As I sit here...awake...I am unable to go to sleep and incredibly anxious because in less than 24hrs we will elect a new President of this great nation.
It is my prayer that this nation will do the right thing and elect Senator Barack Obama. He is not perfect, but I do believe he is the right man for this nation at this time. He can return a sense of intellect, calm and rationality that has sorely been missing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I think his election will not only give hope to people in this nation who have been struggling and suffering under the policies and attitudes of the past 8 years, but it will also go a long way to helping to heal the divisions we have fostered in the international arena.
I spent Monday all day canvassing voters in Michigan City, Indiana...in a desperate attempt to turn that "red state" blue. It was actually inspiring and encouraging. I met people from all walks of life, different socio-economic levels and different races who were encouraged and excited about an Obama Presidency. Even the McCain supportes who I ran into were polite and I had quite a few good conversations. No matter the divisions present to the naked eye....people basically have the same concerns...they want to live in a safe country, with some job security, ability to get decent health care, provide for their families and secure their children's future. I was happy that so many people were engaged and interested in the political process.
No matter what the outcome of the election...I truly feel that this nation is on the cusp of something big. We are ready to embrace the future. Eager to work hard and fix our seemingly unsurmountable problems and we are determined to move forward together as one.
Praying for a safe, happy wonderful election day!
GET OUT AND VOTE!!!
Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts
Monday, November 3, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Obama, White Supremacy and FEAR
I know, I know....I haven't been blogging....I had a family wedding (congrats to my brother and his new bride currently chillin' on their honeymoon in Hawaii) and have been working a ridiculous amount this week. But rest assured I remain engaged in not only this election but our political process and there are so many things going on currently it is beginning to make my head spin. But I just have to speak about my recent experiences
First, I remain cautiously optimistic that Barack Obama will be our next president. while the polls (some of them anyway) have him ahead...I am not taking anything to chance. I have already voted, I urge everyone I see to make sure they get out and vote and I have been giving time in the battleground state of Indiana to get the message (and the people) out. I am cautious...because I never underestimate the powers that be to go against the force of justice. I am encouraged that many more people seem to be coming around to Barack's common sense positive message. And many people are realizing (like me) that while he is not perfect he is the right leader for this time to move our nation into the next generation. I am realistic...I am not expecting Obama to be Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny rolled into one. He is inheriting a country in a complete MESS and I actually feel sorry for him (or anyone) who has to sort through this garbage. I pray for him and his family that they remain safe and that if he is blessed to win the election that above all else he is granted the gift of Godly wisdom (circa the book of Proverbs) to steer this country out of the nightmare of our present hate-filled, warmongering, economically troubled state.
I am friends with a wide variety of people including some very white, very male, very republican colleagues. Some support Obama, some support McCain, some don't like either candidate...mostly they have been respectful in their discussions with me and we have been able to agree to disagree and have quite a few lively debates. However, as the race has swung more towards Obama, I have noticed (particularly among the lukewarm Obama supporters and the McCain Supporters) a bit of a panic. This panic is echoed on the conservative blogs and on places like Fox News...it is the discomfort with someone like Obama being their leader. You can see that many of these white men, who are so accustomed to their place on the top of the heap are visibly shaken by the thought of someone they feel they have an inherent superiority to being their "leader". They don't verbalize that...but they do start coming up with the most flimsy, petty, and irrelevant (and disprovable by objective data which they ignore) reasons why they just can't support Obama. They don't have hard data or research...just random hearsay, rt wing propaganda (that they now believe is gospel truth), and the bitter rantings of other scared middle aged white men like themselves. I think the psychological ramifications of having someone who they so clearly feel is not their "equal" be this close to being the potential leader of the free world is simply too much for most of them to bear. Now I am not saying these people are racist. But I think it is time we call a spade a spade (so to speak) and deal with the facts.
The USA is my country...and I love it...but I love it with (as my Pastor would say) a GOOD understanding. We have to accept the facts, that for all this country's wonderful attributes...this country was founded upon and is rooted in white supremacy....now I am not talking KKK, lynching, and neo-Nazi's (although those are the far end of the foundation that was laid) no what I am talking about is the fact that the very foundation of this country was premised on a fact that one group was better and more deserving than another ("manifest destiny" anyone). This was what allowed the first settlers here to disregard the Native Americans and take away their land. This is what allowed the people who wrote our founding documents to declare that "All men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and still themselves hold (black) people as property. This is what allowed the leaders of this country to fight a war with and annex a large portion of Mexico to expand our country in the Southwest but then get an attitude with Mexican "immigrants" and seriously consider the stupidity of erecting a border fence. White Supremacy is what allowed Native Americans to be herded onto reservations and have their land stolen, it is what allowed "separate but equal" with regard to African-Americans be the law of the land well into the mid to late 20th century, and what caused Japanese-Americans to be interred in camps as prisoners of war in their own country, and what makes today health care disparities, educational disparities and income disparities to flourish particularly with the mostly minority and urban populations. Barack Obama is the very antithesis of those ideas of inferiority and unamericaness of the "other". His candidacy has challenged many deeply and silently held beliefs about our country's "best and brightest" and what they should look like and now that it seems that he may be on the cusp of victory...white supremacy will not go quietly into that good night.
