I'D BE PO'D

I’ll be honest, I haven’t decided which way to jump in the presidential campaign but, I believe that if I were a supporter of Barack Obama I would be feeling pretty pissed right now. The movement is being described among other things at cult like. There are other adjectives of a similar creepy nature. The implication is that the Obama supporters are either a bunch of sheep or don’t have two gray cells to rub together. Yeah, that would really get me on board to support anybody from inside the Beltway. NOT

You want a cult? How about free market will solve everything Capitalism and no matter what the problem is, let’s cut taxes. How about borrowing money from ourselves/China to stimulate the economy? In May, at the earliest. How about torturous definitions of what isn’t torture. It’s kind of like trying to explain a joke. If it has to be explained it probably isn’t funny. If you have to explain why something isn’t torture, chances are it probably is. I’d be happy to nominate Alan Greenspan, the shrub, or Disappearing Dick Cheney for the role before I’d nominate Obama. And on the subject of torture, tell you what guys, you give it a try and tell us how it went.

From what I can pick up reading the newspaper, Obama supporters tend to be younger, fairly well educated, and I suspect computer savvy. And I think that’s what is scaring the shit out of the pundits on the beltway. They’ve spent years cultivating contacts, creating personas, and handing out advice, solicited or not. That’s how they make their living. Here comes a politician and a movement, basically from left field. They didn’t see it coming, they don’t have an in with his supporters, and I suspect those supporters don’t give a damn what these people say about anything or anybody.

It’s a bit like the old line leaders of the religious right. There is a new generation coming into national attention. They may not like abortion and they’re iffy on gay rights. But, they have concerns beyond these two issues. If you support families, you better worry if your kids are going to have a planet to live on when they grow up. Will they have clean water, safe food, breathable air, affordable health care, access to education and job to pay for it all. The old guard made their careers driving wedges between people. Maybe the next generation can make their careers building bridges. I hope so.  

I’m not overly concerned about Mr. Obama’s perceived lack of experience. Yes, he hasn’t been in the senate very long. He did spend eight years in the Illinois state senate and at least a decade as a practicing attorney. His experience seems to be equal to if not better than the shrubs’s string of business failures and time spent as governor of Texas. And for the curious here’s a link to an article comparing Obama and Clintons’ educational and work histories. The article appears to be pretty even handed. Frankly, I wouldn’t have a problem voting for either of them, based on this information.

There is some material on the net about an iffy land deal. I’m not sure if it’s quite in the league of trying to make the US government a wholly owned subsidiary of Halliburton.

I’d like to believe that this campaign will mean a permanent shift in how power is exercised in this country. We’ll see. Just a thought, when the likes of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington set out on their political careers they were in their thirties and forties, too. So, I don’t see age as a problem. The problem is imagination, to stop reacting and start acting. To imagine possible futures and get the rest of us on board to build that future.