Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 01:35 pm
On his HBO show Bill Maher explained the right’s desperate need to beat Obama in 2012, and why a second Obama term is more important for African-Americans than his first.
Here is the video via Mediaite:
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Maher said, “Obama obviously against Romney. I think the second term for Obama is even more important than the first term. If the first black president only has one term, America reads that as a failure. This is what the right wing hopes and prays for more than anything else. America looks at this one-term president and goes, ‘We tried a black guy, but it just didn’t work.’ And I think Obama is aware of that. That’s why I think he is so conservative in the first term. He knows for the sake of black America he needs a second term.”
It is a sad reality, but Bill Maher has a point. Obama’s critics still claim to this day that the novelty factor is the only reason that he won in 2008. While it’s true that all presidents seek validation by winning a second term, but President Obama is carrying a heavier burden. This president’s reelection campaign may very well validate the idea that an African-American can be a successful president.
It is astounding that as a nation, the United States is in a position where the validity of the concept of electing minorities to the highest office in the land is up for debate, but this is where a loud and vocal segment of the right has chosen to make their last stand. Make no mistake about it, 2012 is their last stand. Republicans understand that their behavior and positions on African-Americans, Hispanics, and women will make very difficult for the party to win a presidential election if Barack Obama wins in 2012.
There will be no “novelty” excuse for the right if Obama wins reelection. If Obama is able to win a second term powered by a coalition of young voters, African-Americans, women, Hispanics, and other minorities, it will signal the official demise of the small tent angry white man Republican Party. The nomination of Mitt Romney makes perfect sense when viewed from this perspective. Romney is the walking, talking, living, breathing embodiment of angry conservative white male privilege.
Obama’s first victory was historic, but his second victory will change the way our nation views presidential candidates. The door won’t be kicked open for all minorities. It is a travesty that this nation has not yet elected a female president, but a secret unspoken bias will be shattered with an Obama win in 2012. After eight years of Obama’s leadership, there would never again be nothing unusual about African-American president.
Maher was correct. A second Obama victory is more important than the first. President Obama himself represents a form of progress that the right is desperate to stop. If Obama wins reelection that progress will not be denied, and the privileged white male will forever have to share his formerly exclusive lease on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with everyone else, and as Bill Maher put it this is what the right is hoping and praying does not happen.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
