Published: June 08, 2008 12:22 am            

MARK BENNETT: Obama’s rise proves America can change for the better.

Anyone doubting that should read a newspaper from the day they were born.

TERRE HAUTE — America changed.

For the past year, those questions got beaten around — “Is the country ready for a woman president?” and “Is the country ready for a black president?”

Unless 21st-century Americans reject the foundations this nation rests upon, particularly the belief that we’re all created equal, then of course the country is “ready.” The historic primary season proved that a woman, Hillary Clinton, and a black man, Barack Obama, could successfully pursue a major-party nomination for president. When the primaries ended last week, Obama had edged Clinton as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee.

Their duel attracted record voter turnouts. Many of those millions were simply “ready” for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton to become president.

This fall, the question should be, “Is the country ready for Obama or Republican John McCain to be president?” Is the nation ready for Obama’s plan to redeploy U.S. troops out of Iraq and strengthen forces in Afghanistan, or McCain’s plan to keep the U.S. military in Iraq until the Iraqis can secure their land by themselves? Is the nation ready for McCain’s or Obama’s economic proposals? Which guy has the best chance of steering the U.S. away from its foreign oil dependency?

Such important questions make “Is the country ready for a black president?” seem so ridiculously un-American.

Anyone skeptical about whether the nation is prepared to live up to itself should take a look back. Go to your library, pull up a microfilm copy of the newspaper from the day you were born and decide whether the nation has changed, not cynically, but for the better. Just as I found last week, parts of “the good old days” needed to change, and have, at least to some extent.

The classifieds in the June 8, 1960, edition of the Terre Haute Star featured three categories in the employment section — “Male Help Wanted,” “Female Help Wanted” and “Male and Female Help Wanted.” The longer Male Help list included a finance and loan office looking for a “young man interested in permanent employment,” as well as an advertising company seeking “two good men to assist in advertising, between the ages of 21 and 35.” The shorter Female Help list was dominated by housekeeping and secretarial jobs. The coed Male and Female list had just two entries — a grill cook, and a shirt-presser at a laundry service.

The lead story on Page 1 concerned a university protest and carried the headline: “Fanatical left-wing Jap student group threatens violence to Ike, Emperor.”

The sports section should interest 21st-century baseball fans who nostalgically wish for the civility and sportsmanship of days gone by. It carried a story about Cleveland outfielder Jimmy Piersall complaining the Detroit catcher muttered profanities at Piersall as he stood in the batter’s box, and then called for the Tigers’ pitcher to bean him. Piersall also lamented that Detroit and Chicago White Sox fans pelted him with steel staples (fired with rubber bands), fruits and vegetables. There was no mention of peanuts and Crackerjacks.

On the comics page, the Peanuts strip made reference to the fact that America was in the midst of choosing its next president. In the strip, Lucy says, “I’ve been thinking about you, Charlie Brown. I’m not sure if you’d make a good or bad president, but there is one thing I do know … I’d make a perfect first lady!” Perhaps Lucy had resigned herself to the knowledge that America wasn’t ready for a woman president, at least not a cartoon woman.

And in the bottom, left-hand corner of the Star’s front page was its long-running, daily “Jim Crow Says” commentary. It featured a cartoon bird named Jim Crow uttering a quip of the day, such as the June 8, 1960, witticism: “Borrowing neighbors are always glad to take most anything, but a hint.” The wisecracks and cartoon character put a subtle, innocuous coating on a phrase with an ugly legacy. “Jim Crow” stood for an entrenched system of racial injustice, intimidation and terror that ruled regions of the country for nearly a century.

Though some will write off disappearance of such discrimination and insensitivity as mere political correctness, the impact of that change goes deeper. In an atmosphere that accepted “Jim Crow Says” and “Male Help Wanted” ads, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton could not have won presidential primaries. The past year has shown that millions of Americans see the country has changed and can continue to change, often for the better. They want to see a presidential campaign between two candidates — Barack Obama, the Democrat, and John McCain, the Republican — that offers both an equal chance of winning. They hope that all who would make that choice on the basis of skin color comprise a fading legion. They’re prepared for America to truly be America.

Some will cling stubbornly to the last page of another passing chapter in the nation’s history. But that page is turning, ready or not.



Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

        

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