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Or more likely that he moved on to someone with whom he was more compatible.
The ex-girlfriend just seems bitter that she was dumped for a black woman. A lot of black men date non-black women then marry a black woman its nothing new.
She probably is bitter, but let me ask you this question. If Obama married her instead of Michelle, do you believe Barack would have been president?
She probably is bitter, but let me ask you this question. If Obama married her instead of Michelle, do you believe Barack would have been president?
Why wouldn't he have been? What difference would that have made relative to his electoral chances? Blacks have voted for whites for years, so why wouldn't they vote for a black man with a non black wife? Do folks somehow think that's a new concept to us?
Maybe Michelle is the person that got his politics juices flowing, and got his ambition up. Maybe he would've had a different life trajectory with the other woman. No one knows. So why even speculate about it when it's neither here nor there.
BTW...I don't think the woman is bitter. I think she's just reminiscing on what may have been.
You have to look at the economic statistics. It's good you did well under Obama, but when it comes to Black America as a whole, we are still at the very bottom, and that got worse under Obama. Seeing as how Obama overwhelmingly got the black vote in historic numbers (and it was our vote that put him in. Majority of white people voted for McCain.), that demanded he should have done something for us specifically. Yet he did nothing.
Again how is it that under Bush, black businesses got more loans from the SBA? How is it under Bush, HBCUs got more money from the government? All the money he gave to bankers during the bailout, he could have given that money to go into businesses and stimulate the economy that way. At the very least he could have given the money to those bankers with the condition that they must give loans to black businesses. He...did...nothing! He pimped black people for their vote, then once in office, he couldn't see us. Now all he's doing is reaping the monetary benefits of helping out Wall Street, while Black America continues to suffer. You can't look at yourself and say "Black people are doing good". Look at the statistics. Your average black family is worth $1700 when you remove the family car in assets. The average white family is worth over $116,000.
By the way, most of the "wealth" that is in Black America today is in the hands of our Baby Boomer generation. Once they die, you are really going to see the destruction of black people in this country. In any case, Obama pimped us, and now he's reaping the benefits. All I'm saying is, we shouldn't be surprised. In reality he was never one of us to begin with. If he was related to us in any way in terms of ancestry, it would have had to come from his white mother's side.
I do look at statistics.
Statistically a majority of black people are not poor. Statistically educational attainment is up for black Americans. Statistically there are more black businesses today than there have been in the past 25 years.
The average white family net worth is over $116k because of their home values. The home values of blacks who live in predominantly black neighborhoods will never be the same or a greater value than a white person of the same income who lives in a similar neighborhood as the black person. This is a remnant of housing discrimination and I don't expect for it to ever go away during my lifetime.
But what exactly did you expect Obama to do about that. And why did you expect him to do anything specific for black people that other presidents have or have not done?
I didn't. That's the point. I expected him to the president of the USA not of black Americans. I don't expect "special favors" or "special treatment" because I'm black, no matter what some racist person thinks (and note that you believing this reminds me of racist people who feel that blacks think we should have "special treatment" by government).
As a black person, you and I should both know that we NEVER get anything special. Anytime I see that crap on this forum or on social media I laugh. I laughed typing that.
What I do expect is for us to take advantage of opportunities. That is what I did and I know many black families who have done the same. FWIW I was the child of a teenage welfare mother. I grew up very poor. I lived a pretty negative childhood experience including dealing with abusive situations and being reared in an era of very high crime. I had a drug addicted parent. So I had a hard row to sow. Most of the black kids I grew up with are doing much better than our parents were doing. We are much better off.
I think you are also over looking the facts that statistically a majority of black people were poverty stricken and uneducated in 1960. Housing discrimination did not end until 1980 and that is why we still have remnants of it to deal with in this generation. I was born in 1979. I consider myself the first generation of my family born entirely "free" as a black American. I expect black people to rise economically and educationally in the next 50 years, same as we have done since 1965.
If you are going to bring up statistics, you need to compare statistics of black people pre-CRM and post 1980 and see what has gotten better/worse. I honestly never really seriously compare blacks to whites in America. We should not be attempting emulate what white people have because honestly they aren't doing all that great either compared to white people in previous generations. We should be trying to do better than blacks did 10 years before and keep doing this until we are satisfied. I personally think black people focus on whites too much and it is idiotic to do the comparisons IMO.
On the baby boomers - many of them are our parents/grandparents. If we don't sell off what they leave us, we'll be okay.
The main thing I keep reiterating with the young people I work with is that if your grandma or parent passes away and leaves you their fully paid for house in the ghetto, you keep that house because it is an assset.
Also, I think you have a negative view of us Gen-Xers and Millenials Heavensee. I actually have a rather large net worth, much higher than the average white family. Most of my social network of black Americans are VERY focused on entrepreneurship and of investing their money wisely and I do not believe that we will lose ground in asset accumulation. The only thing I worry about is that too many black people will try to emulate greater white American society and put themselves in too much debt, those blacks in my generation and the Millenials. We are much more financially and economically wealthy than our parents - I know I am and even my siblings who are still blue collar workers. We need to be certain not to fall into the debt trap like a lot of white Americans do as well a black Americans. Debt is the killer of wealth. We also need to invest more in the markets.
Many have long known that Barrack Obama, as a young man, was not really even considered black, and decided in the late '80s to affect an African American identity in order to pursue a political career, but we are just now learning some of the details of his transformation. In 1987, Obama, already living in Chicago and attending the Rev. Wright's church, was in a long term relationship with a part-Japanese white woman, Sheila Miyoshi Jager, he had asked to marry him.
