Posted on 03/24/2012 4:05:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
To hear some conservatives tell it, President Obama tore racial unity asunder with his Friday remarks about the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, while liberals have a predictably more favorable view. Perhaps a better barometer of the President’s success at conveying the proper sentiment is from a trusted, down-the-middle guy like National Journal‘s Major Garrett, who called the President’s remarks “One For The History Books.”
In his column, Garrett briefly assesses the President’s handling of the Trayvon Martin story, and places it within thorough context of the President’s oft-criticized approach to race. From National Journal:
“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
With that one sentence, President Obama on Friday placed himself in the middle of a raging national debate as a parent, a president, and an African-American speaking to and for the black “community.”
White House officials said that Obama was eager to discuss the killing of Trayvon Martin and has tracked carefully the twin components of the Florida crime: the shooting of the unarmed teen and allegedly slipshod police investigation and the broader sense of grievance African-Americans of all socio-economic backgrounds feel about the unspoken threat of violence posed to their children.
His decision to wrap his arms around Martin’s family and give voice to thousands who have taken up their cause may be a watershed moment in his presidency.
After tracing the bread crumbs from then-Senator Obama’s speech on race in response to the Jeremiah Wright controversy, to the troublesome Skip Gates ordeal, and criticisms that he has tried too hard to avoid “any real or imagined stereotype of an African-American president governing or speaking specifically on behalf of African-American interests,” Garrett concludes that, with his handling of the Trayvon Martin tragedy, “his manner, words, and tone may mark a turning point in his presidency when it comes to matters of race and justice and how he is perceived on these issues by African-Americans.”
It’s an excellent examination of the President’s handling of race, and while his conclusion is probably correct, the question that remains is whether he threaded that same needle for everyone else. With the exception of the most hardened Obama-haters, I think he may have.
Every decent American who has heard the Trayvon Martin story feels some sort of connection to the tragically slain teenager, and every one of us also possesses a varying degree of distance from him. President Obama’s brief remarks were perfectly attenuated to measure both distances, and to bridge them. When I first saw Trayvon’s school photo in a news report, I immediately felt the pain of his loss through the window of my own angel-faced teenager, but also the distance of the bitter gratitude that my white son will never face the same peril. My friend Goldie Taylor saw her own sons, for whom she has had this specific worry, from a distance many steps closer. President Obama has two daughters, and so felt the pain as a father, and as a black man who has faced the gaze of the George Zimmermans and Sanford police of the world, but doesn’t know the unique stresses of raising a young black man among people who consider him a suspect first. Here’s the President’s response again, so you can see the key points: (emphasis mine):
But obviously, this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. And I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this, and that everybody pulls together — federal, state and local — to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened.
So I’m glad that not only is the Justice Department looking into it, I understand now that the governor of the state of Florida has formed a task force to investigate what’s taking place. I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen. And that means that examine the laws and the context for what happened, as well as the specifics of the incident.
But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. And I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and that we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.
If there was any solace in the Trayvon Martin story, it was that, even after nearly two weeks on the national radar, we seemed to have avoided the polarization that often accompanies high-profile racial incidents. In my view, this is due more to the specific elements of Trayvon’s story than to whatever progress we might have made since, say, the Bernhard Goetz shootings, or the Rodney King verdict, or the O.J. Simpson trial.
Shortly after the President’s remarks, however, some conservatives pounced, and in supremely ugly fashion. The Daily Caller ran a story attempting to paint President Obama’s remarks as a direct response to pressure from the New Black Panthers, a despicable Scare Whitey smear that has been thrown at the wall for years.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who proposed drafting urban 9 year-olds into janitorial service, and who thinks “the black community” is “satisfied with Food Stamps,” had the stones to accuse President Obama of being divisive, and of “turning it into a racial issue,” as if it was Obama who trained generations of cops to view young black men as suspects. This is the current dodge among Southern Strategy dead-enders; racism isn’t racism, pointing out racism is racism.
Now, there are well-known conservatives who are pushing the notion that the real injustice here is that Trayvon Martin’s death and disposal by George Zimmerman and the Sanford police is overshadowing the story of Allen Coon, a 13 year-old white boy who received first-degree burns when, he says, he was doused with gasoline and set on fire by two black 16 year-olds, a story that is actually being investigated by police. If you’re thinking, “That’s not even close to the same thing,” it’s not supposed to be; the real message here is that the blacks are scary.
Unless I missed something, this wave of ugliness from some (only some) conservatives began when President Obama commented on the story, as if they were waiting to pounce. The hope is obviously to create another Skip Gates scenario, which the cowardly mainstream press allowed to become a huge political negative for the President.
