I was pointed to this new Obama song from Alex Koppleman's War Room column in Salon. Let me be clear. Rap gives me a headache. But I do like poetry, and will stick with the occasional rap song to hear the message.
This song by rapper Nas is lauded as being "good music" and a very interesting, not as syrupy-sweet song about Obama as president. Apparently the music sample looped in the background is Tupac Shapur -- Koppleman explains it.
OK. So there's the song. But when I followed the link to hear the whole song, I really got a chuckle out of the comments and it reminded me of something.
I remember right at the beginning of the campaigns, I was watching TV. I do it very seldom, but I saw a classic moment. A blazer-clad, slightly supercilious news reporter approached a young black man on the streets who was carrying an Obama sign. People were screaming and yelling, everyone was excited, and hey, let's ask the black kid what he has to say. I don't know exactly why, but it felt like a bit of a setup.
Black kid aced it. I think he went to Dartmouth or something, and for every mildly vacuous question tossed to him by the news reporter, the black kid faced up to him and told him exactly why he was in favor of Obama versus Clinton. No, it wasn't just empty fist waving and political sloganeering. The kid talked about Obama's background, from the community organizing that he'd done, to the bills that he'd sponsored. It was almost, but not quite, to Hilzoy's wonky level of analysis, and the reporter was floored. The reporter kept interrupting, trying to get a "money quote" and the kid would respond with a fully thought-out, beautifully phrased message aimed directly at all of America, not any specific race. Frustrated the heck out of the reporter, but made me laugh out loud at the time.
Fast forward. To a HIP HOP website. If you can look past the constant use of four-letter words and read through those comments, it's nice to see the youth of America thinking about what kind of person, what kind of background, and what type of focus they want to see in their president. Well... sort of. Frankly, I see a whole heck of a lot less blind sloganeering (e.g. "It's my last chance to see a woman in the white house") from the Obama people than I ever did from the Clinton people.
Thirty years ago, when I was in high school, the black kids in my class wore their hair in 'fro's and wore 'fro picks tucked into their back pockets. All of them knew the "black power" salute (although I doubt that they knew the back story), and would often use a modified "half fist" salute in the high school hallways.
Nice to see that we've moved beyond furious sloganeering. Seriously, it feels as though our country has grown up a bit. And for all of the bitching and moaning that Clinton did about sexism, it's my humble opinion that she WAS taken seriously in the campaign. I hope that we can continue as a country to show some maturity in the rest of this campaign.
