Amazing Grace
Last night was a watershed moment for this country. I have no idea what kind of president Barack Obama will be. But certainly last night was the first moment of its kind in my lifetime. I suggest that it is the third monumental step for African Americans with Joe Louis defeating Max Schmelling and Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier. I speak primarily of evolutions in the status of blacks in America and not the inner struggle brought forth by Dr. King. Last night was the nuclear result of those struggles and I am truly honored to have been alive to witness it.
I had no compunctions about Obama's chances. I knew this was going to be a short evening. With that in mind, I made the decision to vote for Nader. Had there been any doubt as to the race, I would have voted for Obama certainly. But my vote was symbolic, as it would have been had I voted for the first black president. I do have some regret over knowing that I will never have that honor. But the issue of corporate control over our world was too important to ignore. And frankly only Kucinich and old Ralph unfortunately seem to be the only politicians who have addressed it, and I use the "P" world loosely in regards to Nader.
I have no idea what an Obama presidency will look like. I do have a suspicion that we may have seen the last Republican president in a very long time.
And what about Israel? Is there cause for concern? God I hope not. I hope that this administration will give full and unwaivering support of Israel without hesitation. Anything less could have disastrous consequences for my people.
But today, I am an American and an American first and foremost. God bless America for having the courage to chose wisely.
Although, about half of them are pretty pissed off today, that's for sure.
posted by Tony Forkush at 9:52 AM
3 Comments:
Well put, Tony. Unfortunately, we never really address what Ralph Nader says, we mostly just make light of him. If you ever get a chance, watch "Unsafe at Any Speed" a documentary on Ralph Nader which had a limited release and was on PBS last year (you maybe even have seen it already) Ralph Nader is a great man, and a great American, literally responsible for saving millions of lives. End of story. He's also a quirky idealist/individualist and a product of complete and utter humility. Even though he is odd and easy to joke about, I really, really admire Ralph.
I know you're not an Obama person, Tony, but I think you will be surprised in the long run. To me his election last night, at minimum, represented our country turning a page. Literally. And that felt good. I must admit I was down at Pico and La Cienga waving a big-ass flag I had gone and special-bought. There were other people there, too, and lots of honking.
Ralph Nader is a hero of mine and would have done a great job as president. But, we need to fix our election system before we can elect someone like him.
But for today, we have done what no one ever thought possible. We elected someone that was not a WASP. Kennedy was the first, but he was Irish so was kind of WASPish. Obama is far from this mold.
And about Isreal, all I can say is there might be a time when we have a Jewish president. And for the state of Isreal itself, I think it can rest easy. When you have a war mongering president from the most powerful country, it causes violent tension.
Now that the world feels that the United States of America is back, there might be some changes. And yes, we need stability in the Mid East. Maybe we can do what Bill Clinton tried to do and bring peace among Palastine and Isreal.
(Ignore all of the typos, I am too excited to do a spell check)
We Americans are pompous. We think that what we do is good for the world. But, being that we are the most powerful country and can press a button and blow up the world, I think in this case it’s true. To say the world is happy is an understatement. I met people from Germany, Italy, and France and they all wanted Obama. Last night I met a couple from Canada that came down to be part of history.
And then I pulled this from a website I go on for magicians:
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Well, its not just americans who feel this way, I was at a breakfast networking meeting this morning - every body there was really happy that obama won ( he did win didn't he theres not been a technicality I haven't herd of yet?).
On the way back ( at 9.30am ) I met a fried of ours pushing her baby back from the shops, the first thing, the very first thing she said was how theres a real buzz in the air about obama winning the election. Thats in south london,england UK.
What happens there affects us all - now more than ever.
Peace, Freedom, Happiness,
Bob
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Michael Pascoe said...
Kind of says it all.
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