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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Wow, thank you for such a warm, moving story.
On behalf of Obama's supporters, please extend a "welcome aboard!" to you and yours!
It's so refreshing to hear about real human beings rather than hearing talking heads speak of stock characters and poll data.
A good friend of mine, her husband and their one-month old all turned out to the Penn State event, and she said it was magical and that people came from miles around.
She also remarked that Obama's a brave man, due to the snipers she noticed everywhere and what she thought was the heightened security.
It took me a long time to warm up to Obama (I'm coming from a hard-left, black, academic background, so my concern was that he wasn't boldly leftist enough), and one of the factors that pushed me over the edge was the recognition that he is, quite literally, putting his life on the line in a way the others are not.
That fact alone persuaded me to give him the benefit of the doubt, that he really did have something to say, and a vision worth risking his life for. It's no small thing for his wife to have endorsed this, so I have to believe this is about more than just personal ambition.
Thanks again for your perspective!
(just shaking my head). i was sure the first time i heard him speak - in the beginning, when he was "too professorial", i found him really refreshing - an intelligent candidate! and didn't talk down to me! but then, i'm not black, so he WAS black enough for ME. see ClearBlueSea? it's amazing, Obama can unite oil and water. i too have REAL HOPES for PA.
Not sure if you're being ironic or not, but no, it's not that he wasn't "black enough," but that he wasn't radical enough. I think I see your point, though, about our perspectives and first responses being so different. Yes, he wasn't "black enough" for me inasmuch as blackness confers radical politics, perspective, etc. But frankly, most of the black politicians I see on the television leave me feeling underwhelmed. Of course, most of the politicians I see on the television leave me feeling that way, so there you have it.
But initially, I too thought Obama was a breath of fresh air, but I wasn't convinced he was Up to the Moment, as it were, equal to the Fierce Urgency of Now he talks about. But then, no one up there seemed up to it. Kucinich obviously was my ideological choice, but he obviously wasn't viable.
Obama's the first viable candidate I can remember that I've actually wanted to vote for.
Yes, your point is taken indeed, it was Obama's ability to unite that impressed me. Once people in Iowa voted for him (and I lived in Iowa, for many years) I really started to believe maybe he could put together a working majority.
At any rate, it's clear (to me) he's the only one who even stands a chance at that. There can be no "forward" movement under McCain or Clinton. The best Clinton could ever be is a placeholder and frankly, we're long past the point where that's even remotely adequate.
Clinton is issue-oriented, which is fine for rapid response, but I don't think she thinks structurally or long-term, which is why we need someone who can actually plan for the future.
So far, Clinton has displayed ZERO evidence of being able to show the foresight God gave a billy goat.
That's what happens when you spend your life in survival mode.
Also, David, one of the ways that racism works (at least in my case) is that it has created in me a natural resistance towards black candidates, fearing lest I be engaging in some kind of tribalism.
Of course, white people don't have this problem because white candidates are just candidates.
So I had my own vetting process with Obama, focussed around a good many factors, but one of them was assuring myself I didn't just like him because he was black (or for that matter, Ivy-educated and in my generation). But all those things we do share and maybe ultimately those are the most compelling argument to me and the rest is all justification.
I don't think that's the case, but who knows, really?
I wouldn't presume to have it all figured out.
I am intrigued by your posts and admire your sincerity, but when you talk about Obama's ability to 'unite', you are sadly glossing over the many millions who see him as anything but a uniter. You might want to take a look at this essay in NoQuarter (and the reader comments which follow), because it reflects EXACTLY what a whole lot of voters are feeling. For many of us, Obama has turned out to be disastrously divisive, an almost certain death knell for Democratic hopes this November. Expressing this belief is heresy in the blogosphere and is sure to draw fire from Obama believers, thus serving to increase the divisiveness in question. And so we go round and round in a vicious, ever widening circle.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/03/31/is-barack-obama-the-george-wallace-of-the-left/#more-2008
Thanks but I'm not new to his campaign. I became a supporter the night I watched him speak at the Democratic convention in 2004. I hadn't even heard of him before and was moved by his style and sincerity. I actually remember thinking at that moment "this guy should be running for president" and started talking about him to people the next day in a "did you see that speaker last night!?" kind of way. And then he just seemed to disappear for three years to my dismay. I was expecting to be hearing stuff about him in the news from then on. So I was pleasantly surprised when he appeared out of nowhere again last summer.
As for the danger element, I think the same thing as well. There were lots of places a sniper could've casually hid out since kids were still walking around trying to go to classes and his bus was by their dorms on a narrow little access road. I was a little disappointed that the whole exit thing happened so quickly. I was hoping that since there was only around 10 of us standing there that he might come over and shake our hands or at least say something. This happened at least an hour after the event had emptied out.
Secret Service and police came and stood in front of us about 15 minutes before he exited and about 5 minutes beforehand asked us to take our hands out of our pockets. We all threw our hands up in the air as though we were being arrested and they briefly broke out of their stoic demeanor and laughed saying that they just needed our hands out of our pockets.
I lamented that I only got to see his head, expecting to see all of him due to us being so close but then realized later that it wasn't just my missing something in the rush, he probably had guards purposely walking all around him as he briskly got on the bus.
I do like Hillary, although lately she's been starting to lose me a little with her nasty comments, especially that "shame on you" business a day after her gushing all over him, but I feel the country needs his energy and enthusiasm more. I just love his relaxed style of speaking during interviews over her carefully crafted phrases whenever she speaks. He is bringing out more people who normally wouldn't get excited about politics and this primary season is definitely benefiting the Dems more, with the close race and extended campaign instead of a quick anointing like previous years. I truly wasn't paying much attention at first, thinking that PA would never have a voice in the primaries and I'd support either nominee in November, so its been exciting for me to get to participate in the process finally.
I still think that even if he loses PA, its going to be by a much smaller margin than expected. But I'm really starting to get the impression he may pull it off, just from the people I've been speaking with over the last few weeks.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
