Friendly reminder to Obama: "Do you."

By Chris Rabb

I am not a high-priced, nationally-recognized Democratic political guru like Mark Penn, James Carville, or David Axelrod.

I am a mere mortal not blessed with modest intelligence wrapped in the seductive candy-coating of white male privilege.

I do, however, know this: Obama needs to dunk on camera . . . often!

No, I don't mean dunking donuts in a good cup of "joe" at the corner diner in Smalltown, Pennsylvania just before it's time for the hard-scrabbled blue collar folk have to clock in at the local factory and whose votes Obama covets on April 22nd and beyond.

I mean: Take that rock to the hole, Black man!

Assuredly, his various advisors don't want to draw too much attention to him being Black and all -- particularly since the Pastor Wright debacle. But if there's one kind of Black guy almost all White working class guys like, it's ballers.

In fact, if you looked on the walls of 10,000 random rec rooms of White working class homes in exurbia and rural America, I'd bet you'd find nearly as many Black sports heroes on their walls than you would see White swimsuit models.

More importantly, you'd find more Black ballers posterizing White boys than White boys holding black bowling balls.

I get it: working class White guys bowl.

Guess what? Obama's no working class White guy.

He can spend the rest of his campaign through the Democratic Convention working on his form. But no matter how much he improves his bowling game, it will still be bowling.

And say what you like about what White working classfolk are in to. The simple fact remains that White guys do not live vicariously through professional bowlers -- be they White or Black (assuming there were Black professional bowlers).

Quiet as it's kept, many millions of White guys dream of being Black basketball players. And whatever draw bowling may have on that demographic, it will never surpass the beauty and catharsis of basketball. And it is this game that will indelibly mark Obama's viability and unique vitality in this race for president.

Simply put, Obama's got game and needs to show it. Racial stereotypes be damned!

I remember that scene on the tarmac back in the spring of 2004 when John Kerry and John Edwards tossed around the pigskin between campaign stops. It was Camelot 2.0. It was a thing of beauty, perhaps shallow beauty. But I knew that for many Americans -- men in particular, I think -- it was a reassuring thing to see otherwise rich Beltway politicos do what so many guys are programmed from pre-pubescence to learn: how to throw a good spiral. I'm not saying this highly gendered programming is right. I'm stating that it is what it is. And if Obama's true to himself, he'd be gripping a basketball -- not clumsily flinging a bowling ball.

Wind-surfing? Not so much.

Yes, basketball is a highly racialized sport. Yes, seeing Obama dunk on some unsuspecting Secret Service agent may make some subset of the White male electorate a bit self-conscious. But for the majority of American voting-age men, seeing Obama handle his business on the court will not in the least bit alienate him from his faux image as the first (Black) post-racial presidential candidate. In fact, it will racialize him in a way that insulates him the most from the vicissitudes of modern American racism. It will make Obama that Black guy who's the best positioned for White America to love: that charismatic, non-threatening Black athlete (who just happens to be smart).

Forget Obama the constitutional law professor. Forget Obama the civil rights attorney or community organizer. Forget the Ivy-educated Halfrican whose long-time pastor too many Whitefolk believe hates America.

Just let him clutch that rock, and all else will fade away when Obama drains it from the top of the key.

NOTE TO AXELROD: Let Obama shoot every chance he gets -- and in front of as many cameras that can fit into whatever high school gymnasium he visits in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana and Kentucky.

Leave the bowling to Billary and McCain.

Why? Because Obama's athleticism on the court will be a slam dunk for him in at the polls. It ain't rocket science. But that doesn't make it any less true.

So, Barack: Lace up and "do you," bruh!

Comments

[Jaime Frontero]

Oh.

Are you right or what?

Now me, I lost sports a long time ago. Once upon a time the Vikes lost their fourth Super Bowl, everything moved indoors to get away from the inconvenience of cold and snow; and it all, finally, faded from my heart.

In '69 the Universe was made whole forever when the Mets took the Series - but after that, what was the point? Perfection had already been achieved.

And when I was but a lad of ten, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and The Stilt were paid the greatest cross-Atlantic tribute since Churchill welshed on a debt, by Johnny Tillotson - singing "Poetry In Motion." I mean, that's what the song was about - right? But I couldn't even tell you if there's still a team called The Lakers...

Eh - what can I say? It was the sixties, and I was up for a different kind of draft. So politics became my contact sport.

That's the tint of the glasses through which I look at the good Senator Obama. Just an old white guy from New York City, beat up and gassed one too many times by bad cops and young, trembling National Guardsmen - who understands that the sports metaphor is really a fancy expression for the idea of Bread and Circuses.

We spend way too much time watching the stuff, and nowhere near enough time time doing it. But Senator Obama? Well, he got game. All kinds of game, wrapped up in that skinny, long-fingered frame. Best I've seen since RFK, hands down. Not even close.

So yeah, you're right. Hell, he should probably make 3x3 a standing bit at every campaign stop he does. It connects him. More importantly, it connects him to the people who need that connection - the ones who aren't sure yet. Bread and Circuses have their place, in the overall reality of politics. For some people, that's all they see (n.b., see Bush, George W. ...).

So touch 'em all, Senator. Touch 'em all...

Oh, and say? If you happen to hear that Obama is gonna go one on one with Mark Penn, can I watch? Huh? Huh?

JF

[Homer]

Just curious, how do you know the guy's got game? Don't ssume just because he is black he is a balla ... and by the way, it is ballaz, not ballers ... you want street cred, you need to get the lingo right.

[Elana]

Chris, you are totally on to something here! Great post.

[Kitch]

Think he could take Bill Bradley?

[H Goodman]

Chris,
Here's a blog you ought to know about, giving a nice shout-out to your post of today:
cheers,

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/oldschoolblues/blog/2008/04/i_am_getting_more_intuned.html