Posts tagged president

I'm Sure You're Tired Of It But…Yes We Can!

Nov 5th 2008

Posted by Jason in Uncategorized

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I still can't believe it. I couldn't really believe it last night when it was happening, and I'm still having trouble processing it now. But the election is over and Barack Obama is going to be our new president.

As I was over at my friends last night watching the returns come in, I was cautiously optimistic because I knew what the polls were saying. And when Ohio went for Obama, I knew it it was over and Obama had won.

It's quite interesting witnessing history in real time. I don't know quite how to describe the relief that I felt that finally we knew who won and that person was the guy who I think has the mindset to bring the US back to the modern world after 8 years of pissing it off. And there was joy too. Hearing his victory speech and knowing that this was the best thing to happen to American politics in quite some time.

I know that just because he is elected, the country won't return to the right track over night. He's inherited a boatload of problems, a bad economy, two wars and crumbling relations with other countries…it's going to be tough. But I think that this is a step in the right direction. I hope people understand that he's not going to be some messiah that comes down from on high and snaps his fingers to make everything OK. That's what he's going to have to fight now. But I think he can do it.

Also, as an aside, I really liked McCains concession speech. It was the first time in a long time that we've heard the real McCain, not the fake one that's been running around campaigning for the last 2 years. That was the McCain I might have voted for.

The only thing that's really, really dissapointing about last night is that, on the night that can serve as such a symbol of overcoming prejuidice and bigotry, so many states passed ballot measures promoting a different kind of prejudice and bigotry…bans on same sex marriage. Why can people not see that this issue is just as bad as racial discrimination? That interracial marriage was banned for exactly the same reason, that it was a "sin" against "god". Totally ignoring the fact that a good portion of the country doesn't believe in that god.

It's a very sour note on what should have been a day celebrating the strides we've made as a people. Instead, it shows very clearly just how much farther we need to go before we can truly live up to the phrase that had been set down at the very founding of this country. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". All men. Not white men, not black men, not straight men, not gay men. ALL. MEN. (and women of course)

I have never been prouder of my country, and yet at the same time I have never been so disappointed.

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Sorry For Getting Political…

Mar 18th 2008

Posted by Jason in Uncategorized

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…but this is one of the best speeches I've ever heard. Obama's speech on racial issues in America was simply amazing, and I'd highly recommend reading it and/or watching it if you have the time. I implore you to do so…this speech deserves so much more than the soundbites you're going to get on the news tonight.

With full text speech located at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/18/105356/186/915/479103

My take: Obama is the one of the first political leaders I've heard that actually gets it. Gets that it should be a struggle framed as white vs black or vs Mexicans or Asians, etc. He frames the issue with concerns from all parties involved, such as the black feeling of lack of opportunity or the white resentment at being denied consideration for a job or school placement by way of afirmative action, atoning for acts which they had nothing to do with.

But most importantly, he gets that the only way we're going to be able to get around these issues is by realizing that the problems in our country today are not simply just "white problems" or "black problems" but that they're everybodys problems. And that all of the division along racial lines distracts us from solving the true problems in America. When everyone is stronger,  the country as a whole is stronger. I'm excerpting a section of the speech below.
 

For we have a choice in this country.  We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism.  We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina – or as fodder for the nightly news.  We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.  We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction.  And then another one.  And then another one.  And nothing will change.

That is one option.  Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time."  This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children.  This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem.  The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy.  Not this time.  

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life.  This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag.  We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

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The Audacity of Hope

Mar 29th 2007

Posted by Jason in Uncategorized

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The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Barack Obama

I try not to get political on here. It's not that I'm not interested in political type things…it's just that I prefer to keep my views to myself (and a small circle of close friends and even then…not so much). I'm registered as an independent as I don't believe that political party should influence my vote. I'll never really understand why some people vote straight ticket without even thinking about it…but that's another topic. Recently, I find myself identifying more with the viewpoints of the Democrats than the Republicans though.

So when Barack Obama announced that he was going to be running for president in 2008, I figured I should pick up his latest book The Audacity of Hope(which I was thinking about grabbing earlier anyway) and see if I can learn a little more about him and what his stand on the issues is. I had also heard really good reviews of it, and I was looking for something a little more…non-fictiony.

I read through the whole thing in about a week. It would have been a  lot quicker, except that I was in Washington DC for most of that week and was largely too tired to really read. Obama is an incredibly articulate writer. The book was interesting, well organized and well written. I particularly enjoyed the way he brought in real life people and situations to help back up his points instead of attempting to discuss the issues in abstract and in a vacuum.

I'm not sure if I'm stuck in some sort of Obama reality distortion field or something, but after reading the book, I came away with a feeling that the author was a genuine. He admitted his biases up front, as well as bringing up several examples of when he was wrong in how he thought, or lucky. I came away thinking that he was just a regular guy, trying to do the best he can and help out where he could. I'm usually fairly good these days on picking out something that's insincere. Like I said, not sure if it was some sort of distortion field clouding my judgment there or anything.

It also helped that I agreed with a lot of what he had to say. His thoughts on the state of the political debate are refreshing, about how it's become less about the issues at hand and more about how electable somebody is, or what small thing they may have done in the past.

If you're at all interested in finding out more about Barack Obama or just want a good read on the political situation of the country (from the Democrat perspective obviously), you can't go wrong with this. You might not agree with everything he has to say, but I'd be fairly surprised if you didn't take something away from reading this book.

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