When a white politican or public figure speaks well, they are called “eloquent”, “poetic”, “expressive”, and other vaunted terms, but if a non-white public figure speaks well, they are always called “articulate” as if the listener is amazed that the person speaking can put two sentences together coherently. Why the double standard? I know of quite a few white politicians (including our President) who must be embarrassing their English teachers every time they mount the podium. Every time I hear people talk about Barak Obama, the term that always comes up is “articulate”, (like Colin Powell when he first came on the scene). Is this actually code representing a subtle but apparent backhanded racism? The stereotypical assumptions that being able to express oneself eloquently is outside the norm for a black man.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama just can’t escape the word articulate.
“He’s charismatic, he’s articulate, he’s a very strong figure on the national stage,” White House political adviser Karl Rove told an Arkansas crowd. “But something tells me that people are going to say (they want) experience and depth. As a result it’s going to be, ‘Can he live up to the standards?”‘
Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a Democratic presidential hopeful, described Obama to the New York Observer in January as, among presidential candidates, “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Biden later apologized for his remarks.
[Ed note: When I first read about this I felt the exact same way. See my comment in the comments section — John]
I is a honky. Code word, I would agree with. I got nothin, sorry, just felt like being part of the commotion.
If someone wants to do a WAP interface for the site..I’m game…
Isn’t this just Old. It had it’s day and it’s say.
The only people keeping this alive, are the busy bodies in the press.
Barak Obama is more then able to comment if he was indeed hurt by all this.
Am I the only person that noticed that Barack Obama’s name is spelled incorrectly in the post? It’s Barack, not Barak…
I just visited and noticed that also. BaraCK Obama.
[Ooops, fixed – Ed.]
I understand where Alix is coming from. As an American overseas, I get a similar condescending “compliment” — “You’re well informed [for an American].” — with the italics in a thought-bubble.
It’s pretty similar to “Obama is articulate [for a black guy]
But this is tough for us white guys.
One reason I like Obama is that he is smart and articulate — I’m sick and tired of having a president that makes me cringe every time he opens his mouth.
So, how can I express that sentiment without insulting African Americans?
Old news, Eugene Robinson from the Washington post talked a lot about that a month ago.
[Ed note – please use embedded links! long links break the site formatting.]
And I wish we could get off of Barak Obama’s color. That is as relevant as the color of Bush’s tie, Elizabeth Dole’s blouse, or Paul Wolfowitz’s socks.
I wouldn’t exactly say that. We can WISH his color was irrelevant, but it’s not, in a couple of (at least) different ways. First, he comes from a different place with regard to his life experiences growing up. He has seen things from a perspective that few if any white people ever have, both good and bad. I can practically guarantee that he’s seen more of the ugly side of human nature than most white people in the US. Anybody who thinks that has had no effect on the person he has become is deluded. This experience may have (probably has) made him stronger, more resilient, more determined, more open minded, etc etc etc. It also may have made him resentful, bitter, suspicious, etc etc. Not being able to peel back his skull and look inside, I have no idea if either or both of these characteristics apply to him. (My money would be on both.)
Second, he’s not electable. Neither, of course, is Hillary. Let’s face reality and move on.
Second, he’s not electable. Neither, of course, is Hillary. Let’s face reality and move on.
What took so long for someone to say it?
BTW enough with the “clustering”. We are not talking about someone in a wheelchair. 🙂
#39 >> Second, he’s not electable. Neither, of course, is Hillary. Let’s face reality and move on. What took so long for someone to say it?
Saying it doesn’t make it reality:
DEMOCRATS
Biden = 1%
Clark = 1%
Clinton = 34%
Dodd = 1%
Edwards = 15%
Gravel = –
Kucinich = 1%
Obama = 31%
Richardson = 2%
Undecided = 14%
REPUBLICANS
Brownback = 1%
Gilmore = 1%
Giuliani = 34%
Gingrich = 12%
Hagel = 1%
Huckabee = 1%
Hunter = –
McCain = 30%
Pataki = 1%
Paul = 1%
Romney = 7%
Tancredo = 1%
Thompson = 1%
Undecided = 9%
http://americanresearchgroup.com/
Obama = 31%
Richardson = 2%
Undecided = 14%
And so on and so on.
And thus one more reminder of the hypocrisy of the great unwashed masses (although this is particularly prevalent among northern liberals…)
They say one thing, and do another. Lip service is easy. Actually pulling the lever is another.
We’ll see.
Venom,
It’s true that bigotry can can come out in privacy of the voting booth, for sure.
However, I think it is ridiculous to say that H Clinton and Obama are unelectable. Is America really more backward than, let’s say, Pakistan or Turkey who have both had women leaders?
