What if there was no financial crisis. If Bush had decided not to invade another sovereign nation and lied about his motivation for doing so. What if all we were concerned about right now was whether the Tennessee Titian's, were as good and their record or whether Brad and Angelina are really splitting up. If the country was fine and dandy, would America have made history?Would America elect its first minority president?
I thought of this, because the other day there was a story on the news about if the push for alternative energy would subside now that gas prices have dropped dramatically. Remember way back in the summer when people were actually conserving? Thinking before we drove that extra mile and thinking that regular coffee from McDonald's was better than that $4 latte from Starbucks. It took $4 a gallon gas to make us park are minivans and favorite SUVs. It took a market collapse and rampant gas speculation to make us steer clear of caffeine dispensing baristas and $4 specialty coffees or decide to walk or take the bus or bike for daily trips.
Politicians rarely want to tell us that we are a country of excess. That we are spoiled. Jimmy Carter tried to tell us in his famous "Malaise" speech and was quickly replaced by the ever positive Ronald Reagan. "We're not spoiled. We're a shining city on the hill". Like telling a country full of over eaters that your only fat if you think so."
My point is that this country seems to only make serious changes when we have to. We only seem willing to take a chance when our collective backs are against the wall.
I guess I should not be surprised that desperation is one of the strongest motivators of change. Like the Alabama bus boycott in the '50's. The bus companies were losing so much money that they caved and let blacks ride anywhere they wanted to on the bus. Our military was so hard up for recruits that they lowered their standards for admission.
But is this why America made history last week? Did Bush,Congress and Wall Street mess things up so much that it drove the electorate to consider the formally inconsiderable? Or is this just the ramblings of a suspicious black man unwilling to believe in the "new" America. I hope it is the latter.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
I'm so late...
Well, I have gotten some sleep after 72 hours with only 4 hours of sleep in Chicago. So it has taken a little time to respond to this moment in history. I was so consumed by making sure that I was in the right spot at the right time in Grant Park that night. I was in a cab making my way to Grant Park when a roar like wave rushed down Michigan Avenue announcing that history was made.
My tears began the night before the election in my hotel room in Florida. I was watching an Obama rally in North Carolina. That was when I learned of the passing of Obama's grandmother. It wasn't just the tragically ironic timing of her death, but what he said she represented in his life. What she had sacrificed for him to succeed. It made me think of my own mother who used to clean houses, and worked in factories so that my sisters and I could have better opportunites than she had. It moved me to see how connected this man was and is to the everyday person. How I could relate to him by more than race and gender.
The graciousness of Senator McCain's concession speech, the recognition and appreciation in President Bush's comments and the pride of blackness in Condi Rice's voice all showed that Barack Obama was right when he said we are all connected by something bigger than political affiliations, we are connected by a country, we are all children of God.
Everyone we spoke with that night gave a sense that anything is possible now. During the past 21 months of the campaign I remember "hope" being ridiculed as lacking in substance, but this night hope was something you could taste in the air. It was on every face. It was in the fact that 125,000 people of every ethnic background could gather together to celebrate in common cause and not have one negative incident occur.
Of course I thought of my children also. Two adopted Ethiopians, (one boy and girl) and one biracial biological daughter. The corny but real feeling that they might inherit an America that will judge them by the content of their character not by the color of their skin.
What Michelle Obama was vilified for saying in response to her husband's early success, "for the fist time, in a long time, I'm really proud of my country", was uttered by tens of thousands of Chicagoans that night and by millions of Americans . Its what I felt. Not just satisfaction in the victory of Barack Obama, but the knowledge that it took more than black votes to accomplish this highest of goals. It took millions of Americans including a considerable amount of white voters to accomplish this mandate. In the end proving that it was not about race, but about the two candidates and how they handled the issues and challenging situations they were faced with.
That was what I was most proud of. Not that we elected a black president, but that we elected the best candidate for the job, who happens to be black.
Tomorrow I will post a slideshow of photographs taken by me on my geeky groupy picture takin' palosa
My tears began the night before the election in my hotel room in Florida. I was watching an Obama rally in North Carolina. That was when I learned of the passing of Obama's grandmother. It wasn't just the tragically ironic timing of her death, but what he said she represented in his life. What she had sacrificed for him to succeed. It made me think of my own mother who used to clean houses, and worked in factories so that my sisters and I could have better opportunites than she had. It moved me to see how connected this man was and is to the everyday person. How I could relate to him by more than race and gender.