But I think Major Garrett is right, I think this time will be different. In the Skip Gates case, many people identified with the white cop because they saw Skip Gates as being uppity and ungrateful to a man who was just trying to protect him. Whether you think Gates was wise to mouth off to Sgt. Crowley for barking orders at him in his own home, the President was right, it was stupid for the police to arrest him.
Normal people identify with Trayvon Martin in this case, and with the President’s sentiments. All the Obama-deranged likes of Newt Gingrich will succeed at here is alienating the middle, and probably a good chunk of their own side. He’s right about one thing, this country is sick of being divided, and might be ready to take another baby-step toward fixing those divisions, rather than pretending they don’t exist.
I wanted to schmack the hell outta Hannity over this incident. He really needs to at least TRY to be informed before opening his piehole on the airwaves. Kinda reminiscent of Obowma’s standard routine.
By calling Zimmerman “white”, what, exactly, is the point you are trying to make?
No, you made a false statement. Here is YOUR comment: “Zimmerman is only HALF white.”
Put up or shut up.
I thought that Zimmerman shot the 6’2” HS football thug in self defense. Zimmerman was on the ground, he had grass stains on his back and it was probably his voice screaming on the 911 call. The thug was out on the prowl during a suspension, while the mixed race Zimmerman had previously been involved in helping to catch a thief as a citizen crime watcher in his crime riddled community. The facts will come out in time hopefully to prevent a race war instigated by Hussein and his media sycophants.
Well....if his mother is a latin, that would make him only half white, assuming, of course, that you consider Jews to be “white” as well!
Bottom line...he isn’t all white any more than Obama is all white.
Good points all. Also, is Obama saying that all blacks look alike? His son would look just like Trayvon? That sounds kind of racist.
so ... the next time we have a white president... and a black person kills a white kid...
we should expect a similar statement, right?
yea, i won’t be holding my breath.
Gonna smack him by discontinuing listening.
I’ve no need for media mind control or left wing race poison.
Exactly. I’m waiting for a photo of a 17 year old. As long as they keep putting out 12 year old photos, I feel like we’re not getting the full story.
And it’s not like he doesn’t have the same access to the info that we do, not to mention staffers tasked with providing that info. Either he needs to start vetting the info his staffers provide him, or maybe he needs to fire one of the staffers.
I DO know his forum on his website is run by out-of-control mods with a “God Complex”. They ban conservatives there for any excuse at all.
Hannity really needs to ‘get a clue’.
Re: Zimmerman’s ethnicity....
here’s what his own father said:
Media reports have increasingly begun to identify the shooter, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, not as “white” as he was originally identified, but as Latino after his father identified him as such to a Florida newspaper.
Seems to me....his own father ought to know better than some “know-it-all” poster claiming that Zimmerman is white.....
eh?
Of course Mr. Zimmerman is white.
Dad Jewish, of course “white”, Mom’s Spanish ancestry, of course “white”, plus possibly unknown percentage of Amerindian which anthropologists classify proto or neo mongoloid, same as what used to be referred to as oriental.
I just don’t know why several freepers keep trying to disqualify him as being white, except they want to prove the media wrong who say correctly he is white. We all know the media is stressing that he’s “white” as opposed to the guy’s “hispanic” heritage, so they can say Trayvon was killed by a “white” guy. The media can’t make me react, and try to throw Mr. Zimmerman out of being “white”, like they can some freepers.
He hasn't been paying attention, has he?
Um....you’re beating a dead (and retarded) horse here.
What part of “his own father claimed he was Latino” are you incapable of comprehending?
I noticed that while trying to stomach his friday show that not a single person called in or spoke in defense of Zimmerman.
Had to be by design I’m thinking.
What would the baby he tried to make with Larry Sinclair look like?
Well, considering that Zimmerman is the one that was calling for help, on the ground, getting bloodied, that means the listeners either didn’t care or didn’t know....since the REAL story hasn’t exactly been touted by lamestream media outlets.
By design, do you mean that Hannity has taken the pro-Trayvor stance officially? If so, I will stop listening too.
However it might be a good idea to note that he was actually the first out of the gate to make his carefully worded statement which is actually a briliant political move on his behalf. Unfortunately for the GOP this actually will read in the electorate as him appearing as a leader with his Clintonesque "I Feel Your Pain" statement.
This should poll well with his base.
In the meantime the GOP is still concerned about Etch-a-Scetches.
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