Two days ago, our country elected Senator Barack Obama as our next president. I don't need to retell his story here; anybody who has found this blog stepped here on a sea of news articles, biographies, and stories about who this extraordinary man is, where he came from, and what he wants to do.
But I will repeat our story. We are a country which, for the last eight years, has lived under a sneaking suspicion that the end of the last great superpower was nigh, and that our great nation of freedom, opportunity, and personal liberty was being chipped away by a relentless pattern of human rights violations, wiretapping, misrepresentation and the war it was predicated upon, foolhardy executive power-grabbing, economic tumult, and the discouraging feeling that we, the American people, were having the wool pulled over our collective eyes.
I am tired of going to foreign nations and sheepishly admitting my country of origin, for fear of the string of foreign-language expletives and shameful curses that I would be forced to respond to. I'm tired of defending the liberty that my grandfather fought, shot for and was shot for in light of a bumbling figurehead, a puppet executive, and an inexplicable drain of the very liberties and respect for humanity that our country was built on. I'm tired of being embarrassed by our leader, and by the kind of myopic zealotry and undereducated fundamentalism that came to characterize our twice-elected leader. (For which I am equally to blame...I voted for our current President in both elections...and I am sorry).
...and today, I am breathing with fresh lungs, and a heart beating heavily with hope.
This week, we elected America's first African-American president. To be slightly more broad, we elected America's first non-white president. And I can't imagine being any happier that this person is Barack Obama.
I cannot wait to tell my children that I was there when Barack Obama was elected. I am so thrilled that my children will not grow up in a world where only white males can reach the highest office in the land. I am so proud that the rows of pictures that make up the "wall of presidents" at every grade school, middle school, and high school in the country will now have a dark-skinned face...at least one dark-skinned face, and hopefully many more...for as long as this country is established. My children will never know a world where black men and women have no President who looks like them to aspire to. And the children of black men and women across this country will never know a world where the "white majority" did not trust someone who looked like them to serve as their chief executive and leader.
I truthfully wondered if I would ever see this day. And it is one of the great honors of my life that I got to be a part of electing this man.
I don't know that I believe that God takes a hand, or even necessarily an interest, in the politics of our country. But I will tell you that I thank Him for a race well run, for two candidates that made this country proud throughout...for many of us, proud for this first time in years...and for the gift that is this radical milestone in the development of our young nation. And I hope He hears it.
John McCain is an, without dispute, an American hero, and would likely have made an outstanding leader...I have been proud to support his cause and character in my small social circles where I could throughout his campaign. But this is Barack Obama's time, and this is America's time for Barack Obama. I think maybe we are finally ready. I hope we are.
May God's hand guide you and protect you as you take your first steps of executive leadership, President-Elect Obama. I'm proud to follow.
Peace to you,
Justin
8 comments:
Preach it, brother! Amen!
Very touching my friend! Well spoken!
You've got me very curious. Seeing as how you haven't been proud to be an American in a long time this Obama character must have an exceptional record of service.
I hope that the next four years are positive for our country regardless if the man I voted for is or is not the president-elect. Aside from Obama promising to take this country in a direction different from the current administration (a promise not yet met), what has he done that makes you so proud? He's black. Well, great! That's not of his own doing. He was elected the next president of the U.S. Yes, that means he convinced a country to put him in office, but the same goes for the current president and you're asking forgiveness for voting for him.
Where's the substance? What is the root of your pride? What has he done, not said, that makes you so proud to soon live under his leadership?
Anonymous,
Great questions, all! Thanks for caring enough about the post to ask them...
Let me be address each question/point uniquely, and perhaps the aggregate will begin to answer the bigger question you seem to be asking, "what's the big deal to you about Obama...really?"
- First, I want to be clear about my first statement... what I said was, "for the first time in a long time, I am a very proud American." Believe it or not, the key word there was very. I am always proud of my country...at least, in a sort of general way that comes from 29 years of living in freedom and abundance in a land of constant hope and opportunity for rebirth...but in recent years, I haven't felt proud of most of the actual day-to-day and week-to-week decisions that our President, and by association our country (at least to outsiders), has made.
- Second, I want to be clear that I am proud of America for electing Obama...not simply proud of Obama. Re-read the post, I hope this becomes clearer in the syntax of the opening statement. We had the audacity to elect a black president...that tells me a lot about where our country is in our path toward true racial equality, particularly compared with where we were only a decade or two ago. That makes me very proud...and I'm even more proud that the man we elected seems to have been elected on the merit of his promises, his character, his and a record (albeit a young one) of bipartisan work toward the greater good...not just on his race.
- Third, where I am proud of Obama specfically is not in some longstanding "record of service," and I disagree with your inference that a "record of service" is the only reason to support a candidate. I am proud of his ability to rally a depressed and beaten America to hope, for the first time in a long time. He speaks of huge and difficult issues... issues like economic turmoil, racial reconciliation, environmentalism, immigration, labor policy, foreign policy, nuclear proliferation, etc... with a strength, authenticity, conviction, wise assurance, and eloquence unmatched by any politician in my lifetime. That gives me hope. Could he fail to meet every single promise made? Sure! I don't think he will...but he could. But in the meantime, I'm quite proud to support a very believable message of very tangible change from a very powerful man.
- Fourth, I'm asking forgiveness for voting for Bush the second time. Fool me once, etc. Perhaps I'll feel regretful in four years for voting for Obama...but I hope I don't repeat my previous error and re-vote for him anyway, just because the other guy seems worse.
