Mr. Obama, Mr. Cool?

During the 2008 presidential campaign, many media types bludgeoned us with the phrase “no drama Obama” which they usually presented as a high compliment.   They underscored the cool, cool, supercool Barack Obama as a counterpoint to the hot, hot, hothead John McCain.  News people forever chortled about how “comfortable” their guy was “in his own skin.”  (Their reality testing, then, was sufficiently intact for them to know that Barack was not inhabiting anyone else’s skin.)

Then came Jeremiah Wright.  When the good reverend viciously maligned whites and white America, Obama continued to maintain his iceman composure.  But when Wright impugned Barack’s disingenuous black identity by saying that the future president’s criticism of him was political double speak, Obama erupted like Mount Vesuvius, charring Jeremiah in the process.

Last week Vesuvius blasted back to life, and, again, black identity was its catalyst.  After months of intermittent tremoring, Barack belched fire.  At the September 24, 2011 Forty-first Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Legislative Conference, he excoriated the black audience for what he perceived as their lack of support for his policies, suggesting that they were doing too much “complainin',”  “grumblin',” and “cryin.'”  After all, Barack repeatedly has said that he is an unadulterated black man, and they clearly are a black organization, so they should not “diss” him in any way.

Black Congresswoman Maxine Waters spoke for many in the African American community, saying that Obama never would have unloaded on the Hispanic, Gay, or Jewish subcultures.  To my knowledge, Jesse Jackson, Sr.  remained numb, but I must wonder aloud whether he was thinking, “Barack is talking down to black people, telling niggers how to behave,” with visions of castration dancing in his head.

What got to the President?  The criticisms mostly were of his race-oriented decisions.   In short, the CBC believed that Barack Obama’s policies were not black enough.  And that criticism always was and always will be Obama’s Achilles’ heel. 

There is no cool Barack where race is concerned. 

Why so touchy?  Think about yourself.  What criticisms tic you off?  If secure in your intelligence, you do not flinch if someone calls you “stupid.”  If secure in your skill, you do not react if someone claims you are “incompetent.”  On the other hand, if you, yourself, question your intelligence or competency, those slurs slash you to ribbons.

Barack Obama has lived a life of racial insecurity and duplicity.  His neurotic repetition compulsion kicks in whenever there is any hint that he might not be black enough.  Do not expect Obama to make color-blind decisions for our country when he cannot make color-blind decisions for himself. Do not expect Obama to be Mr. Cool where his conflicted racial identity is concerned.