It's one thing to get carried away on the strength of hundred of years of pent up aspirations.
It's to be expected that wishful thinking might temporarily get the better of us.
But when Black folks start imagining an Obama that does not exist - an Obama who has made some kind of Covenant with us, the evidence of which is nowhere to be found - then we are talking about a people who are in trouble.
I've got to admit that I sometimes get totally lost in the ill-logic that makes Obama good for Black people AND good for thieving bankers AND good for war criminals - all at the same time!
But, Dr. Smith has passed on to me the latest writings of Amiri Baraka, whose thought processes are believed by some to be a kind of Rosetta Stone on all things Obama.
Baraka explains how Obama's choice of arch-Zionist and former hedge-funder Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff - the gate keeper to the White House - was a "very smart choice" and, by the way, good for Black people.
The logic goes like this: Rahm Emanuel will keep the other Zionists with bad intentions at bay, off of Obama's back.
Amiri Baraka puts Obama's political choices in a whole new light. Rahm Emanuel is not a dangerous Zionist. Oh no. He is the anti-Zionist, who wards off the really bad Zionists. Like garlic.
Now we can understand why Obama needs George Bush's war criminal, Robert Gates, as his Secretary of Defense. Gates is there to guard Obama's far-Right flank against even worse war criminals who might be out there, laying in wait.
The same thing goes for the Robert Rubin clones at Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisors. There are actually even worse Wall Street thieves lurking around, trying to create trouble for Obama and - by extension - Black folks. Obama's bankers will keep the really bad bankers off balance - or so the logic goes. And by this logic, Obama can and should surround himself with all manner of villains, to guard his far-Right flanks against an even worse class of villains.
The worst thing about Amiri Baraka's logic is that I sense some of you actually agree with it.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com .
DR. DONALD SMITH
"For Mr. Obama to continue to attempt to convince black people not to think about race is a deadly mistake."
Brothers and Sisters, I want you to know that the first thing I did when I came into this church today, was to give my semi-annual check to Black Agenda Report, to Glen Ford. If you're not reading Black Agenda Report you're missing the most important political analysis about our people.
In memory of Professor Melvin Tolson: Resolved, that the election of President-Elect Obama is not good for Black people.