I hope this helps address your questions...they sounded earnest, I hope at least I have elucidated my viewpoint, for what it's worth.
Cheers,
Justin
Mr. Masterson,
I greatly appreciate you following up on my questions. You certainly didn't need to, so by responding you showed you care. Thank you.
I would like to bring up a few points of contention with your responses. Ideally, I to would be proud of my country if they voted based on the reasons you’ve suggested. However, I find your claims lacking in support.
While you find significant pride in the idea that he was voted in for his promises, character and bipartisanship I believe that he was voted largely because of his race, his ambiguous message of change and his unprecedented campaign spending. The US News & World Reports has documented via exiting polls that Obama won 96% of the black vote and 2/3 of the Hispanic vote (with a +/- not given). If in this election 96% of white people, or even 2/3 for that matter, had voted for McCain then race would be considered the primary reason for McCain winning. You, along with many others, have applauded this election with the notion that race played little or no factor in the results. The statistics suggest that race was very much a part of the election. However, it doesn’t appear as negative when people vote for someone due to their race instead of against someone because of it. This doesn't suggest to me that we are getting any closer to racial equality. We still very much see a man (or woman) for their skin color.
Additionally, as stated in that same exiting pole: "Obama won the under-30 crowd by 34 percentage points. This bested Bill Clinton's 19-point advantage over Bob Dole among young voters in 1996." Remember Clinton’s campaign – his youth-of-America MTV appearance and smooth, late-nite saxophone playing? His draw of young voters was considered extraordinary…until now. Do you honestly want me to believe that the young voters, notorious for their lack of knowledge on issues, were eager to vote for Obama because of what he stood for? - That they were not moved by SNL, the Daily Show or YouTube? - That this is the election when they finally decided to do their homework and vote based on each candidate’s positions? Like JFK (looks) and Clinton (cool factor) before him, Obama won young votes, not because of what he stood for, but because of how he stood: young, handsome, well spoken and black. These voters don’t want their grandfather running the country. They want someone they can “relate” to, someone different, someone who will usher in “change” for the sake of change – not because it will better a country (it didn’t hurt that he spent aggressively to be on Facebook, to have cool t-shirts and to be in video games – yes, he was on virtual billboards in video games).
I also have trouble with your assertion that Obama is bipartisan – or maybe you don’t think he is, but you believe his message of bipartisanship garnered more votes. Either way, this is myth, pure and simple. I will allow you to google it yourself, but depending on the source Obama has voted along party lines between 96-97% of the time (McCain is hardly a Maverick here either, but his 90% party voting looks Maverick-like compared to his counterpart.).
Lastly, we will have to agree to disagree, at least in part, about record of service. I did not suggest that record of service was the only measure of a candidate, but I certainly believe that it is a large part of it. We are talking about someone sitting as the head of the USA! If we were talking about a school principal or company president we would want someone with a record of experience and of tangible accomplishments. We’d be talking about the future of our children or of our financial investment/employer, right? Past service is a great measure of future accomplishment. How much more important is it for someone who is holding one of the greatest positions in all the land to have a record that supports that he can and will direct the ship (our country) in the direction he says he can take it. Though Obama speaks with great character and appeal, his track record is rather vanilla.
Look, as far as you know I voted for Obama as I could have seen him as the lesser of two evils, just as a number of past elections have appeared to me. As your blog showed an overwhelming sense of pride and joy, I wanted to know the “why” of it. I appreciate that you thoroughly answered the questions I presented. Unfortunately for me, your response is similar to others I’ve heard – like a Pro-Obama answer sheet full of holes.
Anonymous,
I am, again, humbled by your interest enough in my blog and thoughts to take the time to post yours with such consideration and detail. Thanks.
As you said, it sounds like we may agree to disagree on this one...though I will tell you, my statement of pride is, indeed, "full of holes," as you suggested. The truth is, a lot of us who support Obama do so more on faith than service record. (And, if you have read any of my previous posts, you'll see that "faith" is not something I come by easily). That faith is not "blind," however...it is a trust in the promises of a man whose written and spoken words suggest that he will support what I support and further the causes I want to see furthered, and whose record, however short it may be by McCain standards, suggests a personal integrity and strength of character required to fulfill those promises.
On the race issue...It would be foolish to suggest that race did not play a part in this election...and even more so to suggest that race is no longer an issue. What this election taught me is that a man won't LOSE the election simply because he is black...and while that is not a "colorblind" thought, it's a hell of a lot better than the alternative, which has been our story for a very long time.
I hope you'll continue to read, and I hope you'll continue to comment. I really enjoy your intelligent and considerate responses, and if you keep a blog, I'd love to read it!
Cheers,
Justin
Mr. Masterson,
One last time... thank you for responding to my post.
I have read some of your other writings and agree that faith is not something you easily relinquish. However, with regards to Obama I think what you are driving at is an optimism, or hope, that you have; expectations with confidence. If so, wonderful! Declaring it a "faith" and one that is not blind is a bit of a stretch for me. Based on your stances and support for them I don't believe you've investigated Obama enough not to use "blind" adjacent to "faith". You have drawn too perfect a picture of a man who is not.
Regarding my writing of a blog, no I do not keep one. I don't want some annoying prick responding to me every time I write something that isn't factually sound enough for his taste:-)
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Still I did finish it notwithstanding the pain in my eyes, and then went to London to see an oculist. To my relief he told me I was not going blind as I feared, but that the trouble came from the brain which was overworked. He ordered me complete rest and change
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