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| Obama and Cain (r) - AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Jim Cole |
In an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg for Bloomberg View, Cain, pandering to the tone deaf fringe that forms the base of his support, stated that President Obama "was raised in Kenya" and that's why "he's out of the mainstream."
Memo to Herman for starters.... Barack Obama's father was Kenyan, but the president never lived in Kenya. Rather, he (the president) lived in Indonesia from ages 6 to 10 before returning to Hawaii, where he was born.
Cain explained that his family had been in America since the slavery era and implied that Obama's Kenyan father had influenced his outlook, as had his academic career.
In reading the Bloomberg View piece, Cain's ignorance and possible prejudice (born out of sheer intellectual laziness) towards African immigrants who are not descendants of slaves (he actually uses the latter to 'validate' the veracity of his citizenship and consequently his candidacy), may be the most telling tales of his make-up.
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
"Most of the ancestors that I can trace were born here in the United States of America," [Cain] said, hitting those last four words with a hammer. "And then it goes back to slavery. And I'm sure my ancestors go all the way back to Africa, but I feel more of an affinity for America than I do for Africa. I'm a black man in America." ...
"Barack Obama is more of an international," Cain said. "I think he's out of the mainstream and always has been. Look, he was raised in Kenya, his mother was white from Kansas and her family had an influence on him, it's true, but his dad was Kenyan, and when he was going to school he got a lot of fellowships, scholarships, he stayed in the academic environment for a long time. He spent most of his career as an intellectual."
When Goldberg told Cain that Obama hadn't grown up in Kenya, but Indonesia, Cain responded, "Yeah, Indonesia." Cain, a Tea Party favorite who has said his popularity proves the group isn't racist, argued that his candidacy would eliminate race as an issue in the 2012 campaign.
"This isn’t why I’m running, but my candidacy would take race off the table. Right now, every time someone criticizes Barack Obama, they try to play the race card, the White House, all his supporters, they try to play the race card."
Seems Cain didn't realize that his candidacy has indeed brought race to the table, given that he has to continually prove to the fringe elements in his party that he is a different kind of black man, one that would not threaten the 'heritage' of their (his supporter's) ancestors.
The critical point that Herman however misses, due to his limited worldview and lack of requisite insight, is that most black people are in-fact conservative, the African immigrants in particular.
That Barack Obama may have followed his father's footsteps, with regard to academic pursuits, is in fact a good thing. If there were enough father's in the inner city to set the right tone and precedent for their children, then we would have less black males walking around with sagging pants and looking to other avenues, besides the most sure one (education), to advance their lives, in an increasingly competitive world.
Yes Herman, unlike you, I am proud to be called an African-American. I am an African immigrant that has imbibed the best of this great country into my being. I have set the tone for my children, from both a cultural, spiritual and educational perspective and that is why, they will be able to hold their heads high, in any quarters, with a true sense of belonging in this country (long after I have gone back to where I was born, much like Barack's father).
But again, unlike you Herman, while you carry the weight of a debilitating inferiority complex around with you, they will be self assured in both their American heritage and that of their ancestors.... yes Herman, that African heritage that actually made you who you are today, even though you may not know it.
And what do you think the true American heritage entails by the way, Herman? Yep, you guessed it. A unique concoction of the cultures of Europe, Africa and the Americas. While only one of those cultures dictated the tenor of the heritage, in the early going, it has become what it has become.... a melting pot of the best the world has to offer.
Embrace it or leave it!
Source: Bloomberg View
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