Letters to the Editor
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here is the problem with the "change" people
That is the big buzzword that all the candidates use because the people think they want change.
ok so you can change the candidates.
as if it were that easy.
but all the problems will not go away.
they will still be there.
has any of the "change" candidates said what they are going to do about the problems?
there is no reason to think that electing the "change" candidates is going to change anything.
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For mjwycha, Multiple Appreciations
First, thank you for a letter remarkable for its excellence, its clarity and especially its origin. As an experienced NCO in the US military and thus having been trapped in that no-man's land between the grunts and the brass, you truly understand the meaning and the dynamic principles of leadership. Your service is appreciated and the wisdom in your letter is a gift to us all -- at least those of us who can read and reason at the same time.
Second, thank you for the kind words. That came at a moment of extreme frustration, both with the chronic naysayers who come with the territory here at Salon, and also with my ability to put my thoughts into words. The phenomenon represented by Barack Obama challenges the conventional lexicon. Your compliment means a great deal and is much appreciated.
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History keeps humming the same tune
Barack Obama's stunning victory in Iowa was a moment of national alchemy. It represented an outpouring of righteous Democratic anger, and its simultaneous transformation into hope. That double process -- the cathartic expression of rage, and its purification -- is exactly what Democrats have needed after seven nightmarish years of Bush. It is politics both as payback, and as spiritual transcendence. And the fact that it is a black man who is serving as America's philosopher's stone, turning the base metal of bitterness into the gold of forgiveness, is extraordinarily moving. The possibility that our nation's deepest wound, and the source of our political divisions, could also be the agent of our redemption is like a banner appearing in a darkened sky.
Sounds a lot like:
Jimmy Carter's stunning victory in Iowa was a moment of national alchemy. It represented an outpouring of righteous Democratic anger, and its simultaneous transformation into hope. That double process -- the cathartic expression of rage, and its purification -- is exactly what Democrats have needed after five nightmarish years of Nixon. It is politics both as payback, and as spiritual transcendence. And the fact that it is a Southerner who is serving as America's philosopher's stone, turning the base metal of bitterness into the gold of forgiveness, is extraordinarily moving. The possibility that our nation's deepest wound, and the source of our political divisions, could also be the agent of our redemption is like a banner appearing in a darkened sky.
Maybe I'm being too cynical. Carter beat Ford...barely.
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Where's the beef???
I think your analysis is correct. I have been saying essentially the same thing. But the problem is it is alchemy--which if it worked would shred Ron Paul's argument for a gold standard.
I honestly do not know what Obama stands for. I anticipate he would try to implement some kind of moderate progressive agenda. He is probably just another neoliberal like Bill Clinton (and actually George Bush, for that matter).
Anyway, this type of political magic may work with some (most??) people, but not this girl. I keep asking "where's the beef?"
~Becky
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How we haven't moved beyond race, from the news
Are we transcending our racial wounds? Look at today's report from MSNBC:
WA -- White Seattleites have enjoyed a disproportionately larger share of the reduction in misdemeanor marijuana charges -- compared with black people -- since Seattle voters designated such crimes the city's lowest law enforcement priority, according to a new city study.
Overall, police and prosecutors less often pursue possession charges against both blacks and whites. But the proportion of those charged who are African-American has grown.
This doesn't sound like old racial wounds being transcended. This sounds like brand new racial wounds being created.
The police seem to be changing, racially speaking, at a much slower rate than the kind of people who want to vote for Obama.
We're not going to take the racism out of the War on Drugs any time soon. Probably the only way to get rid of the racism will be to get rid of the War on Drugs.
No "electable" candidates are willing to go that far yet. Not even Obama wants to attack racism on this level.
It's pretty sad and it's a sign of how far we haven't come.
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@ Green Job
So...you would have preferred Ford?
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Deep Down...
Republicans are NOT going to accept Obama. Today the rightwing talking point is that Obama's church is racist.
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vote republican
If Obama gets nominated and not elected because of all the calculative, cynical and manipulative reasons the naysayers on this blog suggest it only proofs Americas education is not finished yet and this country will need another Republican president to come to its senses!
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Obama is not black - he is mixed race!
Dear Gary-
It is very offensive to refer to Barack Obama as a black man. It almost feels like that most whites refer to a mixed race man or woman as black - is it once again white condescension?
It really bothers me when journalists continue to refer to him as black. He is not black, and comes form mixed race. Please do not support this myth of him being a black man. It is an affront to his white mother.
I really hope journalists respect this.
Thanks,
Jagadish
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@ howveryodd
Btw: don't ever run for president yourself, as you're liable to get labeled a flipflopper - up there you said these word distinctions are meaningless; here you say meanings stick to words. Might want to get that worked out before you run for office! :
Touche. But, wait. I said that distinctions based on degree of genetic blackness are meaningless, because black group identity is dependent of a perception of the self as a descendent of slaves and not just as being mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, biracial, or whatever.
So I was for it before I was against it and vice-versa, which as any politician knows is enought to muddy the waters enough to confuse the fish about what bait they are taking.
I will not be running for office. Under the Obama administration I will accept a salaried cabinet post, probably as Secretary of Truth. Here is a work sample:
"OK citizens of the US, this is President Obama speaking. Now you people get this, I am not black--I am biracial--and any journos or media pundits who persist in using the B word in connection with the glorious person of the Commander-in-Chief will soon be joining Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell etc. in the torture-free zone at the Bay of Pigs Re-education Camp for Republican Non War Criminals. Do I make myself clear?"
*******
Somehow it seemed as if the farm had grown richer, without making the animals themselves any richer, except of course for the pigs and the dogs.
[George Orwell: Animal Farm]