Dr. Jason Johnson on the politics behind former President and First Lady Obama being the most admired man and woman. Other panel members are Aisha Moodie-Mills (Democratic Strategist) and host, Ari Melber.
Professor of Political Science. Politics Editor for The Root. Latest Book: Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell
Dr. Jason Johnson on the politics behind former President and First Lady Obama being the most admired man and woman. Other panel members are Aisha Moodie-Mills (Democratic Strategist) and host, Ari Melber.
I’m not unique when I say I have had a long and special relationship with First Lady Michelle Obama. It started way back in 2008 when I got so many robocalls from her to get out and vote that I thought Barack might get jealous. In the last eight years that non-existent fantasy relationship has grown, from watching her conquer the talk show circuit, to advocating for healthy kids and military families, and being arguably the only member of the Obama Administration that is resistant to Republican attacks. Just about every African American, Republican, Democratic, conservative or liberal has formed a special bond with this first lady. A woman who, regardless of the invective and hatred swirling around her husband and his administration, had remained one of the most statistically popular women in American politics.
Which is why, for one of the few times in my political career, I welled up last night, watching Michelle Obama give her last DNC convention speech as the first lady of the United States. Not just because it was the best speech of the night, but because we will never see someone else like her in our lifetimes.
The Democratic convention is a long and complicated place to spend time let alone observe changing politics. Philadelphia is having a heat wave this week, everyone is sweltering and the logistics of moving from various events to actually getting into the convention is like the worst citywide escape-the-room game you’ve ever been in. However in the midst of all of this, there was one name that people were buzzing about throughout the day: Michelle Obama. While there were of course talks of unity on the ground, throughout the city it was FLOTUS who more people were excited to ‘see,’ more-so than either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, which is telling. People wanted to hear what Sen. Bernie Sanders had to say, they wanted to hear what Elizabeth Warren had to say, but folks just wanted to make sure they were in the room when Michelle Obama got on stage to talk.
If you have never had the chance to see Michelle Obama speak live, I encourage you, at some point during this campaign season to drive, fly or run to see her. I am the last person to trot out the overused term #BlackGirlMagic but there is something immensely captivating and awe inspiring when you see FLOTUS enter the room. As she walked on stage, dressed in electric blue I looked at the crowds sitting next to me on either side and everybody sat up in their seats like their favorite teacher, aunt, mentor or boss they respected came into the room. And when she spoke, the words that FLOTUS brought to the audience were the perfect bridge between the angry Bernie Sanders supporters and the establishment Democrats who were already in for Hillary. As Michelle Obama spoke about teaching Sasha and Malia to be and do better than their father’s haters the room was filled with cheers. I only heard one disparate voice from the back corner and it wasn’t clear that it was a chant or a jeer, just a loud voice. Black folk, white folk, Asian folk, Arab folk, and everybody else were not here for any Michelle Obama shade. I seriously believe that had anyone tried to disrupt FLOTUS speech a few thousand people would have curb stomped the words “I’m with her” into the heckler’s face. If there is any question about the universality with which Michelle Obama is lauded and loved you only had to look at Twitter. Specifically Donald Trump’s timeline. He had slander to share about Corey Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Not a peep about Michelle Obama. Even Donald Trump knows who he can’t pick a fight with.
As I watched the speech I found myself welling up with tears, something that has happened to me only once before in my years of reporting and analyzing politics. Not thug tears, not tears of joy. I had those tears you cried when you were 7 years old and your mom dropped you off for summer camp and you realized you weren’t going to see her again all summer. Those tears. As FLOTUS talked about living in a house built by slaves where now her girls play with dogs on the White House lawn was more than just a generational come-up story. It was a narrative that I will never hear again for the rest of my life as an American. We are not likely to get another black woman in the White House like Michelle Obama. Oh, we might get a black VP and his wife. We might get some white man with a black or racially ambiguous wife living in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue; but a working class black woman from the South Side of Chicago who gives us representation and catharsis and hope and optimism and visibility like Michelle Obama? Never again.
This morning, I took a jog from my convention hotel to grab breakfast at the Cracker Barrel a few blocks down the street. A waitress and I got to chatting about both conventions and she asked me what I thought. I said all the policy neutral differences between the RNC and the DNC, the kind of thing you say to give people the comfort and freedom to share their beliefs. However this middle aged white woman in her Cracker Barrel apron and plaid shirt was having none of that.
I just smiled and nodded in agreement. Michelle Obama is a classy lady, and the only one that we’ll ever see that makes us feel proud, validated and confident all at once. I just wish it wasn’t so bitter sweet to watch her last hurrah.
This article originally appeared online at The Root.
