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Obama's Influence In The Sports World: Why The Right Has A Big Decision To Make On Race

[media id=6774] After Watching Brandon Marshall almost pull out a white and black glove to celebrate the unity he feels in America with the election
[media id=6774] After Watching Brandon Marshall almost pull out a white and black glove to celebrate the unity he feels in America with the election of Barack Obama as President at the end of the Cleveland-Denver game after he scored the winning touch down last Thursday, I realized something...
"Barak Obama's election as the 44th president of the United States is a tremendous symbol of unity," Marshall said. "I want to create that symbol of unity because Obama inspires me... In my own way I wanted to pay respect to our nation that we've made so I got a white glove and painted it black, half and half. It's not about "It notabout black power, it's not about white or black, it's about U.S.A. red, white and blue. But Stokely came over and said it's too close a ball game, you might get flagged....
The American Right has a big decision to make as we move forward in the history of America and as Obama takes office. They can revert back to the Lee Atwater school of politics and try to tear this country apart or they can re-brand themselves and start over. I have a feeling that they will take every opportunity they can to highlight bad behavior by African Americans and other minorities, kind of like FOX News on Election Day, promoting the phony Black Panthers story in Philly that was meant to scare whites. It was the same throughout the 2008 campaign. So the Right can do just like they did with Willie Horton and nearly every presidential election since -- or they can take the high road, rebuild, move away from the Christian conservatives and become a more moderate party. I was interviewed by the NY Daily News Sports columnist Michael O'Keefe and we talked about what the impact of Obama's victory on Nov. 4th would have in the sports world. I knew that his election would spark a very positive reaction, but now I see it will have an even bigger impact. Obama has a chance to reach a new generation of voters through sports figures who were never touched by politics previously. When have you ever heard Tiger Woods make a political statement before?
"I think it's absolutely incredible," Woods told CNBC. "He represents America. He's multiracial. I was hoping it would happen in my lifetime. My father was hoping it would happen in his lifetime, but he didn't get to see it. I'm lucky enough to have seen a person of color in the White House." When asked by the cable news outlet how his father Earl would have reacted to Obama's election as the 44th President of the United States, Woods didn't hesitate. "He would have cried. Absolutely. No doubt about it."
More and more athletes will speak out about how proud they feel that Obama was elected just like Brandon Marshall and Tiger Woods did. We've talked about the youth vote before when discussing actual voter turnout, but Obama really can have an impact I think on future generations of voters with the help of these role models for the young. And yes, they are role models for many kids... All minorities are standing up tall today, and that is bad business for Republicans. How will they deal with it? I think you already know, but we can all still hope they don't go down that path...
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