Sojourner Obama

Petar Pismestrovic, Kleine Zeitung

I look all white,
but my dad was black
--Substitute, the Who

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
Let us sing a song of cheer again
--Happy Days are Here Again,
Ager & Yellen

If women want any rights more than they's got,
why don't they just take them,
and not be talking about it
--Sojourner Truth
_____________

You may call this a bit of piffle, but it is piffle with an edge. Again, this is not about Obama per se, but about the media's take.

In his Bumpy Road Ahead for a Traveller, the WaPo's David Ignatius likens Barack Obama to Sojourner Truth, and finds his sassy wife, "comforting'. "Obama has been the sojourner" he says, finally finding his proper manifestation at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Quoting from Obama's recent 60 Minutes interview,

"Obama's reality check will come from his wife, Michelle. When he told Kroft that she had asked him on election night if he was going to take the kids to school the next day, she broke in: "I didn't say that." When he claimed that he liked washing the dishes, she interjected: "You? Since when was it ever soothing for you to wash the dishes?"

You've got to like that. And you have to believe that a man who can smile while his wife lovingly, genially puts him in his place is a pretty sane guy. In this transition time, when the traveler is finally about to reach his destination, that's reassuring.

What silly rhetoric. A man who can smile during this harangue might be sane, or might not. He could be a wife-abuser, just waiting until he gets behind closed doors. I am not saying he is; wife Michelle looks like she can take care of herself. It is just more inane supposition, and a double-standard compared to the press's treatment of women in the recent past.

In Ignatius's reverie, Sojourner Obama is arriving at his destiny on the loving wings of his partner. But another way to see this is through a Clintonian lens: this is a woman who's "Not gonna stand by her man." To see cracks in the veneer in a snide challenge. When Hillary took this stance, she was severely chided for being a shrewish harpy.

Perhaps Mrs. Obama is a woman like French PM Sarkozy's former wife, Cecilia, who will do as she pleases, absenting herself from onerous State functions, and perhaps even walking off.

Alas, the latter is probably too French. Still -- must a woman's power always originate from the fringes, from her subtle digs and keeping her big male ship afloat? Has our progress been to accept such behavior, patronizingly viewing it as endearing versus attacking it as an untenable male challenge?

If 20 years has wrought that change, let us see if it adheres across the board.