I'm not offended in the least, just interested, and yeah, this is celebrity gossip type stuff, but it does help us understand one of the most important public figures of our lifetimes.
Why wouldn't he have been? What difference would that have made relative to his electoral chances? Blacks have voted for whites for years, so why wouldn't they vote for a black man with a non black wife? Do folks somehow think that's a new concept to us?
Maybe Michelle is the person that got his politics juices flowing, and got his ambition up. Maybe he would've had a different life trajectory with the other woman. No one knows. So why even speculate about it when it's neither here nor there.
BTW...I don't think the woman is bitter. I think she's just reminiscing on what may have been.
He wouldn't have won, he would not have been the Democratic nominee back in '08. Hillary was highly favored among black people during that time. Most of us couldn't pronounce Obama's name much less liked him as a candidate. All of this was true up until the media began to attack Michelle Obama. Michelle made comments during a speech about being proud of her country for the first time. The media went in on her, but for black people, this was an attack on one of our own. From that time period on, Barack's popularity rose over Hillary, and we began to identify Barack as one of us.
If it weren't for Michelle, Hillary would have easily won against Obama, and probably gone on to be the president.
Quote:
Originally Posted by residinghere2007
I do look at statistics.
Statistically a majority of black people are not poor. Statistically educational attainment is up for black Americans. Statistically there are more black businesses today than there have been in the past 25 years.
The average white family net worth is over $116k because of their home values. The home values of blacks who live in predominantly black neighborhoods will never be the same or a greater value than a white person of the same income who lives in a similar neighborhood as the black person. This is a remnant of housing discrimination and I don't expect for it to ever go away during my lifetime.
But what exactly did you expect Obama to do about that. And why did you expect him to do anything specific for black people that other presidents have or have not done?
I didn't. That's the point. I expected him to the president of the USA not of black Americans. I don't expect "special favors" or "special treatment" because I'm black, no matter what some racist person thinks (and note that you believing this reminds me of racist people who feel that blacks think we should have "special treatment" by government).
As a black person, you and I should both know that we NEVER get anything special. Anytime I see that crap on this forum or on social media I laugh. I laughed typing that.
What I do expect is for us to take advantage of opportunities. That is what I did and I know many black families who have done the same. FWIW I was the child of a teenage welfare mother. I grew up very poor. I lived a pretty negative childhood experience including dealing with abusive situations and being reared in an era of very high crime. I had a drug addicted parent. So I had a hard row to sow. Most of the black kids I grew up with are doing much better than our parents were doing. We are much better off.
I think you are also over looking the facts that statistically a majority of black people were poverty stricken and uneducated in 1960. Housing discrimination did not end until 1980 and that is why we still have remnants of it to deal with in this generation. I was born in 1979. I consider myself the first generation of my family born entirely "free" as a black American. I expect black people to rise economically and educationally in the next 50 years, same as we have done since 1965.
If you are going to bring up statistics, you need to compare statistics of black people pre-CRM and post 1980 and see what has gotten better/worse. I honestly never really seriously compare blacks to whites in America. We should not be attempting emulate what white people have because honestly they aren't doing all that great either compared to white people in previous generations. We should be trying to do better than blacks did 10 years before and keep doing this until we are satisfied. I personally think black people focus on whites too much and it is idiotic to do the comparisons IMO.
For a people who have been in this country for hundreds of years, it's fair to compare our economics with that of white people. In fact, our ancestors were here long before 70% of all white people's ancestors ever got to this country. With all that in mind, should we expect our economy to be on the same level or higher? It's nowhere near close. Some say it would take 200 years for black people to catch up. Of course we know what caused this disparity.
The government has a duty, especially for a nation that speaks so highly of itself in regards to justice, to specifically help and restore what was lost in all the days of slavery and the Jim Crow era. Yes, we should look for the government to do that, and we should demand that of our politics.
Black poverty is almost or could have already surpassed 33%. That's one out of every three black people being in poverty. The Hispanic community is doing slightly better than us, but remember, most of them don't have hundreds of years of being in this country. Their history is recent and their ancestors had a language barrier to overcome. How is it they are doing better than us with an advantage of hundreds of years? Again, we know the answer, yet there would be a problem if the government help us specifically?
Barack should have done something for us, and he could have done something for us easily, but he chose not to. If he couldn't do nothing for us, then what was the whole fuss about having a black president at all? I thought that was the point of having a black president.
Finally, and I've read your second post as well, again our poverty rate is very close to 33%. When all the census info comes in, we will probably be at or past that point. In truth, if it weren't for loans and credit, black people would truly understand the economic situations we are in. Our college educated blacks may have a decent income, but they start their lives in debt with student loans. They can't afford houses that will give them wealth. Good luck with boomers passing their homes down to their children. As I see it, most black youth are born to single parents, over 75%. What can be passed down when the chain is already broken? All these problems are a direct result of our history in this country, and how the government single us out with mass incarceration. If our politics were right, things would be very different.
Black people didn't relate to Obama. We related to Obama through his wife. It was black people who got Obama elected. The majority of white people voted for McCain. Other groups voted 60/30. Black people voted 95/5. Black people who usually didn't vote at all, came out for Obama. It was our vote that caused the major difference. That wouldn't have happened without Michelle.
Black people didn't relate to Obama. We related to Obama through his wife. It was black people who got Obama elected. The majority of white people voted for McCain. Other groups voted 60/30. Black people voted 95/5. Black people who usually didn't vote at all, came out for Obama. It was our vote that caused the major difference. That wouldn't have happened without Michelle.
When you say "black people," you mean African-Americans right? Other people of African origin couldn't be included in your statements because many of those people could relate to him being a recent American of African heritage (on his father's side).
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