Never in this country has a mere presidential nominee brought so many ages, races nationalities and social classes together. His National Democratic Convention was the first political event of its caliber to assemble 85,000 plus attendees and 38.4 million television viewers. Obama’s use of technology and his Internet donor base of 1.3 million garnered him record contributions of nearly $300 million in 19 months, with an average donation of $96.00. In March of 2008, more than 218,000 new donors gave to his campaign. His financial muscle, grass roots approach, text and email centralized campaign has revolutionized the future of political fundraising.
Though often accused of being an elitist, Obama is anything but. He is a visionary with an extraordinary hope for egalitarianism and classlessness. His prosposed policies on the war in Iraq, universal healthcare, the economy, education, homeland security, energy and the environment will positively affect the majority of Americas, not just the upper tier. Then there are allegations that point toward him wanting to turn America into a socialist society based of some of his views, mainly healthcare. Truth be told, we are already living in a socialized society, titled under sugarcoated euphemism like government funding, government aid, government bailout – the metaphors are endless. When a corn farmer loses 200 acres of his crops to a drought and the government extends aid to supply and replenish the next year’s crop, that’s socialism. When Bear-Stearns, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were bailed out of their financial noose earlier this year, that was socialism at its finest. Socialism is nothing more than a government using its power and discretion to redistribute benefits and wealth. So when Obama’s opponents claim that his policies are socialist, what they are really saying is it’s only socialism if it involves the true underclass or some 20 million Americas who desperately need healthcare. If it goes to the cherry-picked rich, corporate giants, monster financial institutions or anyone the government deems necessary – IT’S AID.
Dr. King’s historical “Dream” speech plead for the future of a nation whose best days were ahead of it, not behind it, as John McCain believes. He pressed for an America that would ultimately avail equal opportunity, greatness and promise for all of its inhabitants. Last week Dr. King’s hope turned the corner, because that 2-year old boy who was growing up in Honolulu 45 years ago, is now a 47-year-old Harvard educated lawyer and senator who has become the dream!
Article comments
1 - Cannonshop
Nice, stirring opinion piece. Barack Obama is truly all things to all observers, depending on what the observer wants to see. It's very easy to understand how he can present a flickering fire in the swamps to a lost traveller.
Bit like a will 'o wisp, actually.
2 - Woodstock
Obama is for change huh? He voted with the Democratic senate 97% of the time. They were in charge during this economic downturn and did nothing about it.
Check out this and get your facts straight.
3 - Joanne Huspek
I have to admit, when BO first came on the scene, I was wowwed like everyone else. As a package, he is quite pretty. Charming, gives a good speech. I am currently reading the book you have chosen to display, and the man is a craftsman at turning a phrase, to be sure. However, there is a matter of the record of his achievements, which is painfully thin.
I'm going to keep looking, at ALL the candidates...
4 - Dalilah
Woodstock, go suck an egg and get your facts straight! Not one of us alive can honestly say we are not a work in progress. The work we do on ourselves is centered around growth and evolution. My grandmother use to always say, WHEN YOU KNOW BETTER, YOU DO BETTER. I will be the first to say Obama is a young politician, who will be enormously impacted by this race, regardless of whether he becomes our next president. No matter what you say or have been conditioned to believe, the fact remains that AMERICA Looooooooooooooooves OBAMA, has rallied behind him in record numbers, trusts in his strategy for change and thinks John McCain should be sucking the other end of the egg in your mouth.
5 - amadou
Absolutely on point. Furthermore, the cause of a situation can hardly become the agent of it's reversal. In this case the republicans, after 8 l o n g y e a r s, have spent about $700 trilion from our budget. They were left with a $300 trillion of deficit and now $400 trillion dollars in deficit. Now any CEO would be fired after a much lower loss. Wow! America! Wake up! We have been robbed by the Republican Party and we are not in the streets rebelling against this travesty, this dispicable rape of our tax dollars and our trust. 8 l o n g y e a r s and now Bush and the republican party are being ousted only by default or are we going to let these rich oilers and armateurs keep destroying the AMERICAN LEGACY. A legacy that is being erected as we remain silent behind the tv sets and comfortably in our houses until the day we are kicked out. Our so-called enemies are investing more than before in the U.S. due to the weak dollar. These republicans just like mouse are eating the cheese all the cheese and then they are biting off our fingers while blowing air. We need to react.
without transition, Obama has since the begining of his canpaign only taken sound and mature decisions all the way up to his acceptance speech in Colorado. Although I respect Palin and believe that she has merits, I suspect that McCain showed rash and hasty bad judgement. A call at three in the morning may push him to make the wrong decision.
For the past 8 years, we had someone who took rash and hasty bad decisions. It is not necessarily a bad thing to take fast decision as long they are good decision. Sound judgement is the foundation. The Republican party has not shown sound judgement with USA, inc. They are to be fired. Probation and disciplinary actions are long past. Like Obama said and McCain dubbed "It is about YOU, not him" Let us change the WHITE HOUSE LEADERSHIP not by default but by CHOICE.
We need to allow real change to take place by the The real agents of change: Obama and Biden.
6 - Zedd
I hope we don't squander this oportunity. We have a chance at getting it right. I am afraid that it's going to be George Bush all over again!
7 - Cannonshop
I hope we don't squander this oportunity. We have a chance at getting it right. I am afraid that it's going to be George Bush all over again!
So...why are you supporting someone whose main claim to fame, is getting famous?
Seriously. "America LOOVES OBAMA!!"-and that's probably true, just like they love Oprah, and Doctor Phil, and George Clooney, and a whole lot of other famous people, some of whom have done something to be famous, and some of whom have not.
But at the end of the day, when you talk about "ISSUES", it's kind of useful to have some way of measuring how successful someone is ON the issues.
There were substantial democrats in the primaries-and they failed, but was this because of superiority of Obama, or simply the man's ability to reflect back what his audience wanted to see? Without a record, there's no way to be sure you're not just getting George of the Left instead of George of the right. When all you know about a man is what he tells you about himself in ad copy, it's pretty much nothing.
Being good at being famous is not the same thing as being good for the country.
8 - Cannonshop
Oh, how I hate it when I have to do the opposing side's research...
Link
Now, when someone asks "What did Obama Do?" you have something to start answering them with, that likely belongs on a resume' and may well be an actual accomplishment. (at minimum, it's better than talking to a fifth of a million germans between free concerts.)