Washington Post writer Kathleen Parker should be getting a lot of emails over this story…
If Bill Clinton was our first black president, as Toni Morrison once proclaimed, then Barack Obama may be our first woman president. Phew. That was fun. Now, if you’ll just keep those hatchets holstered and hear me out. No, I’m not calling Obama a girlie president. But . . . he may be suffering a rhetorical-testosterone deficit when it comes to dealing with crises, with which he has been richly endowed.
It isn’t that he isn’t “cowboy” enough, as others have suggested. Aren’t we done with that? It is that his approach is feminine in a normative sense. That is, we perceive and appraise him according to cultural expectations, and he’s not exactly causing anxiety in Alpha-maledom.
When Morrison wrote in the New Yorker about Bill Clinton’s “blackness,” she cited the characteristics he shared with the African American community: “Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas.”
If we accept that premise, even if unseriously proffered, then we could say that Obama displays many tropes of femaleness. I say this in the nicest possible way. I don’t think that doing things a woman’s way is evidence of deficiency but, rather, suggests an evolutionary achievement.
You know what we need in a time a like this somebody who gets upset a makes rash decisions while eating his McDonald’s, like a real man….read the rest HERE and let us know what you think in the comments section.
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Hmm…what I’ve always considered weirdly worded was everyone depicting Clinton as “Black.” So let’s get this right…
“Clinton displays almost every trope of Blackness; single parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, Mcdonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas.” So now that I know what being Black means, I don’t think I know any Black individual besides ex-president Clinton. None of my Black friends play the saxophone; so what are they? Apparently only Black people love junk-food and Mcdonald’s, due to my workout regimen, I haven’t had Mcdonald’s in about 10 years. I wasn’t born poor but hey what do I know, aren’t all Black people born poor so clearly it connects them all due to this shared association.
Does this relate to the opinion of Obama and somewhat of an individual defense mechanism due to him being half Black? I could careless of his ethnic or racial group, the associations above are just bad journalism. Is he not as stern as he could be? Perhaps; but CNN touched on that topic thoroughly. The moment Obama enters this so called “macho” position, he’s labeled an angry Black man because the association with Black men include aggression, ill-mannered, hostile, etc. If he portrayed any of those traits, polls showed voting by the Caucasian citizens of this nation wouldn’t occur in his favor. They actually state his lack of appearing as your typical Black male is why they voted.
But now he’s not macho enough? I truly do love the labels people deem necessary in our society. Without them, people wouldn’t know what to do with thmselves…Race classification, sexual orientation, social status, etc. Labels are everywhere! Once again, this isn’t “defending” Obama, this is deconstructing the quote about blackness or femininity.
Damn…..THANK YOU!….Now i don’t have to post anything…
Damned if you do Damned if ya dont. If he were mad and yelling and screaming all over the damn place then he would be the “angry black man” but now that he is cool calm and collected, THINKING before reacting. He is called a female. Bull to the shit!
That just shows that America hasn’t even gotten to know black people beyond “the angry black man” any other type of black man confuses them because they never even knew such a thing exists.
DJ Nitty, unfortunately that is very true – however, the “angry black person” is what is shown so often. I live in the South, black people have a pretty bad sterotype here among whites and it’s because of how blacks are typically shown. Loud, mean, rude, complaining, threatening, ignorant, no common sense, etc. It is the majority. I know that there are blacks who ARE not like this, and am the last one to categorize an entire group, but this is what is so often seen. It sticks.
That’s bullshit. Go to your local supermarket and I’m sure you’ll see at least one black man peacefully shopping with his family, go to your local college and I’m sure you’ll find at least one black male on the honor roll, go to your local church and you’ll find at least one good black male, go to the National Conference of Black Lawyers I’m sure you’ll find at least one black male that’ll meet your standards.
That anger you see is frustration with a system that systematically targets and oppresses black men in this country.
Black people are not oppressed at all anymore. They actually almost have more options because they ARE black. Schools, scholarships, jobs, etc. People have become scared to disagree with black people (in business) because they don’t want to be deemed racist. I work with the public and I see it all the time, so there is nothing you can tell me. I know what I see. I know what it is. “Whatchu gon do fa my business??” “How you gon compensate me???” Black people for the most part of cheap. Rude. Ignorant. Care about no one but themselves. Have millions of options but are too ignorant to know. It’s sad. I’ll say nothing more.
The 173rd richest person in the world, Ralph Lauren, who was born as Ralph Lifshitz, was actually the son of Jewish immigrants from Belarus. He was born in Bronx, New York and was nurtured by his mother Fraydl and father Frank, who was a house painter.
The name Ralph Lauren was actually unintentional. Since Ralph was always teased with his real last name, he decided to change Lifshitz into Lauren when he was sixteen years old.
Ralph Lauren did not actually attend fashion school as he studied business at the Baruch School of Business and Civic Administration of the City College of New York. When he was still in high school, Ralph was also known for selling ties to other students.
He worked as a tie salesman at A. Rivetz & Co., a well known tie manufacturer in New York. He then proceeded to create his own ties which then defied the current fashion trend of conservative business wear. This bold move lead to Ralph’s success and up to now, Ralph Lauren’s designs continue to set the trends.
Ralph Lauren loves to collect automobiles, most of which are held in his New York estate. Parts of his collection are extremely rare automobile like the 1929 Blower Bentley, a Bugatti Veyron, an F1 LM, and a 162 Ferrari 250 GTO among others.
He met his wife, Ricky Anne Low-Beer in an eye doctor’s office in June 1964. They then married in December of that same year and had two sons, named Andrew and David, and a daughter named Dylan.
Ralph Lauren was born on October 14, 1939 and is now 71 years old. He continues to act as CEO and Chief Designer while his son David works as an executive at Polo Ralph Lauren