Barack Obama’s Incarceration

In the time that President Obama’s story has been told by narrators, biographers, critics, and himself, not once did anyone reach back into his history to talk about his incarceration.

Oh yes, he did time.

Eight years to be exact. He had a fancy cell, the same cell given to most people of his stature. He did his time in a beautiful White house, nice lawn, and the entire world watching his day to day activities.

He traveled the world during this incarceration biding his time as the world continued to watch. His warden? His detractors of course. They watched for any misstep on his behalf so that they could make his time worse. He was given parole on a rainy day in January while another man took his place.

Some people wouldn’t refer to the presidency as a jail but for the first Black president, in many ways it was. The restraints and limits placed on him were very much the same placed on prison inmates. Barack Obama had to walk this tightrope, careful not to sway to one side or another for fear that he would lose control and would be blamed for the ensuing riot that would surely follow.

It was always THEY. They told him who he could be around and who he couldn’t. The things he could talk about and the things he couldn’t talk about. Even down to his tan suit, he was criticized relentlessly.

He had to distance himself from people like the Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jesse Jackson because THEY thought that these people were too controversial. THEY brought up missteps that both men took throughout their lives, missteps that were no different than any other man who lived a life in politics and shaped culture. Men who were civil rights giants and de facto spokespeople for the Black community were forced to stand on the other side of the gate.

His pastor, who was caught saying some controversial things about the country, was called to the carpet for these statements but anxious white people tried to tie those same thoughts to him. He masterfully avoided this disaster and went on to begin his sentence.

Suddenly, people like Common were considered controversial because of rap lyrics. People who had never listened to rap music were now combing through lyrics of artists just to find something to hate Obama for. His comments on race were thoughtful, insightful, but at times were tame. To his detractors, they were divisive or not strong enough. Many people actually blame him for the race problem. They don’t seem to realize that one person could never have control over racism. Facts don’t seem to matter at this time.

Now there is a new president in town and his name is Trump. Since Obama’s parole, the new inmate has rewritten all the rules. No one talked to Trump’s pastor because he doesn’t have one. He never had one to begin with. Most of his cabinet positions are filled with highly controversial people that no one seems to blink an eye at. The man who sued the EPA now runs the agency. A woman who will do anything she can to destroy public education runs that agency.

He tweets disgusting insults at people all day long. He insults world leaders. He cozies up to dictators and human rights abusers. He reversed all of the previous inmate’s work on climate change and other important issues for the environment. He even called the White House “a dump”, made fun of people with disabilities, and believes that the Mexican heritage of a judge was reason enough to cloud his judgement.

This inmate has faced no consequences for any of his actions. Where Obama tiptoed, Trump is an walking, talking explosion. In the eight years that Obama held the most powerful office in the world, he was effectively imprisoned by his critics. The prison of politics.