The final unraveling of Obamaism – at root, a kind of delirium centered on a corporate-crafted Great Black Hope – will be nowhere near complete until the hallucinogen is substantially purged from the psyche of its core constituency, Black America. Tentative moves by outfits like the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party to explore the possibility of a primary challenge to Obama are encouraging, to be sure. But Obama’s awesome power to neutralize and disfigure progressive politics in the United States owes its potency to the First Black President’s psychological hold on African Americans, historically the nation’s most Left constituency. As long as Obama’s very presence in the White House continues to mangle African American political perceptions, effectively neutering Blacks as a social force, the chances of a progressive revival are nil.
Therefore, probably the most important political developments of the late summer are taking place in Black America – some of them “on tour.” Among activists, at least, Obama’s “Black Wall” finally cracked with the Euro-American assault on Libya. It was the straw that broke the bonds between Obama and Black nationalists and leftists, who were forced to choose between icons: the heady symbolism of a Black President versus Mother Africa. Spurred by former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney’s ongoing “Eyewitness Libya” tour, a distinctive, Black-led anti-war movement is emerging, one that is radical, anti-imperial and, specifically, anti-Obama.
On the mass level, the Black break with the president will be wrenchingly painful and drawn-out. Obama-ism, like other theatrical products, requires the suspension of disbelief, a willed walling off of reality. Had it not been so, the poseur from Illinois could never have caused the vast majority of African Americans – the group most suspicious of the workings of power – to conflate the fate of The Race with a center-right, corporate politician.
Having invested so much in the Obama persona – and endlessly reaffirmed that commitment in countless settings with fellow African Americans – it is inevitable that Black folks undergo the harshest “withdrawal” experience imaginable. The realization that the dream was a chimera is one thing, but to awaken to a catastrophe in which the Great Black Hope is revealed as the Great Black Betrayer, is another magnitude of pain. It will be an ugly – and uneven – spectacle.
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Regarding the ugly side of Black withdrawal from Obama-mania: Al Sharpton and radio’s Tom Joyner have colluded to keep Black folks corralled and harmless with a phony “Jobs and Justice” rally on the Washington Mall, August 27, the day before dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. On Sharpton’s MSNBC talk show, the “Have-Mouth, Will Get Paid” preacher and the Obama-worshipping DJ barked the word “jobs!” at each other for an eternity without putting forward a single proposal to boost employment. How could they, without embarrassing Obama, who has no jobs-creation plan worthy of the name?
