Friday, February 22, 2008; Page D01
During the course of our endless presidential campaigns, lots of silly things are said by the candidates and the press. But few are more ridiculous than the idea that Barack Obama is just an empty suit.
We’re talking here about a former president of the Harvard Law Review. Have you ever met the people who get into Harvard Law School? You might not choose them as friends or lovers or godparents to your children, but — trust me on this — there aren’t many lightweights there. And Obama was chosen by all the other overachievers as top dog. Compared with the current leader of the free world, this guy is Albert Einstein.
Given his youth and relatively short time in government, it’s fair to ask if Obama has the wisdom and experience to be president. But it’s quite another to suggest that he has no vision, no program, no specifics. Read the Washington Post article.
My conversion to Obama began after reading his first book. It gave me an insight into how he was brought up that you can’t tell from issues and speeches. He sealed the deal for me during his Iowa victory speech…
I truly feel that Hillary is going to step down on March 5th.
peace, Villager
I first reviewed Obama’s Dreams from My Father at DailyKos on January 14, 2007: “Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father”: It’s Beautiful”
I also wrote at DailyKos on January 21, 2007 about “The Woman Beside Barack Obama”: Mrs. Barack Obama (Michelle) is a Very Impressive Woman
Although my articles at DailyKos about Crashing the White Male Supremacy Paradigm and ending the 43-term white male monopoly of the presidency often got as many as four hundred (mostly negative) comments, there were only 13 comments on my diary about Dreams from My Father, and most of those 13 comments were negative or entirely off-topic. It seems that DailyKos readers simply didn’t believe that Barack Obama’s dreams were worth discussing.
Back then, the whitosphere was dripping with ecstasy over John Edwards, who they hoped would become the 44th white male president of the United States. It seemed heretical at the time to assert — day after day and without relent — that the days of exclusively nominating white male Democratic candidates for president and vice president were over. How dared I challenge the white male supremacy paradigm, offending the delicate ears of the whitosphere?
Well, victory is its own reward. White people have since learned that it’s much better to adore a stellar Black man because he is outstanding than to worship a white male candidate simply because he is white and male.
Crashing the White Male Supremacy Paradigm
Because white used to constantly belittle Blacks to convince themselves and us that they were superior, I found that I had to relentlessly attack the white male supremacy of the candidates whom whites favored, in order to help Black and female candidates to have a chance to succeed. We had to prove that Edwards and Gore were not gods by virtue of their white-maleness, in order for Clinton and Obama to have the possibility of ending the 43-term white male monopoly of the presidency.
Meanwhile, as Steven Pearlstein points out in the article exegised above, “Barack Obama isn’t a saint. He’s not a savior. But in substance as well as style, he’s the most impressive presidential candidate to come along in quite a while.“
Agree with you 100% percent on this one. I also understand people talking about his short time in politics on a national level but the youth issue is the one that’s crazy to me. They say it like the guy is 21 or something. And to me it’s not necessarily about the experience of the candidate, it’s about the experience of the administration and we or I at least don’t know who this team would be for Obama but I have confidence he would select a good one. For goodness sake, he has put together a solid campaign team based on the results thus far! And the most important thing to me is that it seems that Obama will listen to his team or the views of others and the views of the people of this country even if they are different from his own and then make a good decision that is in the best interests of the country. Which is a huge step forward from America’s leader right now.
Leon A. Walker
Freelance Writer
Pensacola, Florida
leonwalker@cox.net
February 26, 2008
Hillary Bushwhacked: “The Unanticipated Intangible”
George W. Bush should also be remembered as major contributor to Senator Hillary Clinton’s impending, and what no doubt will be recalled as, a resounding defeat in her failed quest for the democratic party nomination for President of the United States. Realistically, it does not matter if she and her party faithful continue to cling to a fading hope of overwhelming success in Texas and Ohio. The people have already spoken and the contest is lost. The handwriting on the wall clearly indicates that she is, and will remain a substantial distance behind Senator Barack Obama in delegates and the posturing for the support of super delegates has already indicated that she will not likely be the benefactor of their support. How did it come to this? It was because for many voters, Senator Clinton seemingly was tied to in an image of a person is not suspected of anything, but also someone who spent too much time hanging around in a bad neighborhood.
When the campaigning began many Americans, democrats and republicans alike (counting myself among them) assumed that Senator Clinton would easily secure the nomination of the Democratic Party. What I and perhaps most failed to realize, is the massive negative impact the Bush Administration has had on the American Public from a very personal perspective. Certainly, there are well known issues like the war in Iraq and the current state of the economy that are intensely troubling, but these are only the open wounds that are clearly visible when the veil is lifted from the current administrations domestic and international political plague. When the seeds of deception and power mongering were planted seven years ago, no one imagined that such wide range of horrible fruits could spring forth. Today, many Americans are hurting. Hurting both emotionally and financially, along with being angry and frustrated by the arrogant and brazen political scarecrow that has become our world image and our domestic nightmare.
The core problem here was, and remains, an “unanticipated intangible” that became Senator Clinton’s undoing. In spite of her many splendid efforts, she is seen by many as an icon of American politics. An icon of American politics at a time when so many Americans want absolutely nothing to do whatsoever, with anything that reflects or conjures up the slightest image of traditional Washington, D.C. politics or its traditional politicians. I want to make it clear that I respect and admire Senator Clinton and I sincerely believe that she has fallen victim to the circumstance of political proximity. But for massive numbers of citizens, the waters in Washington have become so incredibly murky that many are not convinced that any long time Washington operative has not in some way been tainted.
Then along came Senator Obama. He is accomplished, capable, talented and most importantly “a relative newcomer” a fresh face with an eloquent and sincere message of “change and hope”. No one could have predicted that such a candidate would come forth and so deeply touch the hearts and minds of so many Americans, and at a time when they were gasping for a political breath or fresh air and thirsting for a taste of governmental clean waters. Senator Obama came to the fore and spoke to us as citizens and individuals and as Americans, recreating a vision of a people with the power to reclaim their proud legacy, and dreams of freedom, peace and prosperity that have been so callously and recklessly stripped away. Incredibly, I don’t believe for one second that his campaign would have been nearly as successful had it not been for the horrid condition of our political leadership and the associated landscape. The man and the message are fantastic! But the moment, the moment in time, when Americans desperately sought and alternative, something they could believe in, and genuinely feel good about, had arrived.
Senator Clinton’s campaign is on life support, near death, and if she or her campaign can be blamed for missing anything it is perhaps just slightly telling. The “unanticipated intangible” the tremendous and deep seeded dislike and distrust of traditional Washington politics and the state it has left this nation languishing in. George W. Bush and his failed administration have been much maligned for a broad spectrum of wrongs in the eyes of many in this nation and around the world. However, his most egregious act against countless Americans was not the many broken promises, but rather, that he nearly destroyed their pride and broke their hearts. So through no significant fault of her own, Senator Clinton has absorbed Washington’s stain. A stain that is a grotesque reminder of a failed system and a seat of power that has betrayed the trust of so many and for so long.
The records of achievement, qualifications and the commitment of the democratic candidates have now been considered and in large part put aside. The prize has gone to the man who so many American voters believe with a new found confidence and passion, will keep his promises, lift their spirits, soothe their broken hearts and cause them to hold their heads up again. A man who in their view remains untainted.
As for the “unanticipated intangible” and the Washington insider image, the only questions that remain are: Did the Clinton campaign miss it? And was there anything that could have been done about it?
L. A. Walker
© Leon A. Walker, February 2008