A lot comes down to who they are running against.
If it was Obama vs. an extremists like Brownback, I think Obama would probably win easily. But Obama vs a more mainstream candidate like Giulliani would be harder to call.
But it is absurd to make a blanket declaration that Obama is unelectable.
There is the possible scenario that nominating McCain or Giulliani for the GOP would so alienate the religious right that they’d run a third-party pro-life candidate — splitting the conservative vote and very likely giving the nomination to whoever ran as a Dem — maybe even a Clinton-Obama ticket!
A huge percentage of mysogonistic bigots would immediately die of aneurysms, greatly reducing the GOP, making re-election a lock! 😉
A veiled insult or not, the word “articulate” is not a word you could describe current president George W. Bush. If I had to make a choice between Barak or Hillary, I’d take Barak. Not because Hillary is a woman but because she chose to live in Chappaqua, NY.
nuff said.
When I hear someone say the guy is articulate, I tend to think that relative to other politicians, many of whom clearly are not.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/kerr/030107kerr.htm
“Al Gore, right now, is hotter than Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain at a summertime barbecue. He’s funny. He’s impassioned. He’s articulate. He’s likable, maybe even lovable, given his current teddy-bear physique. I never thought I’d be uttering these words, but Al Gore has become hip.”
The first time I heard Obama speak, I thought “He’s as well spoken as John Kennedy was when I was a kid!” That is very articulate, and few Presidents since have approached Kennedy’s ability to turn a phrase. Clinton and Reagan were the only ones anywhere close, with George Senior a distant third. Dubya’s so inarticulate it’s pathetic.
Venom,
I just hope you are wrong. Really. Maybe this is a bit of wishful thinking, but I really want to see America bigger then just so many parts.
Well he is articulate. But the people saying this may also be meaning that blacks normally aren’t, and he is.
It’s hard to take that criticism seriously when Barack Obama changes his tone and words when hes speaking to black audiences. He is just as condescending. This got drowned out by Chicken Fried Hillary though.
We live in a cast system in the United States. Our own families judge us by our accomplishments, what we do, how much we have, who we are friends with and so on, let alone society.
In my opinion
The 2 most articulate presidents in this century was Bill Clinton, JFK.
Ronald Regan was charismatic.
I’m white and when I say Barack is articulate I’m not using it as code for “speaks white english” or “he speaks well even though he’s black”.
I mean (surprise surprise) that he is articulate.
Dear black folks,
Calling someone articulate is not always an insult. I know it can be sometimes, but Barack is a fantastic public speaker and deserves the label.
So I’m going to continue to call Barack articulate (gasp). I’ll say it right to his face. I don’t care.
I’m certainly not going to edit everything I say when I speak to a person of color. That would be making a big deal of their race every time I interact with them. And that seems kinda, well, racist.
As a black person myself I have to say I`ve been complimented by a lot of people(including my mother) on my speech pattern.Calling someone articulate isn`t a insult,but it all depends on intent.Chris Rock once said ”articulate is what you call someone when you expect them to be stupid”.A white politician being articulate isn`t questioned because it`s supposed to be a given(unless you`re President Bush) but with someone like Obama, or Collin Powell or New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker they defy stereotypes because frankly speaking being black and being articulate are not seen as a given to large segment of society.
When some people who are`t black talk to a person who is black because of the images that they are innudated with via the media they end up being suprised if said black person starts speaking ”proper english”. Barack Obama is smart,he is articulate he is a incredibly literate and skilled politician.I expect nothing less from a Havard graduate.
But let`s be realisitic,this also connects to the ”but is he black enough argument?”Because of Hip Hop like Spike Lee said so many people have this limiting perception of what defines being a black person and they find anything that counters that definition suprising.There are a lot of well-educated black people who speak the way that Barack Obama speaks.Dr. Martin King Luther Jr was a very eloquent man as was Malcom X(even though he was never formally educated he was nonetheless a very bright man).I don`t think Joe Biden meant what he said as a backhanded compliment,it just came out the wrong way and what he said while said with the best of intentions simply wasn`t true.So when a person says a articulate(oops there`s that word again!) black person is ”speaking white, I bristle. I feel that there is a fundamentally racist undertone to someone saying Barack Obama isn`t black enough because of how he speaks and presents himself.Think about it,what are people saying that a black person isn`t supposed to be smart enough to go to Havard,Stanford,Yale,or MIT?Seven out of the last eight Presidents were articulate(the eighth President who wasn`t that articulate is obviously George W. Bush,it should be a expectation that the Commander-In Chief be bright and well-spoken.So sure race factors into this and to think that someone as smart as Senator Obama is unaware of that fact would be naive.