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WP: Before Michelle, Barack Obama asked another woman to marry him.
- Thread starter Deepwater
- Start date
polls are at a dead heat
that poster is obviously joking
I do.
If anything it may have made him more relateable to white middle class people. What it would have done to his popularity among the African American community is another thing entirely, but I'd guess he'd have won them over, he's charming as fuck.
It sounds like most of what this book is saying is that he's ambitious, and...well duh.
GuitarAtomik
Member
Not sure how to take this comment. Thank god for a city to be bigoted enough that you can't run for office and be in an interracial marriage? I get the sentiment for the ends, but the means is :/
Am I misunderstanding the comment?
Premise: Obama is more politically attractive to BLACK PEOPLE because of his black wife.
Premise 2: Obama wins general election in large part due to record BLACK voter turn out.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
I'm not sure why you're so flabbergasted. I think you're forgetting all the racist rhetoric and propaganda that was spewed when he was running for president... Like super underestimating how prevalent that was and underplaying how much people wanted to keep a black man out of power. I'm interested in some numbers if you have them though of these hidden racists that would have shifted his wins to losses though.
Why though? He doesn't understand black people because he married a white woman? We don't need to use vague generalizations, you said your attitude would wildly change if his wife was white. What is the problem you have and apparently all of the african american community have with blacks dating/marrying outside of their race? The implication has been that the change due to a white wife would be large.
I can't say for sure how it would have affected him, but one of racist white people's biggest fears is black men taking white women.
That's interesting, like Michelle, this Sheila is also quite an academic but is more like his mother due to their respective majors.
Also this lady is apparently Japanese and Dutch.
Anyway yeah I agree this isn't really that important, the takeaway is that at 25, Barry O wanted to become POTUS.
And the whole he thought of himself as multiracial like Tiger Woods prior to moving to Chicago was already well known. In fact he's stated it in many interviews before.
Also this lady is apparently Japanese and Dutch.
Anyway yeah I agree this isn't really that important, the takeaway is that at 25, Barry O wanted to become POTUS.
And the whole he thought of himself as multiracial like Tiger Woods prior to moving to Chicago was already well known. In fact he's stated it in many interviews before.
Lmao, everytime someone post this picture or the Chaos emerald one I laugh.
Edit: Because why not...
Frost Walrus
Member
Well, I'm sure someone out there is outraged that he didn't lose his virginity on his wedding night. But only about Obama.
I don't think you understand the black community
It's not bigotry, it has more to do with black people's acceptance of black politicians with white spouses.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
And you think the racists would need that reason to be against him? Do you guys remember 08? 80% of racists didn't sit on the sideline and keep quiet because "at least he ain't got a white wife!". You can argue if they would have been more violent, etc. but I don't see how you can say they were cool with him because he had a black wife.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
...who gives a fuck?
Basically
How was I flabbergasted?
Compared to 2012 and 2008, look at Florida turnout in the panhandle in 2016, rural Wisconsin and Pennsylvania turnout.
Considering racism against black men that mingled with white women has led to violence, lynchings and even anti-miscegenation laws, I don't know why you don't think there is heightened racism for this issue. There are voters alive that can remember a time when it was illegal in many states for a black man to have sex with a white woman.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
I mean you can argue definitions if you like but if you say he is unacceptable and your view turns vastly negative towards him because of the race of his wife then yeah, I feel ok saying those people are bigoted in their opinion.
Sure, but as I said in my other post above, I think you can absolutely argue that it would be more violent, outspoken, however you want to call it but I don't see how that matters since it wasn't a massive voting block that would have swung key states and prevented him from becoming president. There was enough racist bullshit (even now that he's left office) that saying they would act more racist isn't really impactful in the grand scheme of things and would have done nothing to prevent his political career from happening.
was Obama not a white middle class kid lmao???
Ain't nothing uncommon about racist parents.
I have no idea how true this is, but I remember in the OJ documentary on Netflix they mentioned that black women sometimes don't like when black men marry white women.
And maybe that's 100% untrue. I don't know much about the black community, just thought I would throw it out there.
GifGafIsTheBestGaf
Member
what's the name of the book? i want to buy it
GuitarAtomik
Member
Reverse the races in that sentence. Is that not bigotry? I'm half black. I understand what you're saying. But that's totally a form of bigotry.
andythinkpad
Member
itwasTuesday
He wasn't alone.
It's like the movie Blow. Except no cocaine.
I get it.
I get it.
See now you're just projecting. I didn't say my views would turn "vastly negative", I said they would change. My perception of who he is, would change.
