On Obama, MLK, and racial relations...

The one-year anniversary of Obama's sworn in to office and the MLK day, the time is ripe for reflection on the racial relations matter.

I had not bought in to all the hype surrounding Obama the candidate, nor Obama the president. Many people did not share this view, thinking that electing a black president (or rather, half-black, fair-skinned black) would bring sea-change to the racial relations in US. As I never have any high hopes on Obama in this regard, I never experience the kind of let-down that an increasing number of people are feeling right now.

It's true that the number of problems plaguing this country are big and deep. To say the least, we have the Great Recession (mirroring Great Depression in the 1920s). There is the health care reform that no president seems to be able to overcome. There is declining quality in education system. With unemployment at 10%, people have plenty to worry about (eg. can we pay the bills this month), much less how the racial relations have been faring, as the "promised land" to the blacks by electing a black president to office. To me, if I had not known this president, I would not have known any of his policies or proposals to differentiate him, one way or the other, from his heritage or lineage. Afterall, he was Barry Obama before he got "religion," and he's whiter than more people would have given him credits for.

Indeed, the expectations on Obama can be almost unrealistic. Do the blacks really think that a black president is going to solve all their woes? Do they really think that, by having a black president, they have a ticket in life, by proxy? From my vantage point, I guess the only real difference is that, he can serve as a role model to black kids. But Obama will not solve the conundrum of broken families and abuses that alot of black kids suffer, nor the lower expectations that society has on them. (How many a times when standards are lowered, in the hope of letting the kids pass the "exam," so that they can graduate, rather than the other way round?)

In short, MLK's dream still resonates, because the blacks are far from reaching their promised lands. A president has to rule from the middle. It's unrealistic to expect to see much real change from Obama. Fundamental changes have to come from the bottom (ie. the people, the blacks themselves), and not from the top (Obama).