The American election has come and gone. History has been made. And thousands of years to come, the man Barack Obama will be remembered as for his rare audacity.

But to us blacks singing the Obama songs, can we sincerely ask ourselves these questions:
-Why did I support Obama? Was it because he was black or because of his ideas? Yes, he may have the better ideas, but I'm sure 75% of Africans that supported Obama did simply because of race.

-If all there had been a reversal of ideas between Obama and McCain, that is, if all the Change talk and the mid-way(or soft) course on issues had been McCain's mantra and all the apparent hardline positions had been Obama's talk, would you not have still supported Obama?

Have you asked yourself this question: If the white blindly pitched tent with McCain the way many blacks did, would Obama have won? The answer here is surely NO, because the white are the majority.

But inspite of all the black talk about Obama and the embarrassing 'He is our man' mentality displayed by Africans across the world, the white ignored the racist ranting and went for this man, when in fact, they could have said 'OK, the blacks are pitching tent with their man, let's also go for our man', in which case Obama would not have had 30% vote.
I'm a black, an African and couldn't resist the Obama wind while it blew, but I see this victory as a victory for the white.

I'm already conceiving an article on this for publication in Nigerian dailies.

Where did you get your stats from, or are just one of those who will believe anything the Fox news dishes to you?
Your analysis is a clear stupidity on the extent people will go to write off the blackman's right of judgement on vital issues.

Question for you; do you think that if Obama was not very smart like Palin or a war monger like Mccain, blacks will vote for him?
I cannot deny that some blacks voted cos of his skin colour, but its clear that majority voted for his values. We should also have in mind that Mccain got so many votes cos of his skin colour too.

Get a life my muslim brother.

what happen in thie election is a divine intervention by the Almighty
it is a clear way of letting us know by our creator that HE alone is the ALMIGHTY
America under bush is heading to put the entire human race in a devastating WAR
and GOD in HIS infinit mercy heard the cries of HIS people
that is why this miracle happens.
it is a miracle cos all of us know that Algore won in 2000 , but as GOD want to test us,
bush was smuggled in one way or the order.

honestly speakin,am not at all happy that obama won,bt what is it we say? God is in control.

nuzo:

Where did you get your stats from, or are just one of those who will believe anything the Fox news dishes to you?
Your analysis is a clear stupidity on the extent people will go to write off the blackman's right of judgement on vital issues.

Question for you; do you think that if Obama was not very smart like Palin or a war monger like Mccain, blacks will vote for him?
I cannot deny that some blacks voted because of his skin colour, but its clear that majority voted for his values. We should also have in mind that Mccain got so many votes because of his skin colour too.
Get a life my muslim brother.

A decent attempt at rebuttal, especially the boldened point. But you could have done better using a lighter word instead of 'stupidity' to qualify my analysis.

@Poster

The same way if your brother is contesting an election, you will not vote for his opponent, wether good or bad - dont you get it?

You are simply a goat.

ife-eco-06:

The American election has come and gone. History has been made. And thousands of years to come, the man Barack Obama will be remembered as for his rare audacity.

But to us blacks singing the Obama songs, can we sincerely ask ourselves these questions:
-Why did I support Obama? Was it because he was black or because of his ideas? Yes, he may have the better ideas, but I'm sure 75% of Africans that supported Obama did simply because of race.

-If all there had been a reversal of ideas between Obama and McCain, that is, if all the Change talk and the mid-way(or soft) course on issues had been McCain's mantra and all the apparent hardline positions had been Obama's talk, would you not have still supported Obama?

Have you asked yourself this question: If the white blindly pitched tent with McCain the way many blacks did, would Obama have won? The answer here is surely NO, because the white are the majority.

But inspite of all the black talk about Obama and the embarrassing 'He is our man' mentality displayed by Africans across the world, the white ignored the racist ranting and went for this man, when in fact, they could have said 'OK, the blacks are pitching tent with their man, let's also go for our man', in which case Obama would not have had 30% vote.
I'm a black, an African and couldn't resist the Obama wind while it blew, but I see this victory as a victory for the white.

I'm already conceiving an article on this for publication in Nigerian dailies.

I see your point but you may be making an overly simplistic argument.

Firstly, the exit polls show that Whites voted 55% for McCain and 43% for Obama.


Secondly, a more convincing argument is that Obama would have done much better if racism wasn't part and parcel of the American fiber. His position, ideas and judgment were much more convincing than McCain's. Why is it that Obama is more popular among Whites in Europe than in America? If Whites in Europe had voted in this election, I'm sure it would have been more like 95% Obama and 5% McCain. This is relevant because Whites in Europe are of the same race as Whites in America.


Thirdly, most Americans, even some of the most prejudiced Whites, understand that America is in a critical moment and that allowing primitive "tribal" instincts to upstage unbiased reasoning (which would lead to voting for Obama instead of McCain who was abysmal in the debates, was erratic in his actions regarding the financial crisis, exercised poor judgment in choosing Sarah Palin as running mate, wanted to continue George W. Bush's economic policies, uninterested in proposing a program to substantially increase the percentage of Americans with health insurance, etc.) would be tantamount to political self-mutilation.


