Dear Black Folks, Raise Your Standards, Love, Basil

There’s a new poll out. And it shows that the president’s approval rating isn’t all that great.

Except among Blacks.

According to the latest Gallup Poll (tip: Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket), 91% of Blacks approve of the job Obama is doing, compared to 36% for Whites.

What?

91%?

Really, Black Folks?

Sometimes, I just don’t understand.

I grew up in southeast Georgia, where Blacks made up 40% of the population. We went to school together, played together, went to church together… But do I really understand Blacks?

Hell, I don’t understand my sisters, so understanding Blacks? That may be too much to ask.

Still, I did learn early on that Blacks and Whites do some things differently.

Like playing the card game Tonk. Or playing checkers with Flying Kings. And, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you don’t know Black Folks. Or Black Folks in the south, anyway.

Little things like that made me aware that different people … are different.

Now, it’s not just different races that do things different. Wife’s family, mostly from Alabama, for instance, has some really strange ways of playing Dominoes.

And that fits with what I learned early on: different people, whether of different races, different sexes, different locations, do and think things different from one another.

So, I suppose I’m not all that surprised that Blacks have a different opinion of Barack Obama’s job performance.

But, a difference of 91% to 36% in Obama’s approval rating? That’s more than “playing checkers with Flying Kings” different.

I suspect there’s a little bit of the whole “Black man done good” thing going on.

Only, here’s the thing: he ain’t doing all that good. And he ain’t all that Black.

It’s been a couple of years now. Time to get over that “proud of what that Black man done” thing when it comes to Obama.

Because, Obama is doing nothing positive for Blacks.

Think about this: If a politician from Georgia ran for president, what’s the first thing people would think? I’ll tell you: Jimmy Carter.

It’d be hard for someone from Georgia to get elected president. And this is nearly 30 years after Carter left office. Carter spoiled it for Sam Nunn, Zell Miller, and others who might have made decent presidents. And who knows how long it will be before any politician from Georgia could run for president and people not wonder if he’d be another Jimmy Carter?

What does that mean for Blacks? Barack Obama is the Black Jimmy Carter. Obama is screwing it up for other Blacks. He’s doing a sucky job at president. Not because he’s Black, but because he’s an incompetent fool. Just like Jimmy Carter.

So, to my Black friends — and to Blacks that aren’t my friends — that still think Obama is doing a good job: open your eyes.

And raise your standards.


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14 Comments

  1. Great post, Frank. It would have been even funnier if you submitted it as “Basil”, though. That one always gets me.

    In 2012, candidates will have to explain how much they’re not incompetent self-absorbed commies.

  2. Flying Kings always made perfect sense to me, they work just like the Queen in chess(sort of) but I have never understood why it is necessary to slam the cards hard enough to dent the table top when playing Tonk.

    Then again, blacks don’t usually deep-fry snickers, but I do!

    The difference is: I look at the president and see a RED, black people see a black man.

    Always remember that it is our diversity that makes us all different.

  3. Pingback: BasilsBlog

  4. Dear Black Folks, Raise Your Standards, Love, Basil…

    Good luck. The ‘intellectuals’ and racists that voted him in(black and white) are all going to vote for him again. They’ve already lost the bet. They backed the losing horse, and they know they’ve lost. Now its all about pride. They’ll vote to keep their pride intact while riding their sinking ship to the bottom shouting ‘racist’ and corporate whore’ all the way down, rather than admit they were wrong and that they voted for BHO because he was black and not Bush(pbuh). So, once again, it will be up to the squishy middle, the voters who have no pride, to swing back away from the left and do the right thing. ALL HAIL THE SQUISHY MIDDLE!!!!

  5. “Barack Obama is the Black Jimmy Carter. Obama is screwing it up for other Blacks. ”

    I told this to my black friends and family. They wondered why a black man wouldn’t vote for the first viable black presidential candidate. It’s willful ignorance as a means of maintaining ‘racial solidarity’.

    ‘Racial solidarity’ of today has its origins with the institutionalized racism of the past. Because of the collective suffering of black people across the nation, any measure of success by black individuals was regarded as a collective win. Standing in solidarity with these individuals was further needed because of the intense opposition they faced from the racists. It was necessary… for a time. As blacks were emboldened to act in defense of their civil rights, ‘racial solidarity’ began to extend to those believed to be wrongly accused or otherwise wronged by the system. Eventually, it morphed into the race huxterism of today. It’s why groups of black people were shown shouting for joy at OJ’s acquittal. It’s why so many voted for and still believe in Obama despite everything that would convince them to the contrary were he white. It’s become a cultural blindness to reality that has rendered by fellow black folks a political slave class.

    It’s truly sad.

  6. Spot on, Basil! Mebbe there’s something else going on here. When you play team Tonk with the Flying Kings Rule, you root for your own team even if your Tonker misses an opportunity for the coveted Triple Tonk Play. Rooting for the home team may not be in your long term best interests, but it seems to make sense at the time.

    Then again, I was a Southern Baptist when Jimmy Carter was elected and thought it was a good thing although I was too young to vote at the time. By the time his term was up, I was a staunch Goldwater/Reagan conservative and realized the damage that Carter had done.

  7. Something I have never understood. For as long as I can remember (I’m 38), blacks have voted Democratic. And for as long as I can remember, the quality of life for black Americans has been in decline. Why haven’t they associated the two?

  8. Son of Bob, please stop stereotyping. I am black, but I am not part of a monolith. I have never played “Grand Theft Auto.” Learn some history! This black person you are telling that to has a degree in history and political science.

    Scoodo, I have 21 years on you. My quality of life has not gone down despite the times I voted Democrat (something I no longer do).

  9. Good article I will say.I must admit a bit one-sided but its the typical thing One should expect.It always seems very funny to me how people forget that Obama did not create the problems that this country are dealing with,they were inherited.Why didnt you same people complain when Bush was in office bringing the country to its knees literally.I guess you were to busy on you alls knees.Black,white,red,it doesnt matter,at least Obama tries.Basil keep doing what you do,we need more people like you to let the world know just how ignorant american citizens can be.thank you for the entertaining article.

    [Did you notice that Bush didn’t have a 91% approval rating with Whites and a 36% approval rating with Blacks? Wonder why that was?

    And anyone that says the problems we face today are Bush’s fault shows just how ignorant some people are.

    By the way, if you’re going to write, spell, and punctuate like that, you might want to save up for a “Frank Responds To Spam Comments” post. Then you could sneak it in with those that are writing poorly on purpose. – B. ]

  10. With poll numbers like 91% of blacks approve of Obama, there are only two conclusions that can be arrived at. Either blacks, as a block, are so racist as to care about race above all else, or blacks, as a block, hate America and approve of Obama destroying it.

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