Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Dear Black Folks, Raise Your Standards, Love, Basil

There's a new poll out. And it shows that the president's approval rating isn't all that great.

Except among Blacks.

According to the latest Gallup Poll (tip: Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket), 91% of Blacks approve of the job Obama is doing, compared to 36% for Whites.

What?

91%?

Really, Black Folks?

Sometimes, I just don't understand.

I grew up in southeast Georgia, where Blacks made up 40% of the population. We went to school together, played together, went to church together... But do I really understand Blacks?

Hell, I don't understand my sisters, so understanding Blacks? That may be too much to ask.

Still, I did learn early on that Blacks and Whites do some things differently.

Like playing the card game Tonk. Or playing checkers with Flying Kings. And, if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you don't know Black Folks. Or Black Folks in the south, anyway.

Little things like that made me aware that different people ... are different.

Now, it's not just different races that do things different. Wife's family, mostly from Alabama, for instance, has some really strange ways of playing Dominoes.

And that fits with what I learned early on: different people, whether of different races, different sexes, different locations, do and think things different from one another.

So, I suppose I'm not all that surprised that Blacks have a different opinion of Barack Obama's job performance.

But, a difference of 91% to 36% in Obama's approval rating? That's more than "playing checkers with Flying Kings" different.

I suspect there's a little bit of the whole "Black man done good" thing going on.

Only, here's the thing: he ain't doing all that good. And he ain't all that Black.

It's been a couple of years now. Time to get over that "proud of what that Black man done" thing when it comes to Obama.

Because, Obama is doing nothing positive for Blacks.

Think about this: If a politician from Georgia ran for president, what's the first thing people would think? I'll tell you: Jimmy Carter.

It'd be hard for someone from Georgia to get elected president. And this is nearly 30 years after Carter left office. Carter spoiled it for Sam Nunn, Zell Miller, and others who might have made decent presidents. And who knows how long it will be before any politician from Georgia could run for president and people not wonder if he'd be another Jimmy Carter?

What does that mean for Blacks? Barack Obama is the Black Jimmy Carter. Obama is screwing it up for other Blacks. He's doing a sucky job at president. Not because he's Black, but because he's an incompetent fool. Just like Jimmy Carter.

So, to my Black friends -- and to Blacks that aren't my friends -- that still think Obama is doing a good job: open your eyes.

And raise your standards.


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9 comments:

  1. Basil, there's some truth in what you say. I mean, we play dominoes different here than they do over in Texas.

    And, we play different games with them than they do in the Mountain West...I know, I've had to teach ignorant folks the right way.

    I remember when Carter left office. It was commonly thought that NO Southern Governor could be elected for at least a half a century. Wrong.

    However, I do think the ObozO/black thing is different. I believe it will hamstring any black candidate, no matter how competent.

    It is puzzling that 91% of black folks approve of his performance. I imagine that's about the percentage of black vote he got. That's a pretty loyal crowd.

    I wonder if Colin Powell is still in that number.

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  2. Yes, Powell is still drinking the Kool-Aid.

    The good thing about Clinton -- the only good thing -- is that he showed that Carter didn't spoil all southern governors. Maybe Haley Barbour has a chance.

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  3. A lot of people think my Goober will run as Veep, or maybe even for the big job one day.

    Just so you'll know, Bobby Jindal is a poser. Conservative talk, moderate action. Runs on the right, governs in the center...extremely odd strategy, a real flip-flop of current political philosophy.

    And, a true disappointment.

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  4. I wondered about Jindal. After the initial flash, there's been nothing. Now I know why.

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  5. Can you say that? "Blacks?" Is that politically correct?

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  6. Well, I could say "African-American" but I think that's not accurate. My ancestors came from Africa, so, technically, I'm African-American. And, I'm in the 36% grouping, not the 91% grouping.

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  7. Your ancestors came from Africa?

    Mine just came from Mooringsport, and the Rio Grande Valley.

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  8. I got folks that come from all over, since my family tree branches. Nyuk, to coin a phrase.

    My ancestors come from Africa, Asia, Europe...

    Those that settled in Georgia seem to have arrived after the Revolutionary War -- my Revolutionary ancestors we've been able to trace fought in the South Carolina militia and moved to Georgia after the war.

    And, before the Carolinas, lots of them came from up the east coast. But, they've been in the southern US since before there was a US, so we consider ourselves southerners.

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  9. I agree whole-heartedly. There was an editorial in my local paper (Alvin, TX) this week about how conservatives are still freaked out that a "black man" is in the white house. Couldn't be farther from the truth.

    He's just a socialista elite who reads flower speeches from a teleprompter.

    For people to approve of him just because of his race...hmmm, that sounds suspiciously like RACIAL BIAS!

    Heck I'd be just as mad if Hillary or that jester Joe Biden were elected president.

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