Is This Progress?
Armstrong Williams
Monday, Aug. 16, 2004
The national press found Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention dazzling. Obama “. . . is a bright, handsome, charming and articulate embodiment of all the good things America imagines itself to be. . . . Go, Barack Obama!” fawned Washington Post columnist, Williams Raspberry.
“Obama energizes convention” read an Associated Press headline. Even Illinois Republican state Sen. Kirk Dillard confided to the New Yorker that ". . . in Republican circles, we've always feared that Barack would become a rock star of American politics. Obama is an extraordinary man."
The wave of publicity almost assures that Obama will become the only black American in the Senate, and only the fifth black senator in history. This represents undeniable progress. But it is also worth noting that many of Obama’s policy positions do not mesh with large majorities of the black voting populace — who actually poll conservative and increasingly support issues that can only be described as traditionally Republican, like mandatory prison sentencing, school prayer, school vouchers, and opposition to abortion and homosexual unions.
The conservative bent of the black American populace is coming into focus in local elections across the country, where a new wave of conservative black political leaders are gaining local and state offices. For the most part, they do not see America as being fundamentally flawed because of its unfortunate racial history, or its capitalist economic system. They are more inclined to encourage choice and market based approaches. Unfortunately, none have managed to achieve national prominence. So without Obama, there is no black candidate with real crossover appeal.
The point was crammed into the national consciousness following Obama’s rousing performance at the Democratic national convention. Properly contextualized, Obama’s showing at the convention was a triumph not of public policy — remember, Obama’s political views do not mesh with a black voting populace that actually polls conservative — but of performance art.
Of course, performance art matters. Over the last century, all of America’s “great” leaders have shone as brightly for their performances as their leadership. Teddy Roosevelt was a childhood wimp who, as a leader, galvanized a fledgling nation around an image of masculine dominance and secular glory. A chronically ill JFK used television images to convey a sense of youthful vigor and sex appeal. Regan gazed deeply into the camera lens and disarmed us with his confidence and that Aw-Shucks smile. Clinton surrounded himself with celebrities, appeared on MTV, and even played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show. Get it? Our “greatest” leaders have also been our greatest demagogues.
For the first time since Jesse Jackson burst onto the national scene, a black man gets to play the role of American demagogue. This is powerful. This is alluring. This suggests something greater than politics; it suggests that our society is finally moving beyond those social hierarchies that are leftover from a shared history of slavery.
But again, I ask, is it progress?
Consider that Obama’s chief opponent is Alan Keyes. Forgetting for a moment that Keyes has no substantial ties to Illinois, and seems to have inserted himself into the race merely as a form of self-advertisement, it is worth noting that his conservative value system — and particularly his belief in school prayer, and opposition to abortion and homosexual unions - is shared by a majority of the black voting public.
Jut one thing: Keyes is a black republican who has come out forcibly against the liberal theology that conditions all blacks to regard themselves as victims. For this, he will be labeled and discarded by the Democrats — and the civil rights leaders they carry in tow—as a race traitor.
Meanwhile, Obama, who espouses a different value system than large pluralities of the black voting populace, will be heralded as a symbol of racial progress.
I can’t help but wonder though, is reflexively voting for someone who does not share your value system really progress?
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