The graciousness of Senator McCain's concession speech, the recognition and appreciation in President Bush's comments and the pride of blackness in Condi Rice's voice all showed that Barack Obama was right when he said we are all connected by something bigger than political affiliations, we are connected by a country, we are all children of God.
Everyone we spoke with that night gave a sense that anything is possible now. During the past 21 months of the campaign I remember "hope" being ridiculed as lacking in substance, but this night hope was something you could taste in the air. It was on every face. It was in the fact that 125,000 people of every ethnic background could gather together to celebrate in common cause and not have one negative incident occur.
Of course I thought of my children also. Two adopted Ethiopians, (one boy and girl) and one biracial biological daughter. The corny but real feeling that they might inherit an America that will judge them by the content of their character not by the color of their skin.
What Michelle Obama was vilified for saying in response to her husband's early success, "for the fist time, in a long time, I'm really proud of my country", was uttered by tens of thousands of Chicagoans that night and by millions of Americans . Its what I felt. Not just satisfaction in the victory of Barack Obama, but the knowledge that it took more than black votes to accomplish this highest of goals. It took millions of Americans including a considerable amount of white voters to accomplish this mandate. In the end proving that it was not about race, but about the two candidates and how they handled the issues and challenging situations they were faced with.
That was what I was most proud of. Not that we elected a black president, but that we elected the best candidate for the job, who happens to be black.
Tomorrow I will post a slideshow of photographs taken by me on my geeky groupy picture takin' palosa
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Man Tagged
One of my two readers has tagged me. I feel honored. I felt honored as soon as my wife explained to me the importance of being tagged. Then I felt honored and important. I was tagged by this lady. Let's see, random facts, and 7 of them.
5. I have been trying to learn to speak Danish for over 7 years. I can only say 'the pink car is old'. This does not come up very often in conversation either. Danish is very difficult.
6. I was educated by Quakers for the first 8 years of schooling. And no, I did not wear those funky shoes with the big buckles.
7) As an 8 year old I looted a jar of peanut butter which I shared with my fellow 8 year old accomplis. As a result we both got very sick.
1. I was born with 6 fingers. On one hand. Unfortunately, a surgeon removed my extra finger just after I was born. I would have like to have kept it. I think it would have made me very interesting. I do not get to brag about this as often as I would like, because it does not come up in conversation easily.
2. The first time I visited with my mother in law we went for a walk. She lived in a very white, upper crust European neighborhood. The kind with tree lined streets, cobblestoned sidewalks, and lots of classy Europeans walking insane, and tiny little dogs. I lost my balance and fell on top of her. She was carrying groceries. I was holding a cigar that I was smoking. The groceries rolled all over the tree lined street. My mother in law broke her arm in 3 places. I am a big guy. I did not drop my cigar though. The classy Europeans and their little annoying dogs thought that I had mugged her. I could see it in their faces. My mother in law forgave me eventually and was mostly mad at me because I had ruined her golf game for the summer.
3. I won an Emmy a long time ago. My wife dropped it during our move and it broke. She has not told me this yet. But I figured it out when I saw it in the back of her car. She tried to cover it up with some bags. She reads my blog once in a blue moon, so now she will know that I know. She will blame her sister.
4. I won a singing contest on a cruise liner once. I sang 'Someone to Watch over Me' and rocked the boat.
4. I won a singing contest on a cruise liner once. I sang 'Someone to Watch over Me' and rocked the boat.
5. I have been trying to learn to speak Danish for over 7 years. I can only say 'the pink car is old'. This does not come up very often in conversation either. Danish is very difficult.
6. I was educated by Quakers for the first 8 years of schooling. And no, I did not wear those funky shoes with the big buckles.
7) As an 8 year old I looted a jar of peanut butter which I shared with my fellow 8 year old accomplis. As a result we both got very sick.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Words Matter..
Did you see McCain and Obama yucking it up at the Al Smith Dinner? I have to admit I had no idea who Al Smith was until I saw this on the news. Yeah, like you knew who he was. Anyway, I thought they were both very funny. Especially John McCain. It made it almost a shame that that John McCain didn't show more in this campaign. I never thought of Barack Obama being a funny but he pulled it off.
