Did you think that you would live long enough to see the first African American Presidential candidate nominated from a major party?
I sure didn’t. I did think that I would live long enough to see a white woman be a Presidential candidate for a major party, but I didn’t think I would see an African American President candidate for a major party. Now there’s a good shot that I will see an African American President–that’s a major milestone.
I actually thought it was possible — but I thought it would be Colin Powell. (I’ve soured on Powell since, especially after his smoke and mirrors at the UN, but I still think he’d be better than what we ended up with.)
What’s really remarkable to me is that Obama has been nominated after being on the national radar for only four years. It’s amazing that such a newcomer of any color, creed or sex could be a major-party nominee.
A friend of mine met him briefly when he was still a state senator. She said in person his charisma was almost scary. I believe her. I don’t mean to suggest by this that he’s not also brilliant, analytical, a quick study, and extremely knowledgeable and well-read; clearly he’s all of those things.
Did I think I would live to see it? Absolutely. I was born in 1969. Assuming medical technology continues to advance at the current accellerating rate, I figgure I have a very good chance of living to beyond 100 years. And whites are projected to lose majority status in the U.S. by what? 2040 or so? So yeah, I definately expected it before 2069.
However, this is quicker than I expected.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Drums#Plot
Daran, you’re doing it wrong. Calling him Harold Saxon will only make sense to Whovians, the bulk of whom presumably aren’t even in this country’s voting pool. But calling him the Antichrist, well, that’s roughly as plausible, and you can work in something about how being insufficiently warmongering is also Antichristy.
Yes, I did. In fact, presuming that I get to the statistical median age (and I’m 55 now), I would have been very surprised if I hadn’t seen a black man (or woman) nominated for President. But then, I’ve seen 4 black Senatorial candidate (and voted for 3 of them), so I’m used to seeing blacks running for high office. For a while there I figured that C0lin Powell was going to get nominated, but I’m thinking he took himself out of consideration.
I absolutely thought I’d see an African American man nominated (and even elected) as president in my lifetime. I thought there was a slim possibility that it would be Colin Powell, but more likely would be later in my life. Definitely thought he’d be a Republican.
I did not actually believe I’d ever see a woman of any color get as far as Hillary did in my lifetime. And I am even more doubtful now that there will be an actual nomination in my lifetime.
Specifically, the first milestone I thought would be broken would be a woman for the Republican ticket, most likely in a throwaway Dole-esque capacity and a Thatcher clone (no, not Reagan). I definitely thought we’d see a Black Ferraro (targeted Veep pick, also probably in a throwaway election) before I saw an actual viable nominee. But, history comes in unexpected leaps and bounds, not by a predictably graduated formula.
That’s why I linked to a plot synopsis- for the benefit of the non-Whovians. However, probably many or most here will be Whovians, given the significant overlap between SF fandom and feminism, and that the modern DW is one of the most progressive shows around. (Multiple LGBT characters, LGBT relationships normalised, every episode passing the Bechtel test as far as I can recall, swipes against American imperialism and the Iraq war, the fact that the Doctor is a bleeding-heart liberal, and so on.)
I also know Ampersand is a Whovian.
It’s certainly anti-Christian, given what a bunch of warmongers Christians are.
But you’ve got me wrong. I’m not trying to scare anyone away from Obama, whom I actually support. My reference was tongue in cheek. Anyway, he doesn’t control a network of satellites, does he? Does he?
I know it’s tacky to talk about Obama being “black enough”, but to refine what I’m about to get at here: I don’t think we’ll see a candidate who is truly from Black America any time soon. While Obama has integrated himself in the black community amicably, he is still something of an outsider in that respect. His experience is more that of a second-generation immigrant of mixed race than it is of a black American. Which is not intended as a slight – I respect the man and hope he will be the next president of the United States of America. Yes, he does have to deal with racism, and so I hope he’ll be able to fight great battles as President in that respect… but he doesn’t bring the trappings of black culture with him to the podium. He is culturally distinct from a man who has a generation or three of Detroit behind him. I don’t think we’ll see one of those for a long, long time.
Yes. I’m amazed this Two White Guys racket has lasted as long as it has, frankly. There’s more and more studies that prove that raising diversity in governance (both in politics and on corporate boards) directly causes more economic efficiency and productivity. If you only have white guys at the top, you’re turning aside over 60% of the best possible candidates.
I expected to see a black Presidential candidate, but I thought it would be a Republican. I also expected that it would be a hyper-qualified candidate (a Colin Powell) rather than someone as marginal as Obama. Still, it’s damn historical and I’m proud of my country.
BTW, for those who are interested, I was able to attend Obama’s speech at Invesco on Thursday – even got to go down onto the floor, thanks to lax Secret Service agents – and posted about it (with pictures) here.