What we see as the last vestiges of White Supremacy is the fear, and hate that has been oozing from the McCain\Palin Camp, the right wing blogsphere and Fox News. In this last week of the campaign, they have taken a "kitchen sink" approach to Obama. Every single questionable association (no matter how trivial the relationship) is put up as a disqualification for Obama. The Republican campaign has become solely about tearing the other guy down...not lifting this nation up. The Republican campaign has been consumed by ugliness, pettiness, sniping and has played to the basest level of every person's deepest fear. They have offered no plan, no vision and have stuck to name calling ("socialist", "redistributer", "muslim", "pal of terroist") and have convinced all the people at their rallies that Obama is something evil to be Feared and stopped before he destroys this country and consequently the True American ( read "white American", "red state american) way of life. "without a vision the people perish"
The campaign of the republicans is suffering because of tremendous negativity...to put it quite simply...God don't like ugly. At its very simplest, the politics of fear and division is losing to the politics of hope. And I for one am glad this appears to be the case and inspired about the direction my country is moving in. It is my hope that on next Tuesday when we elect Barack Obama as our 44th president we will place the nails in the coffin and finally bury our national sense of Fear and move from a country rooted in white supremacy towards a country that seeks equality of all its members and soars with the promise that this nation can rise to embrace the better angles of our nature.
That is my hope...that is what I believe...and that is what I am fighting for.
First, I remain cautiously optimistic that Barack Obama will be our next president. while the polls (some of them anyway) have him ahead...I am not taking anything to chance. I have already voted, I urge everyone I see to make sure they get out and vote and I have been giving time in the battleground state of Indiana to get the message (and the people) out. I am cautious...because I never underestimate the powers that be to go against the force of justice. I am encouraged that many more people seem to be coming around to Barack's common sense positive message. And many people are realizing (like me) that while he is not perfect he is the right leader for this time to move our nation into the next generation. I am realistic...I am not expecting Obama to be Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny rolled into one. He is inheriting a country in a complete MESS and I actually feel sorry for him (or anyone) who has to sort through this garbage. I pray for him and his family that they remain safe and that if he is blessed to win the election that above all else he is granted the gift of Godly wisdom (circa the book of Proverbs) to steer this country out of the nightmare of our present hate-filled, warmongering, economically troubled state.
I am friends with a wide variety of people including some very white, very male, very republican colleagues. Some support Obama, some support McCain, some don't like either candidate...mostly they have been respectful in their discussions with me and we have been able to agree to disagree and have quite a few lively debates. However, as the race has swung more towards Obama, I have noticed (particularly among the lukewarm Obama supporters and the McCain Supporters) a bit of a panic. This panic is echoed on the conservative blogs and on places like Fox News...it is the discomfort with someone like Obama being their leader. You can see that many of these white men, who are so accustomed to their place on the top of the heap are visibly shaken by the thought of someone they feel they have an inherent superiority to being their "leader". They don't verbalize that...but they do start coming up with the most flimsy, petty, and irrelevant (and disprovable by objective data which they ignore) reasons why they just can't support Obama. They don't have hard data or research...just random hearsay, rt wing propaganda (that they now believe is gospel truth), and the bitter rantings of other scared middle aged white men like themselves. I think the psychological ramifications of having someone who they so clearly feel is not their "equal" be this close to being the potential leader of the free world is simply too much for most of them to bear. Now I am not saying these people are racist. But I think it is time we call a spade a spade (so to speak) and deal with the facts.
The USA is my country...and I love it...but I love it with (as my Pastor would say) a GOOD understanding. We have to accept the facts, that for all this country's wonderful attributes...this country was founded upon and is rooted in white supremacy....now I am not talking KKK, lynching, and neo-Nazi's (although those are the far end of the foundation that was laid) no what I am talking about is the fact that the very foundation of this country was premised on a fact that one group was better and more deserving than another ("manifest destiny" anyone). This was what allowed the first settlers here to disregard the Native Americans and take away their land. This is what allowed the people who wrote our founding documents to declare that "All men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and still themselves hold (black) people as property. This is what allowed the leaders of this country to fight a war with and annex a large portion of Mexico to expand our country in the Southwest but then get an attitude with Mexican "immigrants" and seriously consider the stupidity of erecting a border fence. White Supremacy is what allowed Native Americans to be herded onto reservations and have their land stolen, it is what allowed "separate but equal" with regard to African-Americans be the law of the land well into the mid to late 20th century, and what caused Japanese-Americans to be interred in camps as prisoners of war in their own country, and what makes today health care disparities, educational disparities and income disparities to flourish particularly with the mostly minority and urban populations. Barack Obama is the very antithesis of those ideas of inferiority and unamericaness of the "other". His candidacy has challenged many deeply and silently held beliefs about our country's "best and brightest" and what they should look like and now that it seems that he may be on the cusp of victory...white supremacy will not go quietly into that good night.