The television networks played the jokes all day long but the best part for me were Senator Obama's comments at the end about the people that were not as fortunate to be dress in white tie and tails.
I think that Governor Palin is a good communicator as well. She deliver the party line in a way that is understandable in a plain spoken way. Either way, eloquent or plain spoken words matter When you use them to accuse someone of being anti American, not like us, a terrorist. These words incite responses like "traitor" and "kill him."
Hopefully, words of compassion, empathy and unity can be just as powerful.
The television networks played the jokes all day long but the best part for me were Senator Obama's comments at the end about the people that were not as fortunate to be dress in white tie and tails.
I think that Governor Palin is a good communicator as well. She deliver the party line in a way that is understandable in a plain spoken way. Either way, eloquent or plain spoken words matter When you use them to accuse someone of being anti American, not like us, a terrorist. These words incite responses like "traitor" and "kill him."
Hopefully, words of compassion, empathy and unity can be just as powerful.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Is It Because He's Black
I have asked myself on more than one occasion if my support for Barack Obama would be different if he were not black. (For the purpose of this argument I am defining Obama as black, although he is biracial). That question was harder to answer at the outset of the campaign. As a black man, it was definitely satisfying to see an intelligent, articulate, young African American in the race. I still did not think that he would have a shot against the Clinton machine.
It was his winning overwhelmingly white Iowa that made me believe that he could have a chance. It was his loyalty to Rev. Jemimah Wright when it was not in his political best interest. How he took disaster and turned it into the opportunity to speak to Americans as adults about the subject of race. The way that he inspired people These are the reasons that Barack became more than an black candidate to me. He was not just a good black candidate for president, he was the best candidate for president who happened to be black.
In his endorsing of Obama Sunday on Meet The Press, Colin Powell admitted that part of the reason he was voting for Barack Obama was because of race. But that was not enough or he would have endorsed him long ago. He named a number of reasons from the narrowing perspective of the Republican party, to trivial nature of the McCain campaign. He spoke of Obama's intellectual curiosity and his reasoned judgment. The more you listened the more you saw his reason for condemning his party had less to do with race and more to do with sensibility.
Of course I will feel a great sense of pride, as a black man, should Obama win the election but I take even greater pride in the fact that he has proven he's more than a black candidate, but is the better man for the job.
It was his winning overwhelmingly white Iowa that made me believe that he could have a chance. It was his loyalty to Rev. Jemimah Wright when it was not in his political best interest. How he took disaster and turned it into the opportunity to speak to Americans as adults about the subject of race. The way that he inspired people These are the reasons that Barack became more than an black candidate to me. He was not just a good black candidate for president, he was the best candidate for president who happened to be black.
In his endorsing of Obama Sunday on Meet The Press, Colin Powell admitted that part of the reason he was voting for Barack Obama was because of race. But that was not enough or he would have endorsed him long ago. He named a number of reasons from the narrowing perspective of the Republican party, to trivial nature of the McCain campaign. He spoke of Obama's intellectual curiosity and his reasoned judgment. The more you listened the more you saw his reason for condemning his party had less to do with race and more to do with sensibility.
Of course I will feel a great sense of pride, as a black man, should Obama win the election but I take even greater pride in the fact that he has proven he's more than a black candidate, but is the better man for the job.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
It Should Be Over..
Wednesday night, I shot the 3rd presidential debate at Hofstra University on Long Island NY. They are really all the same for the media. You set up your gear to record the debate about 8 hours before it starts. Then you wait... The fun part is that companies like Budweiser set tents up where they have food and beer and cheesecake...its great. Especially the cheesecake.
Then the debate started. Its hard to follow what is going on because I have to listen to see if the sound I am recording is working and the video is good. Its only when I go back to the hotel that I can watch the replay of the debate and really pay attention to what was said. I thought to myself while watching it, that if this were a fight they would have stopped it.
I also thought it was appropriate that Senator Hillary Clinton was in the audience. To keep my boxing analogy going, she has to be the best political sparring partner in history. I doubt that Senator Obama would be the candidate we saw tonight without her and their more than 20 debates together.
