...2008...
The tipping point!
Before you fix your assumptions on a reading that's going to go from optimistic to grandiose let me put this out front: If there were ever anything said by John McCain more true than his claim that "Barack Obama is just a typical politician" i haven't heard it.
Is this to say "Barack Obama is just a typical politician"? not exactly. Everytime the man goes out onto a podium he transcends what we know as your "typical politician"... and if you think i mean it is because of his gift to word a speech so precise, on the fine values-policy line we've seen everyone but him - up until now either fall off the edge of or come up short before in appealing to EVERYBODY, then let me rephrase that:
Everytime the man wakes up he transcends what we know to be a "typical politician", not because he is Black, or Young, or Handsome, or honest, or charismatic, or intelligent, or progressive, ALTHOUGH in any given post i can give you 5000 words about why each of these in it’s own relative way IS indication that he isn't your "typical politician".
I only co-sign that 'If there were ever anything said by John McCain more true ... i haven't heard it' because it is THE TRUEST thing he has ever said.
Heck, George Bush once said:
"I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together."
Is that a true statement? umm wait a minute... well if what he meant was... ugh, no, no it's not. NO! But sh!t, for Bushie, it was like he was alllmost there. Not quite true, but the truest thing I'VE ever heard HIM say!
And because we wont have to wait too long after his inauguration on January 20th, 2009, before Ol Barry reveals himself as just another politician, not only has McCain essentially made his truest comment, but one which will someday hold validity, so shall we call it prophetic?
**NOT SO FAST... Hillary beat him to it! She'd been setting the -I told you so- down like hot coals the final four or five months of her bid**
Let me correct our _dear_ president on this one
Leadership is the ability to bring people together.
Which leads me to the reason why Barack Obama is NOT your "typical politician", at least for now, and really all factors considered having less to do with doings of his own than with those of The People!
Don't get it twisted, i'm not on that bring 'em up to bring 'em down envy tip. Obama has earned his keep. The man is brilliant. But let's be honest: You can only make so much change when your support is the very structure of power you promise to compromise! If anything we've only seen Obama compromise HIMSELF and sadly, the will of his popular base as time has gone on. And to a point I do not knock him, because ultimately it brings me clear on what he is trying to do… become the President of the United States. And you don’t become the President of the United States if you are Barack Obama and you don’t denounce your faith when the power want to know if they’re ‘safe’- He’s gotta BE safe; if you don’t move the patrons whom might create a P.R. disaster if not clear from the camera’s range -He’s gotta keep distance. So I'm not salty about him compromising himself because I am not naïve on the probability that Obama had to really process and discipline the idea of what he’d need to do to put himself into position to win (and I aint so naïve to imagine it being anything less than a process facilitated with a team of advisors in the room neither).
…What? Do you think it didn’t occur to him that his name might/WILL be an issue? That his associations might/WILL arise? Come on! If he weren’t prepared for that mentally and politically he wouldn’t have made it this far. He might not have all the experience in the world but he’s been in the game long enough to know who he’s playing with!
When you google Obama’s voting record you find that he has been known to abstain from voting on controversial issues, and this has been scary to some and exciting for others. For those on ‘the left’ whom are readily able to stifle any magnetism towards the allure of the man & his movement, his record in securing nothing, secured hope! until he began to dismantle our utopic vision by cementing the logistics of his campaign in politics as we know it; first putting together a team of the same ol’ Washington to help him select the same ol’ Washington for his VP (The Washington I never really believed he’d manage to work outside of), then by sending everybody whom vowed to support his vision of independence from the corporate interests home with a thank you letter {foregoing public financing}, by basically putting his capacity to govern in corporate hands (This is not a Golden Childocracy! They are not going to fund him crawling forward on their knees with peasant offerings! These are the guys that pay for what they want (ahem), and make no mistake about it folks… this is money; these are gangsters)
But once again… this is not to say that Barack Obama is your “typical politician”. Not now at least. Because he REALLY HAS brought people together! I mean if you are not convinced by how powerful this man’s campaign is right now look no further than Oregon, where Senator Gordon Smith,A REPUBLICAN, is using Barak Obama *in a positive vein* in commercials for his own campaign. Sen Smith knows he needs to tap into this incredible mass of voters Obama continues to attract by the day. Barack has managed to mobilize a nation that is just jaded with the status quo: economically, politically, socially, culturally, etc. And if there is any irony (and irony often times really does reveal the truth) it is that Obama is running against McCain! John McCain, whom to many is the Barak Obama of the Republican Party when you are refering to being a ‘Maverick’ or ‘Renegade’ on policy. Yet and still McCain's candidacy is not enough to convince the masses of change. He is a white wig! Bush is a white wig! Hillary is a white wig! And if things get any harder for The People in this country, eventually elected officials in municipalities all around the country will become white wigs for their inability to lead in these times!
It is in light of this phenomenon that we are witnessing the beginning of a turn in the history of the United States of America. It is in light of this phenomenon that I am inspired to boldly declare that Obama, by winning CAN be a typical politician and still be credited, or his time in office can be credited (because this is more about The People and how we all deal with this time) for a psychological revolution in the social fabric of this nations universal consciousness. Now I know most are pessimistic, and I really cannot blame you, but you cannot doubt one simple fact. NOW… NOW… we will HAVE to deal with a blanketed issue in our society! NOW, emotions will reveal themselves, as they have been in the media and in the silent moments amongst your friends during Obama’s run at the office alone. We will have a BLACK leader, whom you can choose to accept or not (Hey, do what you wills.. it aint like I accept the guy in office now as MY leader!)
There will be a GREAT dialogue which many will use their privelege and space to illude, yet nobody will be able to go unexposed to (although there are some folk in the Appalachia whom may not get much exposure to an African American if even a television).
Yes Barack Obama will be a typical politician. And like a typical politician sometimes he will be on some BULLSHIT! and if there is one thing I trust about the man, it is his Will to move sh!t forward… so he will have his good legacy as well. And many white people (whether of Asian, European, Mid Eastern, Latino..) will get frustrated. And many black people (whether of Asian, European, Mid Eastern, Latino..) will be proud. And little will change along the lines of poverty, the environment, war, health care (sh!t is like on some contractual level folks… this is a wait your turn system: nobody gives up privelege willingly **unless of course you aint always trying to play by the rules**)
But after this is all said and done there will be MAJOR gains in the level of respect with which we deal with one another in the streets, in the home, at work.
That, or brace yourself for something ugly…
-ToneAre
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