.

peace (and hair grease)

Related posts:

1. Dr. StrangeBruh: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Obama
2. Dr. StrangeBruh: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Obama
3. Dr. StrangeBruh: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Obama
4. Dr. StrangeBruh: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Obama
5. Dr. StrangeBruh: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Obama