What if President Barack Obama was white?

I know it seems oxymoronic to write about such a contentious issue on this day in which we celebrate the amazing legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  A man who personified, tolerance, non-violence, social justice, charity and equality.  Social media is a buzz with quotes, videos and images of the great Dr. King.  All this attention inspires me but also makes me sad; sad that we have relegated his life to a few ‘copy and pastes’ and have forgotten his true legacy; equality and tolerance in action.  So many today will paste and type of his greatness and yet not support the peaceful OWS movement or the President and his ‘socialist’ agenda.  It is a slap in the face to true socialists to call the President a socialist.  Like calling someone 'great' or ‘a future hall of famer’ that word gets thrown around far too often and with little knowledge of the definition.   However, I do think talking about this today is exactly what Dr. King would want us to do.  Simply not talking about what role the President’s color plays is naïve.  Also, promoting a color-blind agenda only means that you are acknowledging there is color to ignore.

Let’s be clear; President Obama is not a socialist! And quite frankly, he would not even have to endure being labeled as such if not for his murky pigmentation.   This leads us to address the question above; what if the President was white? 

It is very hard to begin this argument without addressing race.   I have been very cognizant to avoid referencing race to this point because I simply refuse to assign it more value than society disproportionately chooses to already.  As a critical race theorist, it is important to establish that Race is a social construct and too often gets confused with ethnicity.  YES, RACE IS A MADE UP NOTION.  This social construct holds that race and races are products of social thought and relations, meaning they are not objective, inherent, or fixed. They correspond to no biological or genetic reality.  Since skin color, physique and hair texture constitute only an extremely small portion of our genetic makeup and are dwarfed by what we have in common, they have little or nothing to do with higher order traits, such as personality, intelligence, and moral behavior.  Yet racism is ordinary, the usual way that our society conducts itself and I will vehemently challenge the notions of colorblindness and race neutrality; seeing these as a camouflage for the self interest, power, and privilege of the dominant groups in US Society.

Sadly, our currently President is primarily judged and held to a different standard because of his perceived race.  Even though he is from a bi-racial background, his blackness trumps all.   If he were white and had a traditional American name, whatever the hell that means, we would not be having this discussion.  Take the current crop of Republican candidates; now that Herman Cain has dropped out, every one of them stands in stark contrast to President Obama.  No one more than that front-running Mitt Romney, who, despite his Religion, which we talk about shortly, harkens back to the days of traditional White values.  As Lei Segal wrote in the New York Times, “Mitt Romney is the whitest white man to run for president in recent memory. Of course, I’m not talking about a strict count of melanin density. I’m referring to the countless subtle and not-so-subtle ways he telegraphs to a certain type of voter that he is the cultural alternative to America’s first black president. It is a whiteness grounded in a retro vision of the country, one of white picket fences and stay-at-home moms and fathers unashamed of working hard for corporate America.” (http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/whats-race-got-to-do-with-it/?hp).

If Obama were white would Republicans make every effort to tear down his administration? Maybe, because of this corrupt two-party system; however a theme that resonates through every Republican debate is a “return to traditional American values”.  Meaning a return to a white leadership.   Obama has more traditional American values that almost every one the republican candidates.  Raised in the Midwest by a lower-middle class mother, educated, a devoted husband and father, no scandals, dynamic, articulate, etc.  Are these not things we look for in leaders or does ones color trump all these attributes.  We rarely talk about Obama being the first president to spearhead and pass comprehensive health care reform, which is not socialist but moral.  Something that I believe Dr, King would support and something I cannot believe more traditional, evangelical, ‘charitable’ bible carrying Christians do not support.  He got us out of Bush's WMD Iraq and hopefully Afghanistan soon.  Led the hunting down and killing of Osama Bin Laden.   Kept this country a float during the worst recession since the Great one.   Instead, we label him a socialist and talk about the national debt as if he were the first president to incur debt.  He is the first Black president to incur debt so that makes it egregious.

If Barack Obama were white he would be JFK incarnate and revered.   Instead he is aggressively maligned for being something he is not.   It appears that Romney will likely get the Republican nomination and I believe many Tea Party republicans will be forced to ask themselves: Do I despise Obama, his skin color and his ‘socialist’ agenda more than I despise Mitt Romney’s religious affiliation? I think we know the answer to that question...

As we celebrate the legacy of great human being today I ask that we cultivate his message beyond words and into actions.  Actions that will support people who more closely align and aspire to equality and tolerance and not those who use half-truths to continue a legacy of imperialism.

Ciao!

Roberto