The great gift that allowed Martin Luther King to rise to the top of black America and successfully lead the Civil Rights Movement was his ability to read and manipulate upper middle-class white America. By most accounts, King was a lot like Al Sharpton. He was personally corrupt and a degenerate. He possessed  few skills other than his ability to perform in public. What he had was a sixth sense about the ruling class whites. He knew that they lacked the appetite for confrontation and were generally in favor of dismantling segregation. Northern whites wanted it gone because they hate southern whites, but upper class southerners wanted it gone too. King played on that divide as you can see in his Letter From Birmingham Jail. The subtle point, made in the context of the events that got him locked up, was that whites had a choice. They could negotiate with him or fight with the brothers on the street. It is, negotiate with me or else.

King knew that the white folks in charge had no appetite for a fight. The faction willing to fight would be abandoned and used as a scapegoat. Later, guys like Jackson and Sharpton turned this trick into a racket. They would threaten to riot until they got paid. Jackson became a millionaire shaking down large companies. Sharpton is less rich, but he certainly lives well scaring honkey liberals into paying his way. In post-Colonial Africa, we see the same act, but in a different context. The white colonials were looking to put a black face on their possessions and went looking for the best and brightest Africans. The Brits went so far as to send them back to England for training and education. Eventually, some rose up and took control as the colonials withdrew.

The thing you saw over and over with the new African leaders was they all possessed an ability to sooth the fears of the whites. Time after time, the colonials were lead to believe that these guys were more like them than the typical African. They held no ill will toward them and would continue on the policies established by the whites. Ian Smith of Rhodesia, a skeptic of British policy, was even won over. Once they gained power, however, the new black rulers set about slaughtering anyone they thought was a threat. Eventually, that meant turning on the white farmers and administrators. In some cases, like Zanzibar, the bloodbath came quickly and brutally. In all cases, however, the initial phase was the ruling class whites being charmed by the new black leaders.

We are seeing something similar with Barak Obama. It turns out that his only real skill is the ability to make upper-middle class white liberals do stuff for him. Otherwise, the guy is incompetent. You see it in this story from the LA Times, of all places.  This is the basic stuff of governance. Governments spy on one another. They get caught. They are always prepared for both so as not to look foolish. Yet, this administration is incapable of this basic duty. Pick an item and the only thing Obama has been able to do well is rally upper-middle class white liberals to defend him from his critics. Everything else has been a mess.

Americans are now getting see up close why Africa has failed. We elected the Robert Mugabe of America politics as President.

This post has already been linked to 785 times!