It's a culture thing, in the complexities of how (1) black women aren't seen as good enough to successful black men, and (2) the optics of the first black president having a white wife.
It's incredibly simplistic to just reduce it down to "who cares all love is love". Because while it is, that's really not the takeaway here.
adamsappel
Member
People seem to forget that Is Obama Black Enough? was a thing. He probably wouldn't have had the same amount of support from black women as well.
flaxknuckles
Member
It's true. Lots of black people hate on black celebrities who have white wives. Especially if they were with a black woman before that.
hanspampel
Banned
sure you are.
but to ask someone to marry you is a whole different level
but fuck her. she said no
glad he found the better one for him
I named some key swing states. Turnout was up in Pennsylvania and Florida compared to 2008 and 2012, so it does seem to have swung key states. I think it's acknowledged that the surge of voters in the panhandle (who did not show up in 2012 and 2008) won Florida for Trump.
The Hamburglar
Banned
Lmao so racism then.
I don't, however nobody can deny how good he was at being relateable to huge swaths of the population. With Michelle he managed to win a significant portion of the White vote, I have to believe he could do the same with the Black vote if he focused on it enough.
With that said, maybe not. I'm still glad it was with Michelle that he won for a variety of reasons.
Do we have to break down the cultural nuances of black men with white wives? Because I have time
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Maybe I misunderstood but you seemed to definitely be implying that your opinion would change and it would be a negative change, not a positive change. Again, opics and crap don't matter, I'm asking why specifically the black community would become more negative on him for the race of his wife? And to the current question, how is that even possibly not a bigoted view if you think less of him depending on what race his wife is?
Ok? Your data isn't supporting your assertion that the higher voter turnout was all racists that would have only come out if he would have done the unforgivable action of marrying a white wife. I'd argue to the average person who's not racist that him being less "really black" (mixed race and a white wife) that it would likely helped him if there was any change. No one is saying there's not racists but extreme racists thinking back to the good old times of lynching black men for holding hands let alone marrying white women isn't a large voter base that could have swung the election in 08/12.
This was something we were hearing about on election night but just vanished from the discussion afterwards.
Maintenance
Member
I remember the last thread this happened. Here we go again.
Crimson_Gold
Member
I could've sworn he was a black, Muslim tyrant. The right said so
I didn't say that some racists were cool with him because he has a black wife. The poster I was replying to wondered how having a white wife could have been a negative and I gave an example of a group that could be angrier if it were the case.
Knew it was coming
Ploid 3.0
Member
I think the thing that really sold Obama for president is the way he handled himself in debates. He seemed genuine and nice. I remember him not attacking people, and taking attacks against himself like a champ. He even answered the "what is your biggest weakness" question in a way that didn't make him seem perfect iirc.
I don't doubt that they dated. It is true that Obama got more ambitious once he found out he couldn't make as much of a difference as he wanted to (as a Community organizer), but the rest sounds like BS.
Obama could have picked much easier paths and he made a lot of decisions that are inconsistent with someone with Presidential ambitions, like supporting gay marriage in 96 or going up against the Chicago political machinery.
The big reason he picked to live in Chicago was he wanted to belong to the African-American community (per Dreams from My Father). He sought out and chose that instead of going straight to grad school or working on Wall Street for longer than he did.
Obama could have picked much easier paths and he made a lot of decisions that are inconsistent with someone with Presidential ambitions, like supporting gay marriage in 96 or going up against the Chicago political machinery.
The big reason he picked to live in Chicago was he wanted to belong to the African-American community (per Dreams from My Father). He sought out and chose that instead of going straight to grad school or working on Wall Street for longer than he did.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Sure, but it doesn't matter if that group holds no statistical significance...
Because his commitment to the black community would have been challenged (moreso than it already was) with a white wife.
There's already a lot of "not black enough" for biracial black folk. With a white wife that's a whole other debacle.
Again, love who you love, but CULTURALLY amongst black people I would be less inclined to trust a (biracial) black male politician with a white wife to do work for the black community.
rokkerkory
Member
thanks obama?
GuitarAtomik
Member
I understand the cultural nuances. To be clear, I think you're totally on point about how he'd be perceived. My issue is cheering that on and blowing it off as "Eh, it's a cultural thing" which isn't wrong but damn. If Obama was the exact same Obama with a white wife and you think less of him or more negatively for it, that's bigotry.
Where did I say the group holds statistical significance and was not merely asking another poster's question? Please stop telling me how wrong I am about things that I never said.
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