Obama is Living in the Past

Obama’s speech is mainly about the inequality that still exists between the different races present in the United States of America. He talked about the history of America and how it used to be a prejudice country even though the core documents of the country said that all men were created equal. Obama says that prejudice is still a problem in the American community and that the United States of America has to work to get rid of it. The practical implications or consequences of this speech are that Obama will seek to create more laws and acts to integrate racial mixing more into the lives of Americans.

Obama believes that the “white man” still resides on top of the “black man” socially and economically. He thinks that the American people are not equal and that the problem cannot be ignored. The problem though apparently has no ready solution though as Barack Obama gives no solutions to it and his only comment remains that these problems cannot be ignored.

Obama states “This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.” Then immediately says “that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.” This sounds to me like a contradiction, Obama tells first of all that blacks and whites are not working together to be a better community. This statement is one that is false. In American culture today you see white men and black men completely mixed into the community. There is no real pattern of white men always working above black men or black men in higher financial positions that white men. Both groups have equal opportunities in the America that we know today.

Barack Obama also states that the racial problem we have now cannot be solved in one election cycle. He leads the audience to believe that the prejudice problem is one that will be fixed by the government. And that the American people are not responsible or decent enough to learn to accept other races and cultures without the government intervening and forcing them to do so in many times unpleasant and frequently embarrassing ways. He then says a baffling line which states that it is as easy to fix the problem as working together. This “answer” is extremely ambiguous and leaves no clues as to what will actually fix the problem. And the statement also contradicts his immediately preceding declaration that the racial barriers will take many elections to heal.

Barack seems to me to be beating an old irrelevant drum. The drum that makes a man sound righteous because of his belief in human rights. He is telling us that the government will make many more laws to “end discrimination”. This cause is one that at one time was very important and had a major purpose for being debated. After all legal matters involved in discrimination were fixed the subject became more so a part of the past.

Now Obama is telling us that it is not enough to give equal opportunities to the white men and the black men but that they must be completely equal. This is something that shouldn’t be forced by the government. There are many examples of white men and black men coming from disadvantageous back rounds and succeeding in their lives financially and socially. They happen because both races have equal rights under the government. When the government makes it easier though for a person from a minority to gain entry to a college than another non minority person it is discrimination inherently.

The new “anti-discrimination” laws that have been seen lately are so in favor of the races that were once oppressed that they give them an unfair advantage of the other races. The government should just make sure that there are no institutions in place to take advantage of people because of their race and not do too much to make the races perfectly equal.

Obama needs to focus on the problems that Americans face today. When the problems of one or a few races, instead of the whole, are elevated to make sure they have the same rights as everyone else and laws are made to do so. You inherently make them more important than the rest.

Obama to Make Everyone Equal

Obama’s speech on March 18, 2008 was a speech that will change the way Americans interact with each other and make everyone more equal. Obama told us how black Americans are still deprived of the equality they seek. Obama is going to try to fix these problems with equality if he is elected. The practical implications or consequences of these actions are more equality in the American culture.

Obama tells us how the black people and white people are still not equal even though they were made legally equal back in the civil rights period. He tells how the black man may not have recovered still from the prejudice that he had to deal with many years ago. And how he might still be suffering from the disadvantages he once had.

"But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination.” This struggle against the force that once held the black men back is one that can be a very hard one. The struggle and the possible failure of the person struggling have created resentment within some members of the black community. They feel that they are still being cheated of the life they could have by the racism of the past. They must be able to get the equal rights that they were promised but feel they did not full receive.

In order to receive the same rights though sometimes they must be given advantages. They receive scholarships based on their race even though whites do not have these scholarships and colleges are many times pressured into choosing their classes based more on race makeup than grades and test scores.

“In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race“. These Americans are angry because they feel that they are not receiving equal opportunities when other races are given advantages when applying and attending college.

That is why Obama wants to make the American people equal, because they are not. He tells us to work together so that we will not be a prejudiced nation anymore. That is what we should do to live in peace. We should make sure all races remain equal even if we have to give one advantages over the other to do it.