On issue after issue Barack Obama displayed a grasp and knowledge that seemed presidential. He seemed simply, more comfortable in his own skin. Most of the pundits seemed to think that this was John McCain's best performance and maybe they're right. I am sort of in the tank for Obama, but what I saw was an angry and cynical old man. Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanual told us in an interview, that McCain reminded him tonight of the old man that screamed at the kid for hitting the baseball into his yard . Mr. Wilson from the Dennis The Menace Show is who he reminded me of.
I watched the replay on C-Span. They played the entire thing in a split screen where you had both candidates on the screen the whole time. This is a great way to watch something like this because you see both their reactions to what is said. McCain looked like he was trying to keep himself under control. He spent much too much time talking about things that don't really matter to people that are struggling to make it. For example, 60's radical William Ayers, the John Lewis statement regarding the violent turn the McCain/Palin rallies were taking. I don't believe that even Republicans and John McCain himself truly belive that Barack voted to not support infant children in the Illinois senate. But that is what Senator McCain spent most of his time on. He, John McCain, looked desperate. He looked like a man that knew he had lost the race.
John McCain had little to offer as far as substance and this presidential race should be over. If you get the opportunity and you did not watch the debate I urge you to watch it online or on the news replays. While these debates were a pain in the ass to cover as a news person their importance can't be understated. It is really the only time you see both of the major candidates on the same stage.
Then the debate started. Its hard to follow what is going on because I have to listen to see if the sound I am recording is working and the video is good. Its only when I go back to the hotel that I can watch the replay of the debate and really pay attention to what was said. I thought to myself while watching it, that if this were a fight they would have stopped it.
I also thought it was appropriate that Senator Hillary Clinton was in the audience. To keep my boxing analogy going, she has to be the best political sparring partner in history. I doubt that Senator Obama would be the candidate we saw tonight without her and their more than 20 debates together.
On issue after issue Barack Obama displayed a grasp and knowledge that seemed presidential. He seemed simply, more comfortable in his own skin. Most of the pundits seemed to think that this was John McCain's best performance and maybe they're right. I am sort of in the tank for Obama, but what I saw was an angry and cynical old man. Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanual told us in an interview, that McCain reminded him tonight of the old man that screamed at the kid for hitting the baseball into his yard . Mr. Wilson from the Dennis The Menace Show is who he reminded me of.
I watched the replay on C-Span. They played the entire thing in a split screen where you had both candidates on the screen the whole time. This is a great way to watch something like this because you see both their reactions to what is said. McCain looked like he was trying to keep himself under control. He spent much too much time talking about things that don't really matter to people that are struggling to make it. For example, 60's radical William Ayers, the John Lewis statement regarding the violent turn the McCain/Palin rallies were taking. I don't believe that even Republicans and John McCain himself truly belive that Barack voted to not support infant children in the Illinois senate. But that is what Senator McCain spent most of his time on. He, John McCain, looked desperate. He looked like a man that knew he had lost the race.
Senator McCain commented repeatedly that Barack Obama was an eloquent speaker, like that meant nothing. But we interviewed many of the people who were in the debate audience and they said that this is what they liked the most about Obama. His clear responses to the questions being presented. One woman said that 8 years of a president who can't pronounce the word nuclear is enough.
The McCain campaign may think that their candidate landed some serious body blows to Senator Obama with "Joe the Plumber", a closet McCain supporter who confronted Barack Obama in Ohio over his inability to start his own plumbing business, under what would be Obama's tax plan. Or maybe the line about not being President Bush. "If you wanted to run against George Bush, you should have run 4 years ago." A good line but that's all it was.
I know it must be frustrating after fighting your way to the top of the Republican ticket. Rising from the political grave to leader of your party and come up against such a dynamic opponent. When I watched McCain in the split sceen, eyes blinking, temples flexing a tight grin or grimace on his face as he listened to Obama respond eloquently to questions and attacks. I was just wondering what he might be thinking. "Damn this guy is good" or 'this bastard is cleaning my clock".John McCain had little to offer as far as substance and this presidential race should be over. If you get the opportunity and you did not watch the debate I urge you to watch it online or on the news replays. While these debates were a pain in the ass to cover as a news person their importance can't be understated. It is really the only time you see both of the major candidates on the same stage.
I believe that this is especially important in this election. There are many among the voting public that hold preconcieved notions in regards to race, culture and values. People need to see that Barack Obama is not scary or unintelligent. That his values are not radical or out of step. That he is cool, calm and thoughtful.
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