Two Black Role Models Done In By Hubris

SemiCharmedQuark

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Thu Dec-17-09 09:59 AM
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Two Black Role Models Done In By Hubris

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In the past few weeks, the two most famous and arguably most successful black men in America have taken a huge fall. It has become clear that both pro golfer Tiger Woods, just named Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press, and the American president, Barack Obama, the first black person to lead the country, suffer from a surfeit of hubris which has finally caught up with them. If both men somehow thought they were untouchable, they have been put to right. Both have crashed to earth and it may well be true that they can never recover their earlier status again.

While Woods' "indiscretions" affect only himself and his family, he has felt the sting of the media invasion and a permanent loss of privacy. His reputation as sport's good family guy is gone. For Barack Obama the honeymoon is really over, even those who wanted to give him a chance are getting tired of what is not getting done, what was promised and reneged on. There is disappointment enough in both of them.

It is tragic when an icon falls. When a black icon stumbles the tragedy seems doubly problematic. Mike Tyson, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jackson were all at the tops of their fields before revelations that made them less palatable as heroes and less of a role model for young black men. They have all been partially rehabilitated but not without a huge cost.

And now while the news if full of Tiger Woods' penchant for tawdry moments with women who can't hold a candle to the physical beauty of his wife, the information we get on Obama, while far less salacious, is even more disillusioning. The expectations of real change that had people in tears a little over a year have been so thoroughly dashed that too many of his supporters feel betrayed by their naiveté; they feel, as I do, almost foolish for believing that the status quo could really be kicked out the door. Is it even possible for our national landscape to change? Can we really progress from a country of individuals all looking for their stake to a country that actually has the notion that a stake for everyone means more for all? Having worked for weeks and months for Obama, having written glowingly about his oratory skills and his ability to gather even the disenfranchised together, as well as capture that ephemeral youth vote, I stood at rallies and allowed myself that enormous surge of hope that connected me with the rest of the country. But what was our choice?

Even though many voted for Obama simply out of fury with the policies of the last eight years, there were more who truly put their faith in him that he could, with a majority vote and a majority in Congress, really get so many of the things done that the Democrats had been promising to do for years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-solod-warren/two-black-role-models-don_b_394421.html