I usually get a lot of shocked stares when I tell people that I only voted for Barack Obama once, and that was in 2012. I get even more when I tell people that I voted for John McCain in 2008. And it was a hard decision because I really wanted to fall in love with the symbolism of the first black president; however, I didn’t feel he was the most qualified candidate.
At the time, McCain just seemed like a better bipartisan who could get things done.
I can admit that I was wrong about Obama then, but not because my reasoning was flawed. It’s because Obama surpassed many expectations and worked his ass off to do the job. That being said, I knew his job wasn’t being president of Black America, and I never held any expectations that we would somehow have an easier life with him as president.
The hard truth is that too many Americans of all colors, including those who are black, need to accept is that there is no one person we can elect who will be able to fix our problems.
That’s why I felt so drawn Bernie Sanders’ campaign this year because his message is different from most. He talks about a grassroots revolution that calls for lazy American voters to get off their asses and get involved in controlling their government. He never claimed to be “great” or to have anyone’s backs. He put the power of the people first in his campaign, and while many politicians pretend to do the same, Bernie made it very clear that he could not succeed as president without the support of a revolution powered by the American people.
No one candidate can fix all of the problems in the black community.
And that leads me back to President Obama. No one candidate can fix all of the problems in the black community. We’ve made the mistake time and time again of supporting candidates based on their likeability.
This is not going to be a popular statement but, African Americans, like many other voters seem to be the most unified around an election cycle, but once that’s over, we appear to go into a slumber like people who’ve enjoyed a big Thanksgiving dinner.
Many African Americans still romanticize political figures like Bill Clinton, who passed a crime bill which led to an increase in the mass incarceration of millions of black people. And why didn’t anyone call Hillary Clinton out during the 96′ election for referring to our children as “super predators?”
But don’t get me wrong. This year I’ll vote for Hillary because the only other choice is going back to the 1950’s. But I plan to get more involved and help grow the progressive platform for 2020, because if Hillary wins, she will not get an automatic rubber stamp from me. She’s going to have to earn my vote by putting forth progressive policies. I think the African American community should hold her feet to the fire for the entire four-year term.
That’s the mistake progressives made with Obama, and as a result, a fuddy-duddy senator from Vermont became a political icon based solely on liberal ideals and policies.
That’s one lesson we can learn from President Obama’s term in office. We need to hold every elected person accountable no matter how much we like or dislike them personally.
We all sometimes forget that politicians are not our friends. They are our employees, and we need to get back to treating them as such.
So to answer the question, was President Obama, a good president for African Americans?
The answer is that he was a good president for all Americans, but could have been a better president for African Americans if we demanded more from him.
Featured image via YouTube.