What we see as the last vestiges of White Supremacy is the fear, and hate that has been oozing from the McCain\Palin Camp, the right wing blogsphere and Fox News. In this last week of the campaign, they have taken a "kitchen sink" approach to Obama. Every single questionable association (no matter how trivial the relationship) is put up as a disqualification for Obama. The Republican campaign has become solely about tearing the other guy down...not lifting this nation up. The Republican campaign has been consumed by ugliness, pettiness, sniping and has played to the basest level of every person's deepest fear. They have offered no plan, no vision and have stuck to name calling ("socialist", "redistributer", "muslim", "pal of terroist") and have convinced all the people at their rallies that Obama is something evil to be Feared and stopped before he destroys this country and consequently the True American ( read "white American", "red state american) way of life. "without a vision the people perish"
The campaign of the republicans is suffering because of tremendous negativity...to put it quite simply...God don't like ugly. At its very simplest, the politics of fear and division is losing to the politics of hope. And I for one am glad this appears to be the case and inspired about the direction my country is moving in. It is my hope that on next Tuesday when we elect Barack Obama as our 44th president we will place the nails in the coffin and finally bury our national sense of Fear and move from a country rooted in white supremacy towards a country that seeks equality of all its members and soars with the promise that this nation can rise to embrace the better angles of our nature.
That is my hope...that is what I believe...and that is what I am fighting for.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Obama, McCain and "Joe" (the plumber)
Having spent a day combing through the post debate spin and enjoying Joe's 15min of fame (okay not really) I just have the following observations:
1. McCain does not like (or respect) Obama...he simply tolerates him.
- he is so convinced that the presidency is something he is "owed" that the fact some young "whippersnapper" is possibly in danger of stealing the prize he deemed to belong to him has thrown him into an emotionally unstable angry tizzy. All of his behavior towards Obama while at times cordial on the surface was dripping with disdain...he allowed himself to be beaten (in this debate...which he definitely started out stronger in) by his own anger and sense of entitlement.
2. Obama has mastered "the art of cool"
- while I think Obama's general temperament is fairly even...he took the ability to "never let them see you sweat" to new heights. the fact that he didn't treat McCain to an open-handed slap in the mouth for some of the foolishness he said about him and his associations shows a level of self-control and restraint that is enviable (I know I don't have it....somebody would have gotten the 47th st Beat down if it was me). While there are some who want Obama to "go off" to prove he is "passionate" enough to be president...I think they are nuts. I prefer my leaders to be cool and able to lead without becoming overly emotional. If nothing else this grace under pressure made Obama look extremely "presidential"
3. Negative Attack Ads do not a campaign make
- Is it just me or did McCain spend the last hour of the "debate" (using that term loosely) basically running a medley of his greatest attack ads hits? Ayers, ACORN, Abortion, "tax and spend", and the worse of all sins..."liberal". What I heard was a lot of McCain rehashing his past week's attack ads and very little in terms of substance or any new ideas. And the idea that he even brought up John Lewis and wanted Obama to repudiate his remarks (the free willed, unsolicited, opinions of a man with absolutely no connection to Obama's campaign) was to me preposterous. First of all...I was reminded why I don't like the Republican party as a whole. They are a party of Bullies...they can dish it out but they truly cannot take it. when they get called on their BS (which for once I am glad the Democrat is doing that) they turn into a whiny little girl, and play the victim role. And then I couldn't believe that with all the REAL problems we are facing...the economy collapsing, oil dependence, the WAR that McCain chose to take the low road. I used to respect McCain even when I didn't agree with him because he WAS an honorable man and had good opinions on a variety of topics but now he is simply the quintessential "grumpy old man"
4. "Joe the Plumber" is exactly what is wrong with this country in general and the GOP specifically.
