What Tiger and Barack teach us about success

Tiger and Barack.

They are two of the most famous black men in the world. One is a golfer and the other a politician. On some level, these two giants in their fields have a lot in common. But on other levels, they are worlds apart. And yet both men have a lot to teach us about what it means to black and successful in America today.

If you could pick any two people who have redefined the image of black manhood in the past decade, it would be difficult to overlook Barack Obama and Tiger Woods. Although their life experiences are hardly typical of most African American men, their examples have been used in recent years to disprove the stereotypes that demonize black men.

Much in common

The latest comparison between the two was launched by the release of the cover image for the upcoming January 2010 issue of Golf Digest. The photoshopped cover depicts President Obama lining up a shot with Tiger Woods as his caddie. The article, written before the recent Tiger Woods controversy, offers 10 tips Obama can take from Tiger. 

Just a few weeks ago, it seemed to make sense to compare Woods with Obama. But now, after Woods's personal life story has devolved into raunchy tabloid headlines, it seems Obama might be the one offering tips to Woods. So is there still a comparison to be made between the two men? Absolutely.

Woods's squeaky clean image has been tarnished by the recent revelations of his extramarital affairs and Obama's political message has met some stiff resistance on the way to change. But neither man could ever really live up to the heroic expectations we placed upon them. That's because they always symbolized something more than mere achievement -- they represented hope.

Even when they fall short, Tiger and Barack still represent the best of black achievement. And to the rest of the world, they represent the land of opportunity that is America, where the son of a Thai woman and a black man and the son of a Kenyan man and a white woman could become two of the most successful people in the most powerful country on earth.

Who are they? They both come from multiracial backgrounds with black fathers. Both have become wildly popular iconic brand images by transcending outdated definitions of race. Both were raised in white communities and educated at white schools where they learned early how to navigate the rules of the majority-white country. Both men also love to play golf, one obviously more successfully than the other.

Tiger Woods burst onto the national scene about the same time that Barack Obama did. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Woods won the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. Meanwhile, Obama distinguished himself at Harvard Law School, becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review in 1990 and generating a great deal of national media attention for his achievement.

Despite their unusual names, Edrick Tont "Tiger" Woods and Barack "Barry" Obama managed to become international superstars from a nation that, according to Bill Cosby, is not supposed to like black people with funny names. But like Oprah and Condoleezza, they prevailed through their talent and their ability to translate themselves successfully to all Americans.

Early in their national public careers, both Tiger and Barack faced questions about their racial authenticity, and that seems to be where the two men begin to part. While Obama embraced his black identity -- working as a community organizer, attending a black church and marrying a black wife -- Woods tried to balance his by coining the now famous term "Cablinasian" to describe his mixed-race heritage.

Were they black enough?

Was Tiger black enough? From his own public statements, it seems he never really tried to be. He just wanted to be the best golfer he could be.

Was Barack black enough? Today the answer is obvisously yes, but at first he wasn't up to par for some black skeptics. Black purists focused mostly on his atypical childhood family upbringing and not enough on his adult life experience. Obama, as an adult, embraced the black community, black culture, black women, "black sports" (basketball) and even, much to his detriment, "black Christianity." Woods, on the other hand, seemed to stray from the black community, dated white women, married a white wife, played a non-black sport (golf) and became a Buddhist.

But

What the Clintons misread about Barack in 2008 is the same lesson that others may misread about Tiger in 2009. Black people almost always support prominent black people in trouble. Just ask O.J. Simpson, Marion Barry, Michael Jackson, or just about any other black public figure who African Americans perceive to be challenged by the "white media," the "white justice system" or the "white society."

Even for black people we don't really like or those who don't claim us, we still defend them. About the only black person the community wouldn't likely defend is Clarence Thomas, and even he had his day of black support when he was nominated for the Supreme Court and challenged his critics for what he called a "high tech lynching of an uppity negro."

The message to young people

Clarence Thomas aside, Tiger and Barack eventually won support in the black community by simply doing things that made black people proud. They succeeded in the predominantly white world in the way that many other blacks could only dream of doing. Obama broke down the doors of the old boys club in Washington and Woods stormed through the doors of the elitists country clubs all across America.

Both men succeeded, also, because they did not see themselves limited by their race, and perhaps that's because they did not have typical black experiences as children. They were not raised by parents who taught them to limit their goals and ambitions through the lens of America's ugly racial history.

So how do their careers translate to young black kids in Harlem and Compton and Anacostia? What message does it send to them about success? Do you have to be multiracial to succeed? And most importantly, do young black kids need to integrate into the larger white society and escape the inner city ghetto to be hugely successful? The answers may disturb us.

Except for rappers and athletes, the most successful blacks are those who have gone mainstream. People like Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey and Vernon Jordan made their careers by going beyond the black community to reach out to people of all backgrounds. Even in the black-acceptable worlds of hip hop and basketball, black men like Jay-Z, Kobe Bryant and others transformed from stars to superstars once they crossed over to a broader audience.

In a nation where blacks represent only 12 percent of the population and Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group, young African Americans are dismissing the antiquated idea that black culture or the black community can survive in a vacuum. The world is changing rapidly. By 2042, whites will no longer make up the majority and eventually the old racial dynamics of the past will begin to give way to new thinking.

In the new world, young black kids may still need to learn to code switch their language from one community to another, and they may still be expected to be twice as good as their white counterparts. But the difference is that young black kids from now on will grow up in a world where they know that anything is possible, even if it's not entirely likely for everyone in their peer group.

Yes, Tiger Woods and Barack Obama are not perfect. Neither are white politicians and athletes, for that matter. But these two men have built a legacy that will help to open doors for generations to come. Young black kids will know that they can do anything they want, if they work hard and put themselves in the right environment. And for that, we all owe a debt of gratitude to Tiger and Barack.