Moving on up to the White House

Not only are Americans expected to cautiously toe the line when approaching the dangerous subject of race, here is yet another concern to keep in mind in the ongoing quest of finding ways to keep blacks content.

An editorialist on BlackPolicy.org worries over "disillusioned" blacks, who must daily face the "saddening possibility" that there might never be a black who serves as the country's President. One wonders how the nation's Chinese-American citizens make it through each day, living with the possibility of never seeing one of their own as President. Is it a painful condition? And how has the country's Jewish population managed to live with the "saddening possibility" that a Jew might never serve as President? Do they exist in a "disillusioned" state of mind?

Some apologists even blame the slow progress of the black masses on the lack of a black President as "role model." Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, who has been known to write sensible treatises [he has the right handle on "hate crime" laws], in the case of Barack Obama, becomes yet another enamored journalist. Citing crime among blacks as an "urgent" problem, in one of his weirdest columns to date ("Taking the Call on Black Men"), Cohen claims that Obama would be best suited to answer that proverbial 3:00 AM phone call to the White House -- if it pertained to the inordinate numbers of homicides committed by black men.

His reasoning, if such it can be called, goes like this: Because Obama could be a role model to young black men, he is "uniquely qualified" to meet the challenge posed by their criminal behavior. Cohen does not explain, however, why black criminal behavior has failed to be modified by those role models who are closer to the citizenry than the distant President, that is, all those Mayors of cities – from Harold Washington to David Dinkins to Sharpe James to Marion Barry to Kwame Kilpatrick, and many more too numerous to mention. Cohen also does not explain why he skips over the most important and influential role models in young people's lives, like the adults who live within their own homes. Are blacks the only group whose good behavior is dependent on the indulgences of politicians?

It's one thing for devious black elites to try to make entry into the White House yet one more necessary step in the black journey of "moving on up." It's quite another to watch as foolish whites buy into this disingenuous sentiment – as though blacks are on some kind of inevitable sojourn that ultimately must lead to the Oval Office. It's about power, and nothing else.