There is the ongoing war in Iraq.
There is the war in Afghanistan that is getting more and more serious.
In Africa ethnic wars are now taking place in Kenya.
And the most serious war of our times is happening in eastern Congo where already over 4 million people have died.
But most of the attention is going to the elections now taking place in the USA.
An amazing demonstration of an electoral circus having no equivalent anywhere.
There is a lot to write about the current elections in the USA.
Today we focus on two peculiar aspects of the race.
First aspect is the US senator for Illinois and presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
47 years old with a father from Kenya, Africa and an American mother.
For an observer from outside the USA it is puzzling that Barack Obama is considered in his country as a black American.
Why is he a black American?
Why is he not a white American?
Why is he not simply “an American”?
Because the father is from Africa and the mother from the USA, the man is 50 % African and 50 % American.
That logically doesn’t make him black.
Nor white.
It is similar for yours truly.
The father is from Poland and the mother is from the Netherlands.
Is this man Polish?
Or is this man Dutch?
Or is he European?
To say that Barack Obama is black is as much true as to say he is white.
To say that the photographer is Polish is as much true as to say he is Dutch.
Why is a person considered black if he is 50 % white?
It would have been wiser of Barack Obama if he had put himself above the decision to profile himself as a black candidate.
If he is elected as President of the USA, the racial issue will always be at stake.
While it should not matter at all.
The second aspect of the elections in the USA is Hillary Clinton.
In political history it has not happened often that two persons are running together to try to be elected as president of a country.
Because this is what is happening.
It is a team trying to win.
It is amazing to observe how Mrs. Clinton allows not to run by herself.
How she accepts the tremendous help of her husband.
As if she could not do it by herself.
It is also amazing how Mr. Clinton is unable to stay in the background and simply have his wife do the job.
But most amazing is that this is allowed and possible.
And that it is not an issue with public opinion.
If Hillary Clinton is elected as President of the USA, she will not be the only one in charge.
Obviously her husband will pull strings as well.
That would be a very cloudy situation.
The elections in the USA have a high level of entertainment.
It is not about political ideology of political parties as in the rest of the world.
It is about individual persons who, financed by interest groups to be paid back later through political decisions, try in a Hollywood way to charm the electorate.
It is the best soap opera to be seen.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To learn more about the war in Congo, click on:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/congo.htm
.
2 comments:
I too was wondering why Sen Obama was always called black when his mother is white? Why is he not a White man? Why is his mother not part of his identity? The same is true with Tiger Woods. His mother is Asian. Why is he only considered African American? That is both sexist and racist if you ask me.
As far as Hillary and Bill, I think her campaign managers wanted Bill more than Hillary did. They did not want to make the mistake that Al Gore did in 2000 when he distanced himself from Bill C. and many thought that was not a good thing for him to do. He lost so those people all think they were right. It is sexist to think that she would not want to run for President all on her own. Her husband has had the job and knows the ropes so to speak. Most all the other spouses go on the campaign trail and end up answering questions and being put in newspaper articles etc. Why wouldn't Bill want to help her? Look at all the work she did on his campaigns and how she helped him when he was caught with all the women?
Pesonally I do not want any of them for our President because none of them stand for change beyond being our first man of color in the White House or the first female in the White House. They both still belong to and are owned by the two political parties that have almost destroyed my country and our way of life and most important, our liberties.
Michel, it's the color of his skin that makes him black in the white community; and, at least till a few months ago, he wasn't 'black' enough in the black community. But then, you have to live here to understand all nuances -- for most white Americans of my generation and background, black means simply just the color of the skin. We don't capitalize black or white anymore. And he would be white if he rejected his African/black American heritage but today, he gave one of the most important speeches on race called "A more perfect union" -- listen to it on his website, if you have time. here's the link: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGBbTW
Post a Comment