Wow, Dave! For just about the first time ever, I disagree with you. Not entirely -- I mean, you're right about the obstacles to political activism in sports, the hypocrisies of Woods et al., etc.

But when Bianchi says, Tiger and Jordan "are both black men who won over white corporate America," well, intentionally or unintentionally he has hit upon a truth -- because Obama has indeed been elected by "winning over white corporate America."

In that regard, Jordan and Tiger -- especially Tiger, with his biracial past and unthreatening demeanor -- are the models for Obama.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a "true believer" in the Obama phenomenon -- far from it. And I don't believe Obama's election was anything like a protest vote. Nader or McKinney -- now that would be a protest vote. I will be more than pleasantly surprise if Obama does something, anything, for the minorities, the underclasses, and the poor of our society, but I have no expectation that he will.

In the spirit of feel-goodism, however, perhaps one or two African-American coaches will finally rise to the top ranks in the NBA or NFL, which at least would be something.

I totally agree. I think what may have paved the way for Barack, contrary to most logic, was hip-hop culture, because new young voters (who made the difference) have grown up watching empowered in-your-face black men and women--and because African-American culture has now become the standard in pop culture (except for the McCain swath where country music still rules). Remember, Sammy Davis Junior was a nominal member of the Rat Pack, but there were lines he couldn't cross. When Kanye stood up and said, "George Bush doesn't like black people", many white people stood up and cheered as well. In any case, hip-hop to me is about not being a victim, or keeping quiet. While Barack is pretty far from being a rapper, he is at least, a baller! And he projects incredible self-empowerment. I won't condemn Michael or Tiger, but I wish they would use their fame for more than product endorsements. Give me Charles Barkley or Etan Thomas any day!

So Jordan and Woods get credit for being non political mouthpieces for Nike but Carlos Delgado gets racked over the coals for taking a stand against the war in Iraq? Oh how I love the double standard of the media.

So in other words, because you disagree with the politics of Dungy, then he deserves no credit for paving the way for an Obama presidency. Its okay for prominent African-American like Etan Thomas to take a stance on a political issue they believe in, BECAUSE THEY AGREE WITH YOU. God forbid someone voice a dissenting opinion.

And on the matter of gay marriage, haven't most speculated that the reason for the defeat of Proposition 8 in California was due to the high turnout in minorities, who generally are against gay marriage. So in other words, it was the voters with minds like Tony Dungy who edit for paving the way for an Obama presidency.
HELPED Obama get elected.

I'm glad that we have athletes like Etan Thomas. I'm also glad that we have athletes like Tony Dungy. After all, aren't they doing the same thing--risking their popularity for a cause that they believe in?

Please take out the "who edit for paving the way for an Obama presidency." It was a copy and paste error. The sentence should read "like Tnoy Dungy who ... HELPED"-

it's worth noting that, according to exit poll data, obama did not win a majority of the white vote. (though he did capture a larger portion than any democrat has in recent cycles)
does it really make sense to grope for reasons why white america finally became comfortable with the idea of a black president when a majority of white voters did not support that outcome?
the reason obama won, and the reason his race was not an empediment, was that he was 1) a superior candidate whose time had come, and 2) as many have pointed out, he never once ran as the 'black candidate' and never made race an issue, at least not in a way that would have made the electorate uncomfortable. obama's only references to race were uplifting messages of unity and of transcending and the painful past.
the man combined with his decidedly not-in-your-face approach to racial discussions made him the ideal individual to become the first black president, much as the restrained, upstanding jackie robinson was the ideal first black major leaguer.
how a discussion of obama and the role of sports in paving the way for a first black president does not include robinson is a real head-scratcher...

Everything that Jacob Hainline wrote, IMHO, is inherently racist. It demonstrates the thought process of an individual who does not acknowledge white privilege in this country.

I find it "head-scratching" that people don't see how the argument of "obama didn't play the race card" is laced with racism. Race and racism prevails in this country today....



For those that don't understand or feel that I am off-base...

I implore you to look critically at how the Obama campaign was carried out.

Additionally, I would suggest that people read George Lipsitz's "Possessive Investment in Whiteness" and Time Wise's "White Like Me"


Peace.

No, I don't understand your comments, and I think you misunderstand the previous one. Maybe you could elaborate instead of giving homework assignments.

