First of all, my apologies to any regular readers for my absence this last week or so. 
I’ve been so busy with work, and the news is so saturated with democratic primary sensationalism, that there just hasn’t been much I actually wanted to process out in the open.
The Matrix called, and I lost myself in that wonderful place where you barely even remember there’s an electoral process going on. (I’m telling you, McCain needs to do something soon to wake up and engage the base, or we might all just slip into a coma and wake up after the electiion!)
The restful bliss of ignorace notwithstanding…hearing Michelle Obama say at a rally on CSPAN, that a child in South Carolina burst into tears at the thought of Obama becomming president because she ‘got’ that America was putting limitations on her, woke me up right quick from my lethargy.
If Michelle is to be believed, the little girl cried because she ‘knew’ that she wasn’t getting an education equal to others, she ‘knew’ that she won’t get good health care if she had an emergency, she ‘knew’ that we were stuck pursuing a failing foreign policy.. because she ‘knew’ that America is putting limitations on her ability to succeed.. WHAT??!!
I think she cried because it was exciting that she might get to see the first black president elected in our history… but that wouldn’t offer enough political capital to manipulate on the stump.
I had an ear out checking to see if anyone in talk radio discovered the soundbite to add to her ‘I’ve never really been proud of America’ comment, but no one seems to have commented on it on radio or in the blogosphere that I can see.
I actually sense that even the live crowd didn’t appreciate the comment, because she was clerly expecting applause or feedback when she said it, and when it didn’t come, she backpeddled on the comment and tried to qualify what she ment by ‘limitations’
Say what you will… NO ONE can doubt that America is still the land of opportunity. You could be born in the most terrible of circumstances, but most Americans, if given access to an education, food, and shelter, can become whatever they want to become.
The Only limitations we have are those we place on ourselves.
The victim mentality seems to overshadow almost everything the Obamas do. In fact, much of their success seems to be derived from getting people to feel really sorry for themselves, getting people to feel indignant at their lot in life, and then getting them to take it out on ‘other,’ (whoever that happens to be at the time.)
Sound familiar? Welcome to the ‘black’ experience as defined by Liberation ideology.
Oddly enough, this is all done in the name of unity, love and change. The messages seem to be at crosspurposes.
I know that all of the candidates repeat the ‘Washington is broken’ mantra, and they’re right! It just seems that Barak’s campaign seems to get more propulsion out of that message because of the almost ‘revolutionary’ way he manages to communicate it.
So much of their message seems to be ‘Fight the power!!” that it makes me wonder again, to what extent Rev. Wright’s philosophical perspective has influenced and informed Obama’s perspective of the world, and how he thinks it can be ‘fixed’
If you understand that according to Wright’s world view, only RADICAL action can bring change, and that Wright needs the ‘oppressors’ to stay the ‘oppressors’ so that he can hold on to power over his congregation of victims, it makes you wonder how much ‘Change’ Obama would really be interested in making from the WH, and just how radical those changes would be if he actually made them.
In theory, following Wright’s philosophical model, Obama would hold the reins of power, ‘preach’ to his victims that he is fighting for them, while he does little or nothing that would actually improve their lot.. and in fact could do some radical things that would in fact make their situation worse…because in the end, it was only ever about the power.
This would sound crazy, except for the closed door conversations caught on tape, or the back channel discusssions about NAFTA with the Canadians, or the latest doublespeak on his dealings with the teamsters.
I don’t hate Obama.. in fact, for his supporters sakes I hope his ‘revolution’ is real, and based on a sincere desire to help people and change America for the better, but much has come to light that makes one seriously question the motivations of this ‘rebel’
If we have learned anything, it is that Obama’s brand has taken a hit… Is he really just another politician capable of doing and saying what needs to be done to ensure his progress?
If so, It’s just sad that the only way he can find to raise himself up… is by making us feel really down so that he can offer us ’salvation’ from our despair.
I am not a victim.
His Handmaiden
Obama was in Gary Indiana a few days ago and wanted a friend of ours to come and make a speech about how bad things are for the union workers. He told them they wouldn’t like what he has to say and they wanted to know why. He told them he lives in Hobart, has a 250,000 house paid in full and has tons of money in the bank. They told him to stay home. Obama’s people went to the union hall to find poor union workers or ones that were laid off to make a speech.
Voting for Mike today in Indiana.
I, too, heard Ms. Obama’s speech on C-SPAN. She prefaced her remarks about the little girl who cried by reminding the crowd, she tells this story all the time on the stump. Judging by the fact she found this story she was about to tell again worth repeating, I anticipated something memorable. I listened intently as she unraveled her story. But I got stuck on the part where the girl burst into hysterical sobs and Ms. Obama only wondered why. That is, she didn’t attempt to soothe her; or locate a parent or guardian who could soothe her. She just noticed the girl sobbing; and then walked away. She said that, days later, she realized the girl had been crying because of the deprivations you listed above. I wanted her to say, she realized that, as an adult, she should have consoled that poor child, instead of considering how to convert the child’s tears into another stump speech for ‘hope.’
While I agree that we should all participate in the political process, the more important task is to always remember that each of us is responsible for ourselves, and in the end we have only ourselves to hold accountable for our specific human condition.
All of the Obamas, Clintons, Bushes, McCains, and such folk of the world cannot, nor do they desire to, alter our human condition. Only we have the power to do so.
In reading your post and subsequent comments, I am reminded of a bit of wisdom articulated by the Yaqui Sorcerer, don Juan Matus-
“Humanity’s greatest gift, the gift of attention, lies unopened, lost in the glitter of the superficial diversions with which we have become obsessed.”
Certainly, in the pomp and circumstance of the daily parade of political hype, “obsession” is a true descriptive!
I worry about Obama’s smoke and mirrors on the trail … it’s like watching an illusionist who tricks you into watching one thing while missing what he’s doing with the other hand. I think people are being mesmerized by him and not seeing the darkness in his soul. (Anyone who fought against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act is very scary).