Obama's Ebonics

SAMUEL L. JACKSON is a well known American actor, African American if memory serves, (I lose track of actors, celebrities, etc.) and, like many american actors, seems to feel that his status as a celebrity requires that he make public comments about political matters. Hollywood types are often outspoken liberals, and Jackson was and probably still is a supporter of President Barrack Hussein Obama. That doesn't stop Samual L from offering criticism of the president. Jackson recently said that Obama tries to talk like a good ole boy, just plain folks, and that it is phony, and unpresidential, to boot. Wow. Pretty heavy stuff. Obama does indeed like to throw in a good portion of slang, and informal expressions which seem down home common unintellectual man, whereas Obama himself is a well educated Ivy Leaguer. But phony? I mean, it isn't as if all past presidents have always spoken and behaved with perfect presidential formality. Thomas Jefferson came to the front door of the White House in night clothes and uncombed hair. Harry Truman would fill your ears with blue language, when he found reason. Nixon was always talking about "cold cocking" somebody. (in private , not public, but, so what?). Ah, c'mon, Sammy, get a life. Laugh a little! Have some fun! Sometimes, just for fun, I throw in a little added southern accent, sometimes i try to sound like a New Yorker, and sometimes I try on my best Cockney. But its all in good fun, done in a spirit of admiration, not with any malice, intended to be funny, not abrasive. What Obama does is lapse into a sort of street black rap talk, but only for a few seconds at a time. I find is charming, honest, and refreshing, but certainly not artificial or phony. After all, he is one half black, has been immersed mainly in the black culture, more so than the white crowd, throghout most of his life. Obama has lived, permit me to say, more like a black man than a white man, at least, in terms of his chosen social circles. Now, of course, as president, he is thrust straight into the world of whitey, and seems to do fine. But his blackness is predominant. After all, we Aericans all call our president "black", when in fact he is equally white. Throughout American history, people with any "black blood" whatsoever, even people who are only one eigth black, for instance, have been considered "black", amazingly enough. Once you taint that pure white blood with black blood, they aint good enough to be considered white, so they are automatically black. That's the way it was for hundreds of years, and though we've evolved now, the fact that we call Obama "black" everytime is a lingering residue of past racism. But we're doing better now. And if our president likes to sound just a bit ebonic from time to time, what the hell? Hell, he comes by it honestly.