we have "Joe the Plumber"...who asked a what was supposedly a legitimate question of Barack Obama while he was out campaigning...he said he was preparing to purchase a business that made $250-270K and he didn't like the taxes under Obama's plan (I'm paraphrasing...but really who hasn't heard this story)...he feigned indignation...Obama was respectful and at least told him even if he didn't end up with his vote he still wanted to work for him. Enter John McCain who takes up "Joe" as his cause celeb...tossing his name out at the debate more than the economy, the middle class, and Osama Bin Laden combined. McCain used Joe as a cheap ploy to illustrate everything that was wrong with Obama's tax plan and campaign of course the joke ended up being on him. Turns out "Joe" isn't actually making anywhere near $250K....at Joe's current income and status he would actually get a tax break from the Obama plan...Joe apparently doesn't like paying taxes now (as he owes over a grand in back taxes to the state of Ohio)...Joe has a very limited understanding of the way government works and the average person's role in it (judging by his answer's in the Diane Sawyer interview)...and of course Joe isn't actually a legal licensed plumber. This grasping at the sensational superficial story without doing any research or having any knowledge is exactly what is wrong with the current GOP and with McCain's campaign and to me why he is imploding currently.
So those are my thoughts at the moment...I think things look better for Obama...but he and his supports must keep fighting the good fight...never underestimate the power of pissed off white people struggling against the last remaining vestiges of assumed white superiority. 20 days!!!
1. McCain does not like (or respect) Obama...he simply tolerates him.
- he is so convinced that the presidency is something he is "owed" that the fact some young "whippersnapper" is possibly in danger of stealing the prize he deemed to belong to him has thrown him into an emotionally unstable angry tizzy. All of his behavior towards Obama while at times cordial on the surface was dripping with disdain...he allowed himself to be beaten (in this debate...which he definitely started out stronger in) by his own anger and sense of entitlement.
2. Obama has mastered "the art of cool"
- while I think Obama's general temperament is fairly even...he took the ability to "never let them see you sweat" to new heights. the fact that he didn't treat McCain to an open-handed slap in the mouth for some of the foolishness he said about him and his associations shows a level of self-control and restraint that is enviable (I know I don't have it....somebody would have gotten the 47th st Beat down if it was me). While there are some who want Obama to "go off" to prove he is "passionate" enough to be president...I think they are nuts. I prefer my leaders to be cool and able to lead without becoming overly emotional. If nothing else this grace under pressure made Obama look extremely "presidential"
3. Negative Attack Ads do not a campaign make
- Is it just me or did McCain spend the last hour of the "debate" (using that term loosely) basically running a medley of his greatest attack ads hits? Ayers, ACORN, Abortion, "tax and spend", and the worse of all sins..."liberal". What I heard was a lot of McCain rehashing his past week's attack ads and very little in terms of substance or any new ideas. And the idea that he even brought up John Lewis and wanted Obama to repudiate his remarks (the free willed, unsolicited, opinions of a man with absolutely no connection to Obama's campaign) was to me preposterous. First of all...I was reminded why I don't like the Republican party as a whole. They are a party of Bullies...they can dish it out but they truly cannot take it. when they get called on their BS (which for once I am glad the Democrat is doing that) they turn into a whiny little girl, and play the victim role. And then I couldn't believe that with all the REAL problems we are facing...the economy collapsing, oil dependence, the WAR that McCain chose to take the low road. I used to respect McCain even when I didn't agree with him because he WAS an honorable man and had good opinions on a variety of topics but now he is simply the quintessential "grumpy old man"
4. "Joe the Plumber" is exactly what is wrong with this country in general and the GOP specifically.
we have "Joe the Plumber"...who asked a what was supposedly a legitimate question of Barack Obama while he was out campaigning...he said he was preparing to purchase a business that made $250-270K and he didn't like the taxes under Obama's plan (I'm paraphrasing...but really who hasn't heard this story)...he feigned indignation...Obama was respectful and at least told him even if he didn't end up with his vote he still wanted to work for him. Enter John McCain who takes up "Joe" as his cause celeb...tossing his name out at the debate more than the economy, the middle class, and Osama Bin Laden combined. McCain used Joe as a cheap ploy to illustrate everything that was wrong with Obama's tax plan and campaign of course the joke ended up being on him. Turns out "Joe" isn't actually making anywhere near $250K....at Joe's current income and status he would actually get a tax break from the Obama plan...Joe apparently doesn't like paying taxes now (as he owes over a grand in back taxes to the state of Ohio)...Joe has a very limited understanding of the way government works and the average person's role in it (judging by his answer's in the Diane Sawyer interview)...and of course Joe isn't actually a legal licensed plumber. This grasping at the sensational superficial story without doing any research or having any knowledge is exactly what is wrong with the current GOP and with McCain's campaign and to me why he is imploding currently.
So those are my thoughts at the moment...I think things look better for Obama...but he and his supports must keep fighting the good fight...never underestimate the power of pissed off white people struggling against the last remaining vestiges of assumed white superiority. 20 days!!!
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