It is speeches like this that set Obama apart from any other presidential candidate in my lifetime. Next time I see a shooting star I'm not going to wish for a million dollars or for a particular girl to fall in love with me like I usually do, I'm going to wish that Barack Hussein Obama becomes the next president of the United States. This is the man that I want to lead us out of the six foot hole that the Bush administration has been digging for the past 7 years.
Obama faces controversy immediately and in the most dignified fashion. He says that he regrets Rev. Jeremiah Wright's remarks about racism in America, that he does not agree with them, but he won't cut ties with his friend and former pastor. Stop and think about your own life, think about hearing something come out of a good friend's mouth that made you jump back and wish that it hadn't been uttered. Did you end that friendship immediately? Probably not. I have a very good friend from college who is a really good guy, but from time to time he makes racist remarks. Every single time he says something I take the opportunity to remind him that I am offended by this sort of thing and that choosing the color of skin to lump a group of people together is probably the most ignorant way to find commonalities and to stereotype.
Obama doesn't skirt the issue either. This wasn't a 5 minute speech apologizing for what his friend said, he went on to explain that Black anger and that White resentment exist, and they do. People don't like to acknowledge them but these issues exist. It is the elephant in the room that has led to what I perceive as the slowing down of equality since just a few years after the civil rights movement. Don't misconstrue this, gains are made on the racial front every day, but things like the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and the Kennedy brothers, Reaganomics and the war on drugs have all slowed the process.
I think Obama is the perfect person to start this discussion because of his mixed race... He has seen and heard both sides of the argument where most people have only had one incite because of their race. If I walked into a barbershop during a discussion that involved what Obama termed "Black anger" the conversation would stop, but he has a white grandmother and because of their relationship she was not afraid to bring up issues of "White resentment."
My favorite line in his speech was this, "My dreams do not have to come at the expense of your dreams." I don't think a truer statement has ever been made, and I don't think an idea has ever been overlooked more. Humans tend to fuck each other over in order to make a better life for themselves. Our brains are wired to survive and back when we were cavemen that wiring came in handy, we did need to fuck each other over from time to time in order to survive, but now we have advanced agriculture and technology. We should be able to feed every one in the country 3 meals a day and treat any and all injuries. We should be able to put a roof over everyone's head and clothes on their backs. After that, after covering the basic needs should fend for themselves, but after that people only have wants, not needs.
By the end of the speech Obama has made his point and says that this race should not be defined by race or gender. We have to forget the remarks made by his pastor and by Geraldine Ferraro and focus on the real issues like the economy, health care, education and two wars. Obama is what a real politician should be, the only other politician I have ever trusted in this way was Paul Wellstone. I believe that he truly wants to do what he says he wants to do. I believe that he can make a difference for the better. I believe that this country is barreling toward the gutter and he is the only candidate that can stop such a thing from happening.
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