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Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
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resonanteye
11/11/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
My great-aunt learned that black people are totally sometimes just like her, from watching the Cosby Show. I don't think she would ever have voted for Obama unless she already knew that.

And she wouldn't have known thaht if not for that show.

I don't think it made the campaign or the win possible; but that show definitely changed a lot of older people's preconceptions of what black people were like, when it came out.
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resonanteye
11/11/08

@resonanteye: note: she lives in a very monocultural area where there are not many black people. She only really knows about minorities from watching the news, and you can probably guess what that showed her.
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brendastarlet is on it
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
This is nuts. If anything, The Cosby Show was late to the game. It's not like black families started in the 1980s. We've had black doctors, professors, dentists, lawyers, etc. for generations. And Julia pre-dated The Cosby Show by at least 20 years.
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Pope John Peeps II
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
oh my god, this thread is for the most part completely idiotic. Jez spends so much time talking about pop culture, looking at pop culture, examining how pop culture affects women in the most fundamentally minuscule and histrionic ways. And suddenly when someone says "hey, maybe this television show about a black family affected popular culture in some way", you all jump all over it like it was dog shit on fire.

Christ.
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AuntieBee
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
Okay, so now explain why so many years of Will and Grace didn't help out with Prop 8.
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labeled
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
I'm not sure I've seen this mentioned yet, but I think it's also fair to say that possibly, just maybe, middle-American whites aren't as racist as we've been led to believe.

Yes, I know that there are truly horrific & radical exceptions everywhere. But I think it's time to recognize that the state of racial affairs is a little better off than many people would have recognized several months ago (*cough*like when labeled ceded that she must be a pollyanna for refusing to believe that "we" are still an epic fail in that dept.*cough*).

So radical and hopeful, this one.
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badmutha
11/10/08

@labeled: Darling, we must have both radicals and hope to survive in this dynamic and changing society.
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labeled
11/10/08

@badmutha: It's so fucking badASS, isn't it? Radical and hopeful is on the WINNING side!

Er, radical, hopeful, and seriously CapsLock challenged lately.
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Seeräuber Jenny
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
The creators and stars of Abie's Irish Rose and The Goldbergs have posthumously demanded gratitude from the Kennedys and Joe Lieberman.
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ArtfulSlinger
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
I think there is some validity into this, by sheer exposure due to TV. While most of us here are open minded, liberals who are on the forefront of shit, I do not believe that this is the case for the majority of Americans. I do not believe that the journalist is saying that the Cosby's are the only reason Barack Obama won, but I think the point behind the point is without shining examples of fully functioning upper middle class African American families, courtesy of TV and Movies since the 1980's, many Americans would not have been able to see that "these people" are just "like them". It's sad sort of, but it's not crazy. But, as always, Bill Cosby is attempting to take responsibility for everything positive that has happened within the African American community since 1975.
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Seeräuber Jenny
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
I didn't have the happy, middle-class, two-parent home, but just being interested in school and having enthusiasms not on the Official Black Activities Index was enough for me to get attacked.
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kityglitr
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
I watched the Cosby show because it was the ONLY place I saw black people like me. I never related to the stereotypes because I was raised in an upper middle class family. So there.
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ceejeemcbeegee is not here
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
While I agree that the Huxtables might have shifted White America's perceptions of what Black families are like, I think the credit for the Obamas ascension into the White House is largely due to the efforts of ::gasp!!:: the Obamas.
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GuyNermit
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
I also wanted the Huxtable's rich lifestyle & loving family...and I especially wanted my Dad to dress in those cool sweaters instead of solid polyester leisure suits. & I'm white, BTW.

However, I think it's extremely insulting to imply that Obama's success depends entirely on a frickin' TV show.
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MegSpencer
11/10/08

@GuyNermit: Certainly it is, which is why, if you read the linked article, one can see that Cosby didn't imply that. I'm curious as to why it keeps being interpreted that way. Did people not click through to the actual article?

In an interview on Thursday Mr. Cosby praised Mr. Obama and his campaign operation as "the architects of the almost perfect run for, and winning of, the office." He added, "This isn't something that happened just because of a TV show."
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BiBiVirtue
11/10/08

href="#c8829949">MegSpencer: Bill Cosby is not the only commenter in the article above, and he's not the only person to have drawn that comparison.
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MegSpencer
11/10/08

@BiBiVirtue: Most of the criticism in this thread is being leveled against Cosby in specific, which based in his actual comment seems misguided. Also, how does that have anything to do with the point that culture can have an affect on politics, which is really the entire point of the discussion?
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Quilt
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
I wouldn't say the Huxtables made this Obama presidency possible, but I would say it was a small piece of the puzzle in helping to break down some barriers though.
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eri401
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
I think some of you are mis-interpreting these types of statements. It is not because people were convinced by a tv show in the 1980s. No one is saying that all Cosby-viewers voted for Obama and his success rides on that - of course that is stupid.

Rather, the Cosby show or Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact familiarize the everyday viewer to the image of a educated, successful, powerful, and endearing black leader. This familiarization is crucial because

1. It was literally *unimaginable* to have a black president, even a few years ago. Once something becomes imaginable, it enters the realm of possibility.

2. Politics now are run through the same media outlets. If we could welcome Bill Cosby into our homes, presumably we can welcome another charming black man into our homes.
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AuntieBee
11/10/08

@eri401: Beautifully put. Thank you.
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Penny
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
Well, think of it this way. We could have ended up with Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha in the White House.
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morninggloria
11/10/08

@Archetype: Ladies! You don't talk about anything that doesn't have to do with or eminate from your own vaginas! How can you possibly govern?
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tscheese
11/10/08

In reply to Are The Obamas Possible Because Of The Huxtables?
I grew up in a small rural community in the Midwest, where everyone looked a lot like me (read: blindingly white) and I didn't have a lot of contact with the outside world.

So, um, where did I learn that people from all over the country were just like me? That everyone, no matter what the color of their skin, had family and dreams and aspirations?

...Sesame Street.
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Quilt
11/10/08

@tscheese: Cheers.
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badmutha
11/10/08

@tscheese: Brought to you by the letters F, T, & W.
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