BlackPerspective.net
Discussing the Diaspora as seen through an internal Black lens
Man Crush On Obama? Come on?
July 22nd, 2008
I came across an article from the Root.com at The New Black Woman blog about guys having a “man crush” on Obama. Yeah, this is what professional media spends its time writing about.
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Mr. Jewel Woods states that:
What men might not be accustomed to are the powerful reactions that Sen. Obama has generated among other men. The indelible image of an African-American man crying during an Obama speech in Pennsylvania posted on the front page of The Rootin March, vividly captured the powerful reaction that Obama has been able to generate among some men. And while commentators may attribute this particular level of reaction to feelings of “racial pride” or being “caught up” in a moment, the reality is that these intense male reactions to Obama are not limited to black men. A recent article in Salonchronicled the passions that that Obama had generated among men.
Why do men as diverse as Colin Powell, Michael Eric Dyson, Andrew Sullivan, Tom Joyner, Ted Kennedy, Bill Richardson, Christopher Hitchens and numerous others, appear to have such a “man crush” on Sen. Obama?
The answer: his white-collar masculinity.
You can read the article for his description of this “white-color masculinity”; but I’m going to get on with my critique:
I think the author is overreaching like with almost all articles of this type.
Almost anytime you try to break down why people like someone or something, and you meld it down into an across the board simplistic answer; you’re basically begging to be off base.
I think most people, period, primarily like him based on the vision and ideology he has set forth and the manner in which he has eloquently articulated it.
There’s some basis to what the author’s saying, I, for instance, like when he speaks with strength, as opposed to when he speaks with fragility; and soft peddles; but the former happens more than the latter. That he plays ball helps. It’s certainly better than seeing Kerry water surfing in his cute little wetsuit.
But let’s deal with some factual realities. Black men always vote for the democratic candidate at about 85%. And the majority of White men always vote for the republican regardless of any of this stuff.
They voted Bush and Dole over Clinton and for the other Bush over both Gore and Kerry. And surprise, surprise, most of them are going to vote for McCain, because the republicans play to the angry white guy sensibility. Which is why Bill Clinton manufactured that little Sista Souljah controversy ; so he could have all the white folks screaming, “yeah, you tell those niggers Bill”. And he still didn’t win the majority of them, but just enough. ”
When the media talks about Obama’s white voter problem their premise is always based on misinformation. They never tell you that his polling amongst whites is nearly equivalent to the percentage of the white votes that Clinton received when he won the presidency. The media does not like facts. Facts mess up their fake story lines they’re trying to push.
So clearly who people chose to vote for does not boil down to shooting hoops and stomping the mean streets of the South Side of Chicago, as this writer suggest; or some white-collar masculinity; but rather people’s world view and how much they think the candidate shares it.
But this article is good for helping a writer promote himself. Nice little piece of marketing – write something provocative so you can get a lot of folks talking about it, therefore drawing attention to yourself. Be sure to be as sensational about it as possible, and not very thoughtful; you wouldn’t want thinking to get in the way of your story line.
The piece is nauseating in its overstatements, exaggerations, and ridiculous assertions.
“He may be the only black man in America that can smile as often as he does and still be taken seriously by other black men.”
Get the _____ outta here. He oughta be slapped for that line alone.
Typical stereotyping. I hope this isn’t a Black man…now that I think about it, it sadly probably is. He’s probably one of those Black folks who thought smoking weed, playing the sax, and getting head under his desk made Bill Clinton Black.
Anyway, instead of putting so much extra fluff on it and overly philosophizing the situation, I think it’s more safe to describe men’s relationship to Obama by analogy to how the smooth brotha in high school who had the girls hanging off his every word is going to receive some deference from his peers.
Who doesn’t want to be the guy all the honeys are swooning over? That guy receives a certain amount of admiration from the rest of the fellas, and that’s consistent no matter what the setting: high school, the mechanic shop, or the executive floor of the corporate tower.
It’s not exactly new, nor new in Democratic politics. It’s partly why both JFK and Bill Clinton got over as well. (And part of why Bill Clinton’s been pissed the past few months, he’s no longer the coolest guy on campus - narcissistic, ego-maniac, crybaby).
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12 Responses to “Man Crush On Obama? Come on?”
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Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.
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Off top, but you were mentioned on CNN:
www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/22/obama.hurt.blacks/index.html
Congrats!
Meant “off topic”.
Oh thanks AJ. I was wondering when that was going to come out. I was even checking my google alerts for my name to see if it had been published yet. It took a little bit longer than the writer said it would.
Thanks for the heads up.
White Collar masculinity?
Or, it could just be the fact that we enjoy a brother outside of a barbershop with a sensible view of things.
No Jarret, it couldn’t be that simple. We couldn’t possibly just appreciate a brotha’s brain or something like that. It’s because he’s the manly brotha with the biggest —- on the block.
Okay, let me stop.
What the aveage GOB does behind the voting curtian may well suprise no one, but what comes as real shocker is what the collegiate Afican-American is doing to undermine it’s own. Obama and the Black community is mired in the mith of the 60’s college fantsy. Clearly more than 80% of the nations graduating HS seniors(any ethnic group)aren’t going to make it through their sophmore year and the remaining 20% that do will be seriously in debt. Every Child Left Behind, the failing Perochial system (this alone is going to bring public ed to its knees), private ed vouchers, and charter schools are desimatig state education budgets. If you voted down your districts 08-09 school budget you still are going to eat a min. 5.5% tax increase due to a loss of federal funding because of teacher lay-offs and closed progams. Both McCain and Obama are hoplessly white collar and neither has a grip on what it will take to repair the infrastructure of this country.
Greetings,
Since Obama bashes African American men every three weeks, I wonder if Obama feels intimadated by African American men?
Eric
washiboy, first of all their’s nothing wrong with being “white collar”, nor does being a professional automatically make you detached from common folk.
I think Obama does have a grip on what it will take, the question is will he have the courage to strongly push for what needs to be done; or will he play politics to maintain powers as he is doing more and more of late before he even gets the power.
Eric please, he ain’t bashed black men.
Telling punk ass Negroes to take care of their kids is not bashing them, or if it then they deserve it. But it doesn’t apply to Black Men, it applies to boys wo ain’t handlin they business.
Some body needs to tell their triffling ass, and stop coddling these assholes.
Is it the homoerotic imagery that bothers you? That really seems to be what you are implying to me. Also in your criticism is it possible to refrain from referring to women as “the honeys”? It is unnecessarily demeaning.
Renee, well, I think I did a good job in specifying my problem with it in the piece. To try to further answer what my problem with Jewel’s assessment is would be to simply retype what I stated within the piece.
I elaborated a number of different points. If you have a question about something I said in specific, then maybe I can answer that.