After a surprising win in the Iowa Caucus, the media and many sideliners (me included) became incessantly aroused by Senator Barack Obama. He being the 7th African American to run for President is certainly news worthy. But his familial background, presence, optimism, and magnetic appeal to the multicultural masses, are not only exceptional but sure-fire components of great reality TV. The fact that the US is in a war with no end in sight, a $9 trillion deficit, 7+ million lost jobs, 47 million citizens uninsured, and an unsuccessful public education system certainly establishes the need for salvation. Many seem to believe that such a salvation would come in the form of the next President of the United States. Not likely. Not only is it naive to believe but historically unsubstantiated that one individual would be able to resolve all of our woes.
Without sounding star-struck, I must admit that something is different this time. Unlike any of the other 2008 presidential hopefuls, Obama's stance is unusually pluralistic. From his keynote address at the 2004 National Democratic Convention to the dozens of rallies and debates around the country today, he reminds us that together, "we" can change America. The majority of the Iowa Caucus agreed. But this theme remains credulous to many.
To believe, to hope, or to have faith are spiritual principles that those who rely solely on sight and intellectual prowess find difficult to grasp. To be born a slave and escape to freedom, to have average grades in school and become Secretary of State, to be a young black preacher in the Jim Crow south and change the world, began with a belief in the unseen. And Obama gets it. His anti-status quo call for America to believe resonates deeper than the exhausted 'change' adage. It's a given that America needs change. It's also a given that the 2008 election will bring it to some degree. But if we the people will shift our thinking from death, disappointments, and fears of today to life, liberty, and joy of tomorrow, our acts will follow. If I, an election cynic, who is neither red nor blue, have chosen to cast a ballot in November, a change has already begun--in me.
Obama wins again Sat. in South Carolina. 2 to 1 over Clinton!
Posted by: William Leecan | January 27, 2008 at 05:49 PM
Help me understand...
You know that I have truly turned my back on organized religion, especially those labeled Christian. I find it to be a destructive institution that spills more hatred than love, superstition than truth, imagination than reality, incredible than credible...I can gone on. And, to be fair, you know I am not talking from a nonexperience position. Those that called themselves "vehicles of God's word" were no more funnels of good will than I.
Explain to me this garbage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Op5or_vkcc&NR=1 - Obama is a GOOD HOUSE NEGRO
Eddie Long did the same exact thing when the Million Man March was being organized. I had to fight tooth and nail with mom about accepting this man's opinion as truth. We have more idiots in colorful robes and bad haircuts, telling the black congregation absolute lies while holding the most overrated and over sold book in the world.
Again, help me understand.
Posted by: Lil Brother, Shaan... | February 22, 2008 at 08:07 AM