On WOIO-TV CBS News in Cleveland, political science professor Jason Johnson discusses the allegation the Meredith McIver was responsible for the plagiarized portions of Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention.
On CNN from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, The Root Politics Editor Jason Johnson discusses the fallout from Melania Trump’s convention speech and accusations that she plagiarized from Michelle Obama.
The importance of Valentine’s Day, like birthdays, graduations, Christmas and straight-A report cards, changes significantly as you get older. When you’re in elementary school, Valentine’s Day is an obligatory dropping of cheap paper cards into construction-paper boxes in front of everybody’s desk. In high school, perhaps an elaborate purchase of helium balloons that you have to carry around awkwardly from math class to first lunch. By the time you reach adulthood, the magic is kinda gone. If you’re dating, you get to spend twice as much for the same meal at Intermezzo as you spent there last Saturday, and if you’re single, don’t even try to get a table; they’re booked.
One of the other traditions around Valentine’s Day are obligatory think pieces about whether black love is alive or dead or on life support or can be saved only if we get down with the swirl. Generally I think these articles are cheap racialized clickbait, and before you start forwarding “Rachel Dolezal’s Advice for Black Women on Valentine’s Day” on Facebook, there is actually some very positive information out there about black love.
So if you’re looking to spice up your conversation on the most romantic weekend of the year, or wanting to shut down some cynical friends, here are five black-love stats for Valentine’s Day 2016.
1. Having a job equals finding a date.
Thanks to President Barack Obama, more and more African Americans will probably have dates for Valentine’s Day in 2016 than at any point in the last 10 years. Why? Because black unemployment is the lowest it’s been in a decade, and studies show that most people meet their significant others and eventual spouses at work.
2. The club is jumping in your 30s.
Long before she was in an abusive relationship in Scandal, Kerry Washington played a temptress to Chris Rock in the underrated movie I Think I love My Wife. At the film’s climax, Washington, who’s been the hot girl her whole life, admits that things have hit a standstill. She says that as beautiful as she is when she goes out, men will still gravitate toward 20-somethings, which leads her to the horrifying concluding monologue: “Then it hit me. You know, I’m 32 years old. I’m the old bitch at the club now. Think it was the first time in my life I was talking to a man who wasn’t even thinking about f–king me.”
3. Computer love is real.
The explosion of niche dating sites has actually increased the dating and marriage prospects of African Americans in recent years. Black dating sites have been responsible for an increasing number of couplings over the last five years in America, in many cases connecting black folks in cities where meeting other people of color can be a challenge. A 2014 study from the University of Kansas concluded, “[M]arried couples who met through social networking sites were younger, married more recently and more likely to be African-American compared with those who met through other online locations. Compared to those who met offline, the social networking couples were also younger, married more recently and more likely to be male, African-American or Hispanic and frequent Internet users with higher incomes.”
So rather than focusing on all the doomsayers who claim that online dating is a vast, horriblewasteland for African Americans (and black women in particular), maybe the issue isn’t online dating, it’s the place where you’re swiping left or right.
4. The numbers add up.
I’m just going to lay out the most basic facts here regarding African-American marriages. There is no explosion of black men marrying white (or Latina or Asian) women. There is no mass exodus of black women chasing after white men (“TGIT” storylines notwithstanding). If anything, perhaps through technology, an improving economy, or Barack and Michelle Obama’s good example, black dating and marriage numbers are on the rise:
Put another way: For African-American women with college degrees, only about 5.3 percent are married to white men, and for those without a college education, only 2 percent are married to white men. The numbers are similar for African-American men. The point is, for richer or poorer, the numbers say that black folks are choosing their own up and down the economic ladder.
5. We’re in a golden age of celebrity black marriages.
Not since the days of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis has the status symbol of a strong black marriage been so powerful in African-American popular culture. Consider the 1960s and ’70s, when black celebrities like Richard Pryor, Sidney Poitier, Tina Turner and Diahann Carroll either never married black folks or dropped them when success hit. Compare that with today’s millennial and Generation X celebrities and notable folks. Outside of Barack and Michelle, you’ve got Will and Jada, Boris and Ari, Jay Z and Beyoncé—heck, Dwyane Wade left one black wife for another, and Russell Wilson pulled a reverse Kanye right after he won the Super Bowl.
This article originally appeared online at The Root.
Dr. Jason Johnson is a professor, political analyst and public speaker. Fresh, unflappable, objective, he is known for his ability to break down stories with wit and candor. Johnson is the author the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, a tenured professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland and Politics Editor at TheRoot.com. Dr. Johnson has an extensive public speaking and media background ranging from … [Read More...] about About Jason Johnson