2008 Not About Race
The blog has been offline for a little over a year during. No good excuses for that, just lots going on personally and I started another blog focused on professional interests. It’s fitting that the issue which brings man-of-leisure back to life is related to the last post published during the 2008 election.
You’ve probably heard about Chris Matthews’ gaffe, commenting that during the Sate of the Union address he forgot the President was black. Other talking-heads have jumped on the bandwagon and many are resurfacing the thought that race was a defining issue in the 2008 election.
For many of us 2008 wasn’t about race; it was about putting an intellectual in the white house. Coming on the heels of Bush, the anti-intellectual, and running against a ticket that included Sarah Palin (do I even need to say it) this was a vote of confidence in the American population. It said – a majority of our country believes that intelligence is a valuable attribute for our leaders to possess. The fact that Obama is a man of color served to further validate the point since intelligent people would not allow race to determine their vote. 2008 was about Americans prioritizing the needs of the country as a whole ahead of their personal financial needs. Obama’s victory said that the America you believed in as a child – the one you think of when you sing the Star Spangled Banner – is alive and well. It said that snarkiness, sarcasm, partisanship, and religiousism have not killed the dream. Race was riding shotgun.
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