Letters to the Editor
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Not Everyone In Love with Obama
Obama fever is certainly spreading, and whatever merits the man may have are being magnified by a movement that bares more than a whiff of a personality cult. His followers are so caught up in their own vision of Obama's greatness that they don't seem to realize that their views are not shared by the vast majority of the electorate.
Now I like Obama just fine, and would have no problem as President, but the reality is that there is already a well established whisper campaigne that has a good shot of making him unelectable. Yesterday, I spoke with my Aunt, an intelligent woman in her 60's with a Master's Degree and a life long Democrat, but gets all of her news from commercial television. I asked her what she thought of Obama and she said that she can't believe that it is not on headline news that he is an Arab who is getting all of his money from Arabs, is a secret Muslim because just look at his middle name and if he become president who knows what will happen to this country. I was floored. I tried explaining that his father was from African country not an Arab nation, that he is a Christian and was raised in part by his Mother's white Christian parents,but she would have none of it. She knew better and told me she didn't want to hear another word about it. So I asked if that meant if she would vote for a Republican if he was the nominee, something she had never done before and she said that it depends on who the Republican which probably means yes. Oh, and she really likes Huckabee, bought was a bit put off him when I told her he had signed a full page ad afirming that a woman is meant to be naturally subservient to her husband.
Bottom line, don't expect the rest of the electorate to embrace the Obama love. Sad to say, with his name and background he will probably end up with higher negatives than Hillary if he gets the nomination once the Rightwing trash machine gets through with him.
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And how will that hope fail?
I've heard Obama compared to Robert Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln. How did both those guys end up?
And yes, there's been a lot of people who insist that any black person who ran for President would be an immediate assassination target. It might be easy for people to dismiss...unless, as I did, you lived through 1968, with its two assassinations, and the ultimate election of Richard Nixon.
I remember the people who had hopes for Kennedy and for Eugene McCarthy. I wasn't one of them; at the time I supported my uncle, a fairly conservative Democrat running for a city office, but I saw them and their dedication. And I saw their mourning after Sirhan Sirhan (the first Middle Eastern guy to get our attention) did his grisly work.
So I'm thrilled by Obama, perhaps not as much as Kamiya, but thrilled. And I'm also waiting for the inevitable disappointment and mourning, and what promises to be an ugly aftermath.
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Insincere
Re: "Clinton offers the promise of competence, hard work and commitment to progressive causes -- and the too-long deferred dream of a woman leading America. "
Oh spare me. You and the rest of the media couldn't care less about electing a female President.
And you describe Obama as if he has some magical powers, like he's some messiah who will absolve you of your inner racist. Get a grip. You're going nuts.
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A bit nauseated...
Really, I am feeling a little sick to my stomach. Transcendence of America's racial wound? For gosh sakes, we are talking about a presidential election, not the second coming.
And....
"Although it may be a gamble, Obama is the only Dem that can beat the GOP. Hillary doesn't stand a chance" from a poster responding to the alchemy of it all.
But, a new poll shows only John Edwards (not Hill and not Obama) beating any Republican in Ohio and Florida.
But that is looking forward to he general election, and by then it will be The One running against the Republican candidate. And, who cares about Ohio and Florida?
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Be prepared to be disappointed when your new love snores
Honestly, it's a election not the new mocha Messiah. If I had a dime for every electocrat who, we were promised, was the new landlord of the bright shining city on the hill and the dawn of new day, etc etc etc, I could buy an island for myself and make myself a god.
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Door Will Not Slam
I am a strong Obama supporter and have been very encouraged by recent developments in the presidential campaign. That said, Obama's election will NOT slam the door on Bush's war nor even on his era. It will go a long way toward moving the country forward, but it is going to take a very long time and a lot of hard work to overcome all of the damaged that Bush has done and we may never successfully clean up the mess he has created in the Middle East.
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@Nulla Sallus
I could buy an island for myself and make myself a god.
If you'd promise to stay on it and leave us alone, we might just start passing the hat.
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Kamiya Found the Word: Alchemy
Even as the usual gang of idiots, namely Salon's army of nihilists, cynics and just plain morons gather to hurl stones at Kamiya, Obama and anyone who dares to claim he understands what is happening here, It is nonetheless happening, and it is happening despite all the desperate naysayers who fear a collapse into chaos if the past is left behind, if the dead are forced to bury their dead and if we once and for all sever our ties with the known and dare to look forward.
Obama has already been (in this thread) charged as the object in a "cult of personality." I find this interesting, as so few of us know very much about the man's personality beyond the fact that something happens when he takes the podium that most of us have never experienced before. We know he's "nice", that he's "clean" and "articulate", that he's carrying more than a single drop of Negro blood in his veins, but we don't really know, haven't yet really experienced the full range of Obama's personality.
We have, however, used the gift our creator (or the Big Accident in the Sky, depending on your level of spiritual evolution) gave us to recognize someone who is safe to stand next to, someone who won't suddenly poke us in the eye with a sharp stick, someone who is, at the very least, innately decent and sincere.
Not much of political value there, eh? Nothing to offset that grand old "experience" plea for the umpeenth time. No, just simple goodness, a sort of Universal Human standing there telling us there is a way to do better than we have done, and that he will commit to leading us in that direction. Alchemy. There is no better word I have come across in the Amen Corner so far. Oh, and that corner is taking up the entire room about now. Cynics please be seated outside.
Thanks, Gary, for having done Salon proud at a moment when I was about to really throw in the towel on this and just head out for Obamaville -- which maybe I am already in right now, ultimately: Washington, DC.
It takes tremendous courage to be Gary Kamiya, who otherwise might have to find work in the pages of Kosmos or something. In fact, it would be nice if he could be loaned to them now and then.
To all you cynics out there: I am tempted to say "Bite me", but suddenly I realize that's now how it's going to be. So instead I'll just say: Keep arranging those deck chairs. That water's cold. Deep, too.