Fourthly, the argument that Blacks voted for Obama because he is Black ignores the political history of America. Such an argument inadvertently assumes that this is the first time a Black man is running for the president of the US. But, this is not true. Obama proved himself to be "good" and so attracted so many Black votes. Why didn't the Blacks who attempted this journey before him attract so much support from Blacks?


Lastly, the question is this: Is Barack Obama "qualified" to be president of the United States? Two possible answers: Yes or No. We explore both.
(i) Yes: Well, lots of people should vote for him then. Examining the exit polls: Blacks voted 95% for Obama, Latino 66%, Asians 61%, others 65%, and Whites 43%. Looking at these numbers (with our current assumption that he is qualified), you should question the relatively low support of Whites for Obama instead of the relatively high support of Blacks, Latinos, Asians, etc.
(ii) No: Then fewer people should vote for him then. And you should question the relatively high support of Blacks for Obama (with the current assumption that he is not qualified).

Hence, as the illustration above shows, your concern for the large support of Obama by Blacks can only be credible if you're assuming that he is not "qualified". If you assume he is "qualified" then your concern should be the relatively low support of Whites for Obama.

dflash:

honestly speakin,am not at all happy that obama won,bt what is it we say? God is in control.

dfash,
you are not happy for what?
well you happy o you no happy o
GOD DON DO AM
where you de for gwags?

I dont know why anyone voted because I'm not an American but I also feel that he would have got a few votes because he has some element of black in him.

By the way, he is a white man as well as being black!

ife-eco-06:

A decent attempt at rebuttal, especially the boldened point. But you could have done better using a lighter word instead of 'stupidity' to qualify my analysis.

I decided to pay you back in your own coin.

You may not have used the word stupid, but it was evident in your stats by saying that 75% of blacks voted for Obama just cos he was black. You indirectly made it clear that they were stupid and foolish not to vote for issues but for race.

I may apologize to you later if you retract your stupid statement.

RichyBlack, decent analysis, but you also ignore that Obama received almost the same support amongst whites as Al Gore and Kerry. The Deep South and Beltway Ridge will always vote Republican so that limits the amount of white votes Obama can receive. The effect of "race" in the election was quite limited, probably down to 2 or 3 percentage points amongst white voters, which reflects very well on America.

Nuzo, you catch am there but you no catch am well. The problem is not that he implied that blacks were stupid cos they voted based on skin colour. The problem is that he made an assumption without any statistical evidence. Black turnout only increased by 1% and they overwhelmingly voted Democrat just like they always do whether the candidate is black or white. The big shift came amongst Latino and Other groups who voted for Obama by 2:1. Previously, 40% of Latinos had voted for George Bush.

Ife-Eco, the fact that we voted for Obama based on race may be true - but only after he had demonstrated his competency. Blacks did not vote for Jesse Jackson when he ran. Also, this was the first time we had a competitive black candidate. A people who have never seen their kind in power will always vote overwhelmingly for the first one with a good chance. Trust me, if we already had 3 or 4 black presidents, black people would not care about the skin colour of the candidate.

Dear ife-eco-06,

Add this to your article. All of una wey no fit praise person wey better pass una. Bad belle bad o!


The Election coming up in America next Tuesday has opened up these
questions therefore this is a CHANGE the WORLD needs, think about this
WHAT IF

Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin, what if things were switched
around?, think about it. Would the country's collective point of view
be different? Could racism be the culprit? Ponder the following:
What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a
three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?


What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?


What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating
class?


What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?


What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe
disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?


What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while
he was still married?


What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to
painkillers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable
organization?


What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?


What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five
were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a
major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of
the late 1980s and early 1990s.)


What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?


What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?


What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included
discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?


What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many
occasions, a serious anger management problem?


What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer
distribution?


What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?


You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality,
do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes
positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in
another when there is a color difference.


Educational Background:


Barack Obama:


ColumbiaUniversity - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in
International Relations.


Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude


Joseph Biden:


University ofDelaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.


SyracuseUniversity College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)


vs.


John McCain:


United StatesNaval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899


Sarah Palin:


HawaiiPacific University - 1 semester


NorthIdaho College - 2 semesters - general study


University ofIdaho - 2 semesters - journalism


Matanuska-Susitna Colle ge - 1 semester


University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism


Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in
the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.


Racism, you say? Heaven's no! How could you even think such a thing?

@Poster, you are a brave one. I really commend you for stepping out to post such, and I hope to read the article. I expect it would be good read.!!

You should delete this. Obama is more white than black.  You could be black and think white. Obama is black but is white. There are white that are black. What is the white singer name. rapper .  The one from michigan. He is white but think black.  EMINEM  ,   When you are poor in America , you are black, even if your colour is white.

While if you rich black person, you are white. Money is what determine if you are white or black in America. not your colour. It is the dollar that determine your colour.

