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Is President Obama's Team 'Too White?': NY Times Writer Thinks So

By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jul 26th 2010 7:28PM
Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights

Comments (107)

Maureen Dowd:
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times is a white woman. She is also a woman who feels that President Barack Obama isn't black enough. Well, at least his cabinet isn't. Dowd made an interesting argument recently that when it comes to race, Obama and his crew are simply screwing up the issue left and right. "We may not have a 'nation of cowards' on race," Dowd said. "But we may have a West Wing of cowards on race."

Dowd's position can be understood and is certainly accurate. On racial matters, the Obama Administration has been like a monkey throwing darts at a wall. They address the issue so sloppily that you sometimes wish they wouldn't touch it all, but not touching the issue has now become the default strategy for an administration that positions itself to patronize the racists of our nation. Obama has convinced himself that he can be a "stealthy black man," convincing white folks that he's not really as black as the rest of us. The truth is that a stealthier black man might have been a white woman named Hillary Clinton.

Black America has not, as of yet, seen many direct benefits to having our first black president. The symbolism of Obama's achievement has been muted by virtually no substantive progress on issues that matter to African Americans, including unemployment and mass incarceration. We've seen our concerns put to the side, and the president has only stepped out of his shell on a racial matter when it affected one of his Ivy League cronies, Dr. Henry Louis Gates.

In all fairness to President Obama, the question becomes the following: How much more could he do and still have a chance to be re-elected?

It must be considered that the size of the black voting base may not be strong enough for the president to do more on matters of race. Additionally, his approval ratings continue to plummet across the board. If Obama were to alienate white, female and Latino voters, he surely wouldn't be re-elected, but an alternative question is whether or not he should silence himself on matters that affect our community just to get something he may never obtain in the first place.

What good is it to have power if you aren't going to use it for a productive purpose?

Obama's problem is the same challenge experienced by millions of black corporate managers, professors, lawyers and doctors every single day. Black people are told to "play the game" and be quiet on issues that relate to race - all so we can achieve the status symbols that make us feel validated.

Those of us who behave as the "good slave" and do what we are told are sometimes rewarded with promotions that make our mamas proud, high salaries to feed our addictive consumption habits and the "good black person" label that is so valuable within many organizations (Syracuse University identified me as a bad black man long ago).

On the other hand, many of us sell our souls and get nothing in return. When it's all said and done, however, the majority of those who've made this selfish sacrifice end up feeling like the $2 prostitute who wasn't even paid at the end of the night. You give away your integrity and your enemies attack you for being weak. You find that your own personal gain comes at a huge price relative to what you didn't do for your community. Your life of promise becomes effectively meaningless and the world never knows you were here.

The simple point here is that if President Obama sees his election as being important for African Americans in any light, he must be willing to make some kind of sacrifice. He must also realize that sometimes sacrifice comes at a cost. Trying to appease Right Wing conservatives while still benefiting the black community is like having one foot in New York and the other one in California. Obama simply can't be a good enough politician to believe that he can make everyone happy at the same time, which is what he's been trying to do thus far.

The black community must encourage President Obama to make this sacrifice by not only showing up to vote, but by also setting higher standards for ourselves and what we expect from our elected officials. Right now, Barack Obama has tremendous and unwavering black support and an auto-saved position in every black history book to ever be written.

In fact, in many black living rooms across America, Obama's picture is on the wall right next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus. The descendants of slaves can sometimes have self-esteem so low that we will trade White House validation for almost anything. With black folks in his corner, not holding him accountable in any way, does the Obama Administration have any incentive to do anything for the African-American community? The answer is a resounding "No."


Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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