The JB Random Report End of the Year Awards 2012: Part I

NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR:  The Jackie Robinson of American Politics

In the 1940’s, the then Brooklyn Dodgers were own by a man named Walter O’Malley, but were run by one of the greatest, most visionary sports executives of all time, Branch Rickey. As early as 1943, he had quietly convinced the Dodgers organization to allow him to search for the “right man.” That is, the man who would become the first black baseball player in the Major Leagues. Although there was not an official statute banning blacks, it was understood that the game was not to be integrated. Rickey was fixing to end that.

The list included many great players, including two eventual Hall of Famers in Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. Instead, they went with the first 4 letter athlete in the history of UCLA. A man who would have followed his brother Mack’s footsteps on the United States track team had World War II not cancelled the 1940 Olympics. That man was Jack Roosevelt Robinson.

As the story goes, Rickey, a devout Christian who never cursed in his life, sat Jackie in his office and told him that if he were to take the job, he would have every insult in the book thrown at him, and proceeded to repeat them all, no matter how vulgar, hateful or racist. He then made Jackie a deal: “If you promise not to fight back for three years, then this job is yours.” Jackie thought about it for a long time then replied “Mr. Rickey, you will have no problem from me.” As the legend goes, Rickey later said that had Jackie Robinson agreed immediately and without thinking, Rickey never would have hired him for this task.

But you see, what made Jackie Robinson perfect for this job was that he understood the bigger picture, and what this meant for all blacks. He knew that as the first black man to do anything, he was representing all blacks whether he liked it or not. And he knew that his failure would be the failure of every black kid who ever dreamed of one day playing in the Major Leagues. If he slipped up once, just once, this great experiment would fail and no other black athlete would ever be asked to play in the big leagues again. Can you imagine the burden he carried those first years?

Needless to say, the initial treatment was horrifying. The fans in visiting stadiums hurled insults at him, threw things at him from the stands, threw a black cat on the field, and called him every sort of name. All without a response from Jackie. The players on those opposing teams were no better. He was routinely thrown at, and once while covering first base, was spiked in the thigh by a player barreling into first base who was clearly out by a mile. But again, Jackie took these things in stride because he knew what his being there meant. He knew that he had to be not just good, but better than everyone around him. He knew the World was watching. It was this attitude of passive resistance that even won him the admiration of his initially skeptical teammates, often yelling “Let’s see you pick on someone who can fight back!” to the other dugout.    

Now, when the three years were up, Jackie began fighting back, and when he did, no one questioned his right to do so, which was as it should be. Needless to day, he went on to play in the Major Leagues for 9 years and compiled a Hall of Fame career.

Fast forward to our generation’s “great experiment,” that is, electing the first black President of the United States. In his first term, he has had to endure the most petty, hostile congress in the past 100 years, questions about his religion, agenda, even whether or not he was actually born in the United States; Things that no president has ever in the history of the office has had to endure. Ummm…I wonder what's different about him? Needless to say, President Barack Obama must have passed the test, because he was re-elected by a wider margin than that buffoon George W Bush was in 2004. Would you believe that idiot had the nerve to call his re-election a mandate for his sub-moronic agenda?

Now that his three “Jackie Robinson” years are up, I really hope that the next time Jan Brewer, that ignoramus governor of Arizona wags her finger in Obama’s face, he reminds her that he is the President of the United States, and maybe they didn’t teach respect for that office at Glendale Community College like they did at Harvard, but if she ever puts her finger in his face again, he will have her killed. When Donald Trump questions his birthplace, Obama should remind him that Hawaii is a state in the Union, rich in enough tropical fruit to feed that squirrel living on Trump’s head for the rest of its natural life. In short, I want him to fight back.

Now to his credit, Obama is showing some balls by not allowing Republican obstructionists to keep taxes down for the richest Americans, and he FINALLY spoke out on the subject of gun control, albeit at an immeasurable cost. I want him to fight for the things and for the people he said he would, and I want him to respond when he is criticized by those who lack any reason, intelligence or sense of humanity, and when he does, I want him to question their reason, intelligence and sense of humanity.
Look, I am fully aware that this country has suffered a horrific tragedy, but I don't want that to be the story of the year as much as the re-election of the only candidate who is willing to finally stand up to the gun lobby so that things like this never happen again.