Steve Sailer just wrote what many of us have already been thinking:
The NYT has a column quoting various pundits puzzling until their puzzlers are sore over the mystery of Herman Cain’s rise to the top of the GOP presidential polls. How can some random corporate executive emerge from nowhere?It’s almost as mysterious as how some random state legislator / part time law school lecturer can rise to the White House in a few years. Maybe Cain and Obama have something in common? It’s crazy to think that, I know, but there’s something about the two of them that seems similar. But what could it be?
Some commenters have pointed out that Obama and Cain are quite different. Certainly they are – about as different (in what they claim as their ideologies) as one can hope any two mainstream presidential candidates might be. But given the simplistic thinking of the “stupid party”, it should come as no surprise if the republicans simply do whatever the democrats do and hope for the best. In this case, nominate a black candidate.
I don’t remember if I wrote about it on this blog but I had predicted, several months ago, that the Republican Party would end up nominating a black man – because whatever the Democrats do, the Republicans soon copy. Of course it remains to be seen if I was right.
I have already written about the problems with black government officials. But would I ever support a black man for president? You know what they say, “Never say never”. Under some conditions I might consider it.
The black candidate would have to, of course, share many of my values (just like any other candidate). But he would also have to stress, over and over again, that he owes (as a public official) no special loyalty to blacks*. He would have to publicly state: “If you intend to vote for me because I am black, then I do not want your vote!” He would have to have a solid record on the protection of white civil rights**. He would have to be married to a black woman (or single) – because that’s the example a leader should set. Of course it would take an awful lot to motivate me to go out and vote in a presidential election (I don’t think I’ve ever voted for a president – of any race). I find it difficult to believe anything any presidential candidate says; they’ll generally say whatever their advisers tell them to say in order to get elected.
Most likely, whoever wins the election, the rest of us will lose.
* I don’t think this would make him a traitor to his people; his job would be president of the United States, not president of the blacks of the United States. In his private life, he could have any loyalties he wanted.
** No recent white candidates would fill this qualification either.
A black president can be useful in a Hegelian way. I think there has been more of a backlash against leftism in general during Obama’s tenure than at any time I can recall. Look at how CCW and Castle Doctrine has swept the USA. 10 years ago I would not have believed it was possible.
It’s a good eye opener in general when people expect to see the sort of character played by Morgan Freeman and end up with something different. In reality, it seems that the actions of the president are largely a function of his advisors anyway, so what is really to lose by having a black president?
While both Cain and Obama are recognized as black by the majority of the American public the truth is only one of them is actually black and that is Herman Cain. Obama is a mulatto.
Yeah, but try explaining that to the 95% of blacks who voted for him or the leftists to whom he signified “hope and change” simply because they too considered him “black”. Even Obama himself considers himself “black” and not “mulatto” based on how he filled out his census form.
Perhaps we can say that for him, race truly is a “social construct” to a certain degree (50%).
I don’t want to spoil it for the blacks who are thrilled that there is a “black” president, that is what stops me from telling black people he is not black.
So the one drop rule doesn’t count anymore?
It never should have.
I prefer the traditional Latin American way of defining race and that way of defining race rejects the one drop rule. In Brazil mulatto’s would be described as brown and would not be in the same category as black people. I prefer this way of definition because it helps create a situation where someone who is part black and part white can appreciate their white heritage as well as their black heritage.
Unfortunately there have been American organizations that have been pushing for affirmative action in Brazil and these organizations have been working on exporting an American understanding of race and this understanding of race defines black according to the one drop rule.
PBS did a show about this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDNJoeSAAb8
PBS also did another show called black in Latin America which is fairly good in terms of understanding blackness in Latin America. Unfortunately what was awful about it was that when the presenter was discussing the Hatian revolution the presenter justified the actions of the revolutionaries where the revolutionaries killed the white French in Haiti. I found this disgusting because what happened during the Hatian revolution was a genocide against the white French.
The black Hatians during the revolution should have deported the whites if they wanted to get the whites off the island.
Obama is black.
What he isn’t, is descended from anyone who ever suffered the African-American racial experience. He came to America as an adult, and lived here during a time our society has been bending over backwards to assist talented blacks to become leaders.
And he is not an argument against HBD. Even his African half is from that group’s intellectual elite.
I agree. It astounds me how people readily overlook the fact that he is 50% white European.
I think we could get past the arguments over whether or not race is a social construct, and whether or not Obama is black and/or Black, by properly separating the concepts of race and ethnicity.
Race is obviously not a social construct because it can be determined from DNA. However, there enough questions about black and white and who identifies as what that it seems to me that maybe Black and White aren’t races. They are ethnic groups and that is why they are partly a matter of self-identification. Caucasoid, Congoid, etc., are perfectly acceptable terms for the various races.
I believe Obama is Black because he identifies that way, and because his skin and hair don’t immediately, obviously contradict this. Someone well-versed in the various tribes of Africa could certainly place his father, but if American Blacks accept him as one of their own I guess that is okay with me.
“Social construct” is a phrase the leftist made up to obscure everything. If they really believed in it then they would always be telling us that communities, religion, and social class don’t matter because they are “social constructs”. The way people self-identify is brimming with importance, with implications, with emotion, and with study-ability.
If a black candidate wanted to institute Operation Wetback II and take steps to preserve the demographic hegemony over the US of its native population, I’d happily vote for him over a candidate who did not. I don’t expect perfection in candidates, I just insist that they not actually be my enemy.
Racism is a social construct. Oppression is a social construct. Discrimination is a social construct.
One should apply the same standards as in judging white candidates. Not many actually do this, in my opinion, on either political extreme. He doesn’t deserve a free pass for the sake of “having a black elected leader.” Likewise, he doesn’t deserve undue scorn. (Although the latter is far less of an accepted sentiment than the former.) For whatever it is worth, Cain has a Master’s in computer science or engineering. If I had to estimate, his IQ falls in the top 1.5% of blacks.
Would be nice if we lived in a society that voting decisions are made based on policy, advocacy, and merit. Look, now you’ve waited my time, responding to a conversation that solves nothing, says nothing, and accomplished nothing. I take that back, it does demonstrate the fact that ignorance does more to sway people than education.