In response to several Emails requesting clarification, EMR sets the record straight:
There are fewer degrees of separation between EMR and the President-Elect Barack Obama than with any occupant of the White House since Jimmy Carter. In this case it is not understanding Carters time in public office – especailly as Governor of Georgia – but the context in which Obama grew up.
Sen. Obama graduated from Punahou School. It was two graduates of Punahou (Class of ‘59) while attending the University of Montana who convinced EMR he should consider going to the University of Hawaii.
EMR was studying philosophy, mathematics and architecture at U of H when Barack Obama Sr. met his future wife there. Hawaii in the 1960 was not a comfortable place for Africans or African Americans. It was in some contexts a more tolerant place for children of mixed heritage but not for inter-racial marriages, especially involving Africans or African Americans.
In Hawaii published in 1959 , James Michener had glorified the racial equanimity of Hawaii. In the Fall of 1960 EMR met Michener at a small party and observed that EMR had found extreme racial profiling and tension as a student, a construction worker, bar tender and as a consumer in the Aloha state.
It was a small party and Michener seemed to take this input into serious consideration. As we all know, Michener who had moved his permanent home to Hawaii, later repudiated the cosmopolitan “golden man” idea because of the treatment his Asian American wife recieved. He moved to the Phildelphia New Urban Region.
The relevance of this? Growing up in Hawaii gave Barack Obama the perspecitve, social skills and mental toughness that could not have been obtained growing up in the oft cited crucibles of the civil rights movement. This background prepared him for the path he has taken and will serve him well in the future.
Our time in Hawaii included working as the house and yard man (not “boy,” please) for a very prominent member of the medical profession (Punahou Class of 1927) and forming friendships with a range of individuals. An inquiry or two would yield a single degree of separation.
The more important thing is that after living in Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia EMR can still say it was in Hawaii where Barack Obama grew up that race and color were the most important economic and social parameters. (Living in Mass. Mont and Calif only provide perspective :>)
By the way, the Hawaiian Islands provide incredible lessons on human settlement pattern too – if you know where to look and what you are looking at.
Obama was the best qualified person running for president in 2008. We hope that 100 years from now he is considered the best President the US of A has ever had. Given the magnitude of the problems he faces, he has that opportunity.
But the HYPE is not going to help. Hype, frenzy and in-your-face celebration as well as “we will beat the crap out of those that are aganist us next time” declartions attracts nut cases like the one who shot the President who was elected in the year Barack Obama Sr. met his future wife.
Let us hope the Agency employees hired to protect the President are better qualified than those hired to protect citizens of the Gulf Coast – “Heck of a job Brownie.” See “Katrina Yet Again” 8 September 2008.
The HYPE also attracts readers and viewers and sells advertising. It does not make the job of achieving a sustainable trajectory for civilization any easier.
How hard will that job be? Check the Business section of today’s WaPo – “The New President and the Economy” or yesterdays and today’s GVI (aka, the Dow Jones Gambling Venue Index).
And who will be helping him? See the bottom of the page the Business section. Obama’s inside advisors will include Jason Furman who says Wal*Mart is “a progressive success story.” See “Learning from Big Boxes” in THE PROBLEM WITH CARS.
Hope that clarifies EMR’s perspective.
EMR