How is it racist to say that Obama's message was one of racial unification and uplift? That is simply true. I suspect that Jacob understands full well about white privilege -- and white power. It is unfortunate but all too true -- because, as you say, racism prevails -- that Obama probably would not have won if he'd challenged white power and privilege.

Your O is not very H -- unless H stands for Hasty and Hot-Headed.

By not bringing up more solid conversation, ideas, facts about racial differences and problems, and instead focusing on a more candy-coated idea of "Change," Obama barely challenged the racial status quo for white folks and still connected with the black community.

Had he brought up that, say, there are WAY more whites than blacks on college campuses or that WAY more blacks than whites are incarcerated in American prisons (1 in 108 white men over the age of 18 is in jail, meanwhile, 1 in 15 black man >18 is in jail, courtesy of a Pew Center study), he would have been skewered for "pandering to the black vote" or only "representing the black community" rather than representing the ideal of equality within America.

The phrase

"the reason his race was not an impediment"


screams of what i was speaking of....

it's possible that the entire discussion were trying to have is racist, but i apologize if anything i said was indelicate.
the topic here, as i understant it, is, in general, how america finally reached the point where it was comfortable electing an african american president, and specifically, what role the world of sports played in this transformation.
i made the point that obama has avoided agressively addressing racial issues, choosing to sidestep the hard, unpleasant issues for feel-good uplift. to the average white voter, this made him non-threatening, and obama, wisely, never wanted to run as the "black" candidate.
still, once upon a time, not so long ago, an african american candidate could sidestep and downplay race all he or she wanted, but the average white voter couldn't ignore it or get past it. in other words, a candidate's race could, and still can, impede his or her acceptance. that's sorta how racism works, right?
that's still the most remarkable thing about obama's victory. the american electorate didn't let its well-known history of uneasiness with race stand in the way of electing the best candidate.

Jacob has done a good job explaining himself, and I would only add that to have this discussion is not "racist." Let's be careful how we use such terms. I think we're all essentially on the same side of the issue here, and I only disagree somewhat with Jacob about his last sentence. My choice for "best candidate" was Nader or McKinney or Nobody. Only in the depauperate politics of ABM (Any But McCain) was Obama the "best" candidate.

And while I also dislike the much-abused phrase "race card," I think B's points are mostly accurate. Of course, we'll never entirely know if a mainstream candidate could have confronted some of the REAL issues of racism in this country (instead of the vague notion of a "post-racial" America), because Obama chose the path of least resistance -- one could argue that it was not forced on him. On the other hand, McKinney is proof that anyone who tries to talk about the really challenging issues of race is instantly marginalized.

Obama and Race is a big, complicated topic, and there's no question that Obama's election was at least symbolically a watershed moment in American politics (though IMHO not much more than that -- an Obama presidency holds out no hope for changing the fundamental problems about America, including inequality, injustice, and institutional racism). As for sports, I can see Dave's point that cheering for black players is not the equivalent of electing a black president, and to say so is to trivialize it. However, as I said in my original post, it's also true that Tiger and Jordan et al. are very much the models for Obama, in that they do not threaten the white corporate power structure, and in fact feed off it.

Where's everyone else? I know we all aren't either athletes or felons in this camp...I'm not commenting on the hip-hop phenoms. Don't you think one of the key reasons for B.O.'s victory has something to do with the previous 7.9 years? I'm not denying, to a point, the influence of sports and entertainment. Maybe with the Obama era comes other alternatives besides football players or MC's.

He/She points out that its hypocritical and inaccurate to posit Dungy as someone who "hold{s} the values many voters wanted to repudiate."

If issues of homophobia and anti-gay rights are rampant in Black communities, which they are, and close to 100% of Blacks voted for OBAMA.....then Dungy's views and activism are right in line with those that helped put Obama in office.


And many are also right to point out that Obama got less than 50% of the white vote, and that in light of this it may not make much sense to even talk about making 'whites' comfortable to the idea of a black president. And he did get more whites than any democrat in recent history --> but would Hillary have gotten less, given the YUPI anti-bush sentiments??


And as one poster commented, I do think that hip-hop more than anything has paved the way for Obama. What other medium has provided Blacks with an outlet to give their opinions and relate their experiences that has reached hundreds of millions of young non-black people and, no doubt, influenced their worldview in some way.

