Barack Obama

I have become an utterly enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama. Now, let me just say, to all the Republicans that read my blog...I still do not believe in abortion. And I do not like Obama's stance on the issue. However, I believe that he has a myriad of other issues and qualities that make it a moral imperative to vote Obama for President.

For instance, the United States has never really recovered from the horrific acts of racism due our nation's history of slavery. Only within the last 50 years in this county have we even started addressing the systemic issues which continue to oppress people who are not white. As my range of close friends has continued to diversify over the years, I cannot even believe some of the stories that I've been told about modern, here-today racism. And it makes me sick that these things happen to people I love, and they happen in a nation that calls itself Christian. I think these things make God want to burn the US up like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Main stream white culture is totally oblivious to the issues that minority individuals have to face on a daily basis. This is why I was completely overwhelmed when I heard the speech by Barack Obama on race. (To view the speech in its entirety see below:)



He has the ability not only to understand the black experience in the US, but to address the concerns of white people about these issues. We need someone who can address issues of racism, and can address them in a way that doesn't make the majority just feel attacked (unlike some black political figures like Jessie Jackson). I believe in this arena he will be (is) a prophet...calling people out from the subtle ways in which the sin of racism pervades their lives.

Second, I will confess that I voted for George Bush in both of the last elections. And I have a sinking feeling that generations from now will still be paying for the error of that decision. Now, I don't think he's some demon-like figure that some people like to characterize him as. I see him as someone who honestly tried to do what he thought was best and good (although I do think he purposely gave big oil a break during his presidency...but that's another story), however, he completely mis-mismanaged things. I think that this is in part to a lack of intelligence, but I think it is also due to a very American-centric worldview. He has no idea why things are going the way they are in Iraq...he grossly misunderstood who the Iraqis were...and what it means to be a Muslim.

In general he lacks an ability to empathize with the rest of the world's perspective. He can't even begin to fathom why many nations are terrified of the US and why they don't like us and our big-ego manner of operating in the world. Barack Obama on the other hand clearly gets it, and, furthermore, by his diverse religious background has an "in" with other nations that exists just because his father was a muslim. (To hear someone else talk about this see:Friedman Op-Ed Article.) I think the people of the world currently feel oppressed by the US...or at least are fearful being oppressed by us. They want us to be the moral, trust-worthy nation we were in the past...and I believe that Barack Obama has the ability to heal some of those fears and reduce the level of oppression that we hand out.

Ok...this post is getting too long...no one will read it...so I'll stop there. More to come though at a future point!