...it isn't just that we (as Americans) have lived up to our promise, it that we have done that thing that makes us uniquely American...we have chosen risk over safety, listened to our hearts and done the thing we thought right and true. We are willing to give a first-term senator a try...because though less experienced, he captured and embodies the American dream.
It's not a dream of 2.5 kids and a suburban house (though he falls into that demographic) it is the dream of a better, brighter future with a young vigorous leader at the helm. We are taking the chance on Obama and with him. And though I don't doubt he will stumble here and there, I do not think he will fall.
Yes we did.
4 comments:
There's something that has been bothering me about this whole thing. Why would we vote for an unproven first-term senator? It's great that our nation was able to vote for a man of mixed race, but why did we do it? Why now?
I don't think it's because we all of a sudden became less bigoted or more open minded. I think it took a terrible president (W.) a war with no end in sight, an economic crisis, that our generation has never seen, an opponent, John McCain, who ran a terrible campaign, and Tina Fey.
So, while I am keeping hope alive, I refuse to keep too much hope alive. Duval county voted for McCain, and like the rest of the country voted to keep gays from marrying. These are the people that I am surrounded by.
I think people were/are exhausted...and I went to the rally, and as much as I could, took the measure of the man...and honestly, I didn't find him lacking.
Also, the choice of Palin as running-mate was really poor.
For sure Obama is very smart and reasonable and cool as can be. Palin is a nut and McCain was working on becoming a nut himself. I know two people who both admitted to going to the polls to vote for Obama, but couldn't do it, because he is black. I'm sure there were a lot more people like them. I just think if Bush wasn't such a bad president and if the stock market and banks weren't in such bad shape there is no way this country would have voted for a minority.
I'm glad we did though.
I think in some respects you are right, but I think in some measure you must look at the McCain/Palin ticket as evidence of a larger arrogance espoused by the GOP, and the market/banks/mortgage crises as evidence of over 8 years of governmental mismanagement (let's not forget that it was Clinton who signed the deregulation bill).
Also, I too am dismayed by the marriage bills that passed but I had a gay friend put it into context for me when he talked about how long the struggle for civil rights had been going on for people of color, and that the gay rights movement is relatively new (not that makes it excusable).
Then I heard a commentator mention that as an a lesbian of color, in her community, to be open and out is an anomaly...that in many minority communities, gayness is seen as a white issue, because they have no point of referecence for the humanization of gay folk. You fear what you don't understand.
And back to Obama, even if he proves to be a less-than-stellar leader, I think voting him into office is an important paradim (sp?) shift. I am also glad that we are the first Western "superpower" to vote a person of color into office. We (America) can maybe become a beacon, not an object of ridicule again.
But then again, maybe I'm just a romantic with nationalist tendencies....
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