Democrats in general don't win the white vote. Bill Clinton only got 43% in 1996
Gore got 46%
Kerry 41%
Obama 43%

Obama got typical numbers for a Democrat as far as the white vote so obvioulsly there are other factors at work here than whether white voters were comfortable with a black president.

Obama got out the black and hispanic vote and diluted the white vote as a percentage of total voters. This put more states in play for him. That is how he won. One could argue that he didn't lose any of the white vote that the Democrats typically get. If he did, he made up for that in what I would guess would be younger white voters who supposedly are less affected by issues of race than older generations. This I think can be attributed to the influence of hip hop culture.

Lets also not discount the fact that America was ready to elect just about any generic Democrat over any generic Republican because of the ineptitude and corruption shown in the last eight years. I think Obama will be a good president but I'm not sure he gets out of the primaries under a different set up historical circumstances. As with many things in life I think it was a matter of working really hard and being the right person in the right place at the right time.

Wow!

You certainly know how to stir up a hornet's nest Dave. You're lucky they're all circling around themselves & not chasing you down the road like the nests we stirred in my youth which chased us down to our house & in the screen door just ahead of their righteous stings.

Until I read your article I wasn't aware of Tony Dungy's 'born again' background. He remains a favorite of mine all the same if only for his support of Randy Moss when Joe Buck, et al, jumped Moss on national TV for pseudo-mooning the Green Bay fans after a touchdown. Dungy recalled the treatment by said fans when the Vikings came to play at Green Bay during his tenure as defensive coach for the Vikes.

There have been many a black hero since long before the 'Civil' War & change has happened right along with all. Considering the high number of mixed marriages up here in Cottage Grove, MN I would be inclined to say that Barack Obama won because of timing as well as ability. If the electoral college were obliterated I probably would've voted for Obama just to make sure my vote counted. By voting for Nader I made sure my vote counted for something &, if the Democrats wish to rid themselves of this 'spoiler' I would suggest that Obama nominate Nader to a cabinet post--perhaps Secretary of the Interior. Would any politician hoping to retain his seat oppose it?

I have to agree with Jacob Hainline that Obama's avoidance of racial topics served him well. Embracing race would have relegated him to fringe status. That can be perceived as a lesson learned from Tiger, Michael and others who successfully "cross-over". Leave your blackness at home.
There were other factors that contributed to Obama's success, not the least of which was McCain/Palin's incompetence, but any black man that rises to power in a white institution has to master the art of appearing to be non-threatening to whites. Let's understand this reflects white people's fears as much as it reflects that black man's character. Sometimes better qualified, stronger blacks are passed over because whites are afraid of them.
My hope for Obama is that he fulfills his promise of speaking for and representing "ordinary" Americans (versus the rich and well-connected). It's that mindset that will serve minorities and a large segment of white America's interests.

So I'm listening to Infowars.com and here you and decide to give your web site a shot, and what is the first article I see?

Few opinions could be classified as 100%, but this one sure is. One hundred percent, completely WRONG.

Please allow me to explain. As early as the 1920's Marxists had targeted the Black American for participation in the overthrow of the United States, whether willing or unwitting.

They decided upon a strategy of heavily promoting Blacks in the fields of entertainment and sports to pave the way for cultural revolution to follow.

Do you now think it is a COINCIDENCE that we have a Black Marxist president-elect? NO!

Where was the support for J.C. Watts or Alan Keyes? Where is the wide-spread support for Professor Walter Williams...remember what they did to Clarence Thomas?

This is an agenda of POWER and CONTROL. These are DOCUMENTED phenomena known as mere exposure and conditioning. Why do you think so many movies lately have featured a Black president?

Why do you think the t.v. show Commander in Chief aired when it did...obviously to CONDITION Americans into accepting Hillary Clinton as their next president.

You are clueless Dave, here is a quarter, go buy one.

Oh, and P.S. I used to be big into sports myself, then I realized what a JOKE they are considering that in the real world there is a struggle for good and evil now underway, and YOUR OWN government is behind quite a bit of the EVIL!

*snickers*

Your arguments are compelling. In fact, they are framed in such a conclusive manner that any SANE person could see that they are absolute FACT.

Elaborate, fanciful conspiracy stories are true by virtue of the fact that they contain such wild and fantastical data, right? It can be no other way!

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