Obama

First of all, congratulations to the next President of the United States – Barack Obama. He deserved the win by running a masterful campaign, and at the same time, it was his to lose because the Republican opponent, John McCain, was so prone to so many blunders. When McCain’s job was to do what he had normally did and reach across the aisle to the other party’s voters, he chose Sarah Palin, one of the most divisive and polarizing political figures in recent history. Her views on abortion single-handedly turned away “independent” voters.

But now that Obama has the presidency locked up, it’s time to reflect on his campaign, the American voters, and what his impact on the world will be. His message of change and hope has clearly resonated with more than a few individuals, but what does that mean really? I find myself thinking more like a Republican strategist in the waning days of the election because now that I’ve taken a step back from the pro-Obama crowd, and now that I’ve seen his influence on my Canadian friends (at least through their Facebook status messages), I really do wonder – what is change and hope besides being buzzwords?

When I hear Canadians espousing the rhetoric “Obama is the only hope for change in America”, do they know what they’re saying? This along with the “Yes we can!” slogan has made Obama’s bid for the presidency almost cult-like. When people vote for a political figure because they think he can bring them hope and change, but not understand how he can or why he wants to through his issues and beliefs, what differentiates him from being the leader of a cult? Compared to Bush, he looks like the Messiah but will people be objective when he isn’t able to cure world hunger and AIDS, while simultaneously reshaping the economy?

People not only hang off of every single one of his words, but it has come to a point that people will eat up every word he says. He’s a great speaker and a great role model, but if you were going to vote for him because he’s black or because he had a “nice” story, then you should’ve just stayed home since what you’re voting for isn’t hope or change; you’re just buying into the propaganda set out by one party. I’m not painting all Obama supporters with this broad brush, but the more media coverage his supporters get, I just have to wonder how many truly support him for his views and record?

And for all the hating everyone has done against Sarah Palin, and I’ve done my fair share, how many of you would’ve fared any better in her position? Sure, we would have been able to answer most or all of Katie Couric’s questions much better, like “What publications do you read?”, but how many of you knew what the Bush Doctrine was before David Gergen interviewed her on it? How many of you still don’t know what the Bush Doctrine is? Some may answer that it is not our duty to know and as a politician vying for the vice presidency it was her duty to know, but who are we to judge on what others should know when we don’t know ourselves? She was unprepared for the position of the vice president and someone with more political savvy should have been chosen, but for laymen people to lampoon her for that when we didn’t know either seems unfair. Political correspondents? Go ahead and eat her alive. At least I won’t call her on that one (anymore).

Having Obama become the president-elect looks to bring change and hope to the country, but after following the election incredibly closely (falling asleep to CNN indoctrinating me each night… there really is no other programming on at 3 or 4am EST), I feel that the US has gone a step or two back. Sure, black people (and not African Americans for the last time) have been, are being, and will be discriminated on for a long time to come; so will every other minority. By the US electing Obama, some good has been done there, but I see some underlying tones of the American psyche that haven’t changed, and it troubles me. It shows me that for all the hope and change Obama has touted, the only thing that has changed is the skin colour of the president.

McCain supporters pointed out that Obama’s middle name is Hussein. So? Other campaigns including McCain and Clinton’s at one time or another charged that Obama was a Muslim and that he was schooled in a madrassa while he was in Indonesia. So? Black people are not the group to be discriminated against now; it’s Muslims. It’s especially interesting because the group that everyone’s hating on only makes up 1% of America!

But who cares if his middle name is Hussein? It can be “Terrorist” for all I care. Hell, dumber names have attempted to have been registered – 4real? And more importantly, who cares if he’s a Muslim? The United States of America is not a Christian nation, contrary to what 49% of it believes. It is a black mark (no pun intended) on this campaign and a shame for Americans to make that an issue, and for the rest of us to stay silent on it and make it a non-issue. It was not brought up and it was not addressed by Obama or McCain and surely it wasn’t given the same attention like Obama gave race and Ayers when he gave his speech on race relations in the US. That one:

When McCain was told, “I don’t trust Obama… he’s an Arab”, McCain responded with, “No, ma’am. He’s a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with.” What? Where is his “No, who cares?” or “No, Obama is not a Muslim”, and where’s his denouncing of using Arab or Muslim (which aren’t the same things by the way) as a negative term? I know it’d be political suicide to say that Muslims and Arabs (pronounced A’-rabs for extra redneck influence) are not terrorists, but someone should have done it. As president, McCain would have had to bring all types of people together, but he can’t tell just one person that he doesn’t think a parallel religion to his own is not the end all of humanity?

What’s sadder is that the major news organizations did not bring this up (well, O’Reilly did, but that’s a different story) besides to debunk the myth that Obama was a Muslim. There was no CNN special on Muslim in America and there wasn’t any round table discussion on the matter. The only clear cut raising of this topic was when Colin Powell endorsed Obama, but even then it was a rhetorical question in his monologue.

He said:

I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

When I watched that I immediately gained more respect for Colin Powell. Sure, he was one of the tools of the Bush administration in advocating for war with Iraq, but he did step down after the first term because of disagreements with the President Bush, so it would at least lead us to suspect that he did not agree with him in going to war with Iraq in the first place. But by raising this issue in the slightest way, maybe he’s opened up the room for more discussion. When will the media begin to question the attacks that attack personal, inconsequential-to-being-the-president topics like religion or race and only stick to the real matters. I expected more from CNN and less from Headline News and FOX, and only two of the three delivered. I just need to start watching more C-SPAN, but then they just give no opinion whatsoever and that’s not fun.

So after all this rambling and about 1400 words later (this word count in the side of WordPress’ Write module is evil…), what do I think of all this? I think Obama is a boon for the USA. He has shown sound judgment and a calculated thought process, something that will impress and build relations with other world leaders. The Taliban is already saying that they’re willing to negotiate now that Obama is coming in! He advocates for a “technology czar” position in his new administration and he sees the merits in diplomacy over war. The fact that he is somewhat Internet savvy also shows that he has a pulse on technology and where the country will go in the future. And best of all, he surrounds himself with smart people and people capable of doing things.

But Obama is also a sign of the past. He still won because he’s a Christian and was able to distance himself enough from the rumour that he was a Muslim. He does not support marriage for same-sex couples, but supports full rights. As a side note, which is stupider? Gays fighting over the word “marriage” or fundamentalists fight to defend the word “marriage”? He supports “clean coal” technology when we should be taking a stance on coal in all its forms. We should be taxing car companies for not making fuel efficient cars. He doesn’t advocate universal health care, so people will still be left paying to some degree at the end of the day. And much, much more.

He’s a sign of good things to come and America will go in the right direction when he assumes the reigns on January 20, 2009. Will he be the saviour and the Messiah? No, but from the signs of it already, Barack Obama can do no wrong and even if he does, his supporters will not be able to see it.