And you are making all these analysis of America society all the way from Nigeria? I wonder what Colin Powell and Vernon Jordan, and Oprah Winfrey, etc are truly by your style of thinking?

Colin Powell was visibly shocked up in the interview he had about this Victory of Obama all the way in Hong Kong. Oprah was in the cold last night in Chicago to listen to Obama's speech. Jessie Jackson was crying like a baby, with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Plus_Queen; you see I do not come to the "political section." How do we get Nigeria better when we are armchair pundits of american politics when we hve never lived in America?

.

I second Nuzo's post, this is a very lazy write-up that again tries to glorify whites and assume that blacks lack a sense of judgement.

Obama got essentially the same percentage of the white vote as Kerry and Gore.

Obama still lost the white vote to McCain

in 2000 blacks voted Gore 91-9, in 2004 blacks voted Kerry 88-12, in 2008 blacks voted Obama 95-5 . . .
Its not rocket science, Blacks have always voted democrat.

Thank you david that is the simple answer . Blacks are democrats and they vote democratic candidates

whether it was Obama, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis they have always supported democratic candidates

Is anyone watching Sean Hannity right now

@ the poster.

My fren, its time you put aside that Nigerian mentality when it come to US politics.The same mentality has made us unable vote in the right person as such we would continue to suffer in Nigeria there.Its clear that Obama had more to deliever than his rival,which attracted both white and black votes.
The victory has nothing to do with white or black,but victory belongs to the united state of America.To all the people who were able to make the right choice, be you black or white.

Hannity and his fear mongering! The fellow even had the nerve to condemn the left-leaning media of bias.
There is no denying that a large part of the media was rooting for Obama but Hannity is not one to complain.

Obama won not because he was Black!
Obama won because he stood for what Americans wanted now, a departure from Bush's economic policies, tax cuts for the middle and lower class, improved health insurance etc etc.
That is what politics is all about, ideology and policy. Personality (charisma, education, religion, oratory, race etc) is important but a small part of the main issue an informed electorate vote for.
Miss that, miss everything about what elections are about. Elections are about putting collective will behind a common cause(s) and usually 1 man or woman is at the helm of that cause and he is the candidate representing those issues. The majority carries the vote.

Obama's victory co-incidentally happens to be a victory for African Americans. A black man wins because he stood for the issues most people in a white dominated country agree upon. It's as simple as that. His brilliance and all other personality plus were just added advantage.
This is the mistake and problem we have had and continue to have here in Nigeria. The theory of the man and not what he stands for.
The turn of the south-south, the eastern turn, power is a birth right of the north, etc and eliminating the issues in the process.

Until we learn to put our priorities right we will continue to make the mistake. American Democracy stems from ", governments are instituted among men from the consent of the governed, "

Have you heard that women in America have decided to shave their pussie hair, reason why? they say no more BUSH

Let it be considered that, in the US, Blacks make up about 12% of the population.   So, if EVERY Black person in the US (even those ineligible to vote) had cast ballots for Obama, he'd have still been far short of what it would have taken for him to win the election.  Extreme analogy to be sure, but it goes to show that it wasn't the Blacks who put Obama in office, but rather, it was non-Blacks! 

Now, let's view some more things:  NEVER in the campaign did Obama make race an issue of his potential presidency.  He wisely--and rightly--saw that as a non-issue.  For a country that has only within the past 45 years had its highest court rule that Whites and Blacks could marry, legally, everywhere in the land, it means a great deal that Obama has been embraced by the masses as somebody who they would trust to lead them in what are quite difficult times in America. 

It has been only within the past 54 years that public schools were integrated (Brown v. Topeka, 1954).   In some places in the US, as recently as the '60s, some places still had separate water fountains and bathrooms for Blacks.  And, while none of these manifestations of racism are nearly as draconian as apartheid, they still represent some of the more reprehensible behaviours of any so-called "free" country.

Also, as has been duly noted, the man is BI-RACIAL.  Yes, he's as White as he is Black.  So, yes--it's a victory for Whites.  But it's also a victory for EVERY American.

@ Ife

There are whites who supported Mccain because he is a white man why don't we ask questions about that?
You also realize that majority of blacks are domcratic because their policies favour the less forunate groups in society.
And furthermore Obama could not have become president with the support of all minorties alone, whites voted for him too!!!

This is a victory for all Americans and its inhabitants, not just Black or White Americans. Don't be so ignorant.

I have finally had time to write the article. It's just my opinion pls. No insults pls.

ife-eco-06:

I have finally had time to write the article. It's just my opinion please. No insults please.

I read your article and I'm glad you attributed the victory to both blacks and Whites instead of just "Victory For The White!" as the title of your post suggest. You moderated the argument and that shows that you took into consideration the voices of dissent. Good! Thanks.

Yeap, the views here subtly affected my writing eventually.I deliberately modified the topic I was conceiving before(the Title of this thread) because it was too racist. I will paste the link here as soon as it is published in any of the papers I sent it to.

My article at last: http://www.dailytrust.com/content/view/21687/62/