America’s First Black* Major-Party Nominee<\/a> was that it was trivial. Mr. Schaller points out that unlike most successful black politicians in America, Sen. Obama does not have two black parents, is not descended from people who were held in slavery, did not come from a clerical background (neither his own or his parents’), did not grow up in a major urban center, and did not go to a historically black university. Not that all five of these aspects have been necessary for successful black politicians, but that going oh-for-five and having success is very unusual. My first response, as I say, was that Mr. Schaller was simply pointing out that a very unusual man with extraordinary success was an exception to the general rule; I rather expect someone in that position to be an exception. Furthermore, it isn’t a surprise that a black politician who finds success outside the black community will derive strengths from areas other than those whose support did not extend much beyond the black community, any more than it’s surprising that leaders within, say, labor or the religious right, will differ from those leaders who have affiliations with those groups but get most of their support outside them.
\nBut then, as I was puttering around the house, I kept coming back to the idea of Barack Obama’s personal history. And to how much binds together the personal histories of most of our successful politicians. Not that they are all the same, but that there are a handful of aspects that are common. There’s the Gerald Ford\/Bill Bradley\/Mo Udall\/Jack Kemp\/Ronald Reagan story of parlaying national prominence as an entertainer into a political career. There’s the Al Gore\/Mitt Romney\/George Bush\/George Bush\/Kennedy\/Kennedy\/Kennedy story of the scion of a political family taking on the torch of a new generation. There’s the Jimmy Carter\/John McCain\/Bob Dole\/John Kerry story of a military career followed by coming home and linking up with the local political machine. The other story, the Bill Clinton\/Mike Dukakis\/Walter Mondale story, where a guy goes to law school, maybe practices or teaches law for a while, then wins local office and then statewide office and then runs for national office, is closest to Barack Obama’s story.
\n
The question, for me, is whether that’s a story that will win votes. I hope it is. It’s a great story. To me, that’s the anyone-can-be-President story. Not that there’s any greater truth to that one than the others, or that the anyone<\/i> that goes to law school is more anyone<\/i> than the anyone<\/i> that plays basketball or calls ballgames on the radio or the anyone<\/i> that serves in the military. Logically, of course, those are anyone<\/i> stories, too. But not to YHB.
\n
You know, I used to say that the thing that was inspiring about the Al Gore story was just how far you could get in politics on nothing but brains, perseverance, good looks and family connections. The joke being that the man has absolutely no talent for politics, you see. Well, the thing that’s inspiring about the Barack Obama story is just how far you can get on nothing but brains, perseverance, good looks and a talent for politics. John McCain had the family connections, he married an heiress, which I suppose is another thing that anybody<\/i> could do, but gave him more family connections, and I hesitate to pronounce about his talent for politics. But it seems to me that if Barack Obama can become President of the United States of America, then anyone can become President of the United States of America—anyone, that is, who is incredibly smart, tremendously charismatic, breathtakingly gorgeous, ludicrously perseverant and unbelievably disciplined. But then, those are all good things to have in a President. Even gorgeousness.
\n
I’ll also point out, and I don’t know how absolutely relevant this is, but Michael Tomasky claims<\/a> that Barack Obama is not only the first dark-skinned (or substantially dark-skinned) person to be a major party’s nominee for the Executive in America, but the first in what we might call the West. Just a thought. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that it wasn’t true. Ah, well.
\nTolerabimus quod tolerare debemus<\/I>,
-Vardibidian.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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