Quote:
Originally Posted by DBlack
See, that's the problem...as long as we have leaders and followers worrying about what whites think, we will continue to have problems within our own culture.
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If one is running for President of
Black America, sure, absolutely there's no need to be concerned with what whites think. That much would be obvious. But President of the United States, the office, the job, is being President not just of the white people or the Black people or the Latino people or the Asian people or the Indigenous people or the Semitic people or the rich people or the poor people or the middle class people but ALL the people. That might not be the practice but it is most certainly the ideal.
And as such, if anyone of any ethnicity wants to be President of the United States, it behooves that person to be concerned with the things that concern ALL Americans, whether they be concerns that all communities share, or just concerns that affect just one community in America. That person might agree or disagree with this or that issue or solution to a problem, but being concerned with what the people think and feel, regardless of the community involved, is important.
Stating that a Black Presidential candidate
shouldn't be concerned with what white Americans (or any other non-Black Americans) think about something is like saying that a white Presidential candidate shouldn't be concerned with what Black Americans think about something. It's foolhardy and will hurt any candidate's chances at obtaining support from those communities.
Understand me here, I'm not at all saying that Black Presidential candidates should give
preference to hearing from whites - not at all. In fact, I believe there shouldn't be any particular preferences when it comes to concern for issues that affect the populace. Given the fact that there's never been a Black US President to date, it only makes sense that a Black Presidential candidate be deeply concerned with issues that affect Black Americans, and focus on those issues once he or she is elected to the office. But for any candidate, of any ethnicity, to give preference to his or her own at the expense of other citizens is counterproductive to the office itself. Witness Bush giving preference to his wealthy big business buddies, and how that's played out. Hasn't made him popular, has it?
In the same manner, a Black candidate who ONLY cared about Black issues (at the expense of everything else that affected the nation) would be loved by a large number of Black Americans, to be sure, but he or she would alienate the rest of the electorate. Explain to me exactly how a candidate in any election can actually get elected by a majority of voters if that candidate alienates the majority of voters.
No, see, a good Presidential candidate, no matter what their ethnicity is, no matter what their gender is, is going to want to listen to and represent people who may or may not look and sound like him or her, if they actually want to get elected.
Now, if you'd said that a Presidential candidate shouldn't be concerned with what
non-voters think or feel, I'd agree with you. Which is why it's important to vote.