I caught the end of a segment CNN host Rick Sanchez just did on President Obama’s trip to Canada, and I was a bit stunned. It seems that, after all this time, some people are still amazed that President Obama is … articulate.
Sanchez and Time columnist Joe Klein marveled that the president, on his first international trip as leader of our country, would be so comfortable and that he wouldn’t goof it up. Their premise? That because Obama is a black man with an unconventional background, he should somehow almost be expected to stumble. I could not believe my ears that I was hearing two learned men, men who have been around the block themselves, marvel that Barack Obama could handle himself in public.
I think both men do good work, but this exchange between the two was a bit strange. That they marveled that Obama would be an African American – raised by white grandparents and a mother who spent time abroad — and still manage to behave while meeting the Canadian prime minister was a little weird.
I know the two men were kind of trying to be complimentary and admire President Obama’s composure in an “oh, he’s so articulate” kind of way, but the very fact that this was the conversation was pretty astounding.
We as individuals are more than the sum of the little boxes we check on government forms: black, white, other, male, female, young, old. We are beings who can excel beyond stereotypes or the notions of others, based on our own experiences and capabilities.
Why would it be news that President Obama behaved presidentially when visiting another world leader, a peer? What else would he do?
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