The Family (Or most of them)

The Family (Or most of them)
The Family

January 29, 2008

BEYOND THE OPTICS

MAYBE IT WAS JUST A DREAM...

Or maybe it was just a thought about one of the people I've admired most in my lifetime, whose most famous words were, even after enduring so much hatred and scorn and inhumane injustice:

"I have a dream."

And despite his assassination, Martin Luther King's dream is coming to fruition, at least in one very important sense.

A black man who I also admire greatly, Barack Obama, is a serious contender for the presidency of the United States.


And as overjoyed as I am about that -- and I'm not saying he's a clone of King -- it gives me great hope for the world because the next leader of the United States is, essentially, going to be the leader of our planet from 2008-2012 or 2016 or so.




He or she will have much work to do if they want to UNDO the damage wrought by a president in Dubya whose Republican administration has entirely screwed up the world and left America as little more than a plasticized, ostracized shell of its former self.




Anyway, back to my dream or whatever it is, a fearful image I have about this 2008 presidential race. I saw on TV a documentary about Martin Luther King. And now we've got a black candidate in Obama.




And he's going up against a white woman in Hillary Clinton.




Black man. White woman. President of the United States. Contemplate that. I blogged about this possibility several months ago. And here it is, pardon the pun, in black and white.

Yes, I'm suspending, for the moment, the absurd possibility that the Republicans can actually win again with John McCain or Mitt Romney or Guigliani or wotshisname.




(I consider McCain the only real person -- I mean REAL -- among the bunch of donkeys. Or is that white elephants?).




The Americans will have their say in November. I don't get a vote.




And who can say that, despite everything, or maybe to spite the idea of either a black man or a white woman, the U.S. of A. won't vote in another right-wing president because they want to keep their sons coming home in body bags?




But here's my thought, or concern.




Obama or Clinton, but especially Obama, would be a jolt to American history and, shall we call it, in my estimation, an unacceptable shock to American elite sensibilities, form, practice and prejudices.




The greatest country in the world ruled by a black?




Hell, there's STILL Ku-Klux Klan meetings and demonstrations going on, y'all, permitted and protected by police, especially in the Deep South. Aren't there?




The greatest country in the world ruled by a woman?




C'mon, they can't even golf properly because they've got these mounds of flesh on their chests that get in the way, as one golf announcer once proclaimed.




They should be washing dishes and preparing supper and having babies.




A black man as president, espousing everything corporate America and the Military Establishment doesn't want to hear?




Such as getting out of Iraq and coming up with something resembling universal health-care?




Nah. Let's stop that.




And here, in the past, is how that very end has been achieved to end the aspirations that would make America great...and which would make the world a better place, from my point of view.





I'm almost fearful of saying it.
But the thoughts I've had, in associating all the past with the current reality of a black man and a white woman contending for the U.S. election, have got me thinking about Abraham, Martin and John (and Robert).
I sure hope it doesn't happen.

23 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:37 p.m.

    I think your going well beyond the optics, and maybe reading too much into it. American politics is more about money and power than race or gender.

    Hillary or Obama may get elected or they may not. McCain is certainly the best republican - at least he says it like it is. He is very hawkish on terrorism and is determined to get Bin Laden and he also supports the Iraq war. So not likely a widthdrawl from Iraq would occur anytime soon.

    I think you paint Americans too much with the same brush. While we are way more liberal in Canada, many Americans I speak to have similar values and views as Canadians so can't generalize like that - there are alternative view sdown in the USA.

    Each party will nominate the candidate they think can WIN - not for what they stand for or who they may be - woman, black etc..

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  2. I really hope it doesnt happen too. But wud u believe it if I tell ya that I thought abt the same things. Its scary!

    Keshi.

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  3. btw come n take part in my post ok :)

    tnxx!
    Keshi.

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  4. Ur brother:

    I hope I'm reading too much into it, but that's what I was putting forth: just a thought I had.

    I'm thinking that unless the American electorate, as a whole, is entirely daft, the Dems will win.

    And that means Hillary or Obama. I disagree with your assessment that I'm painting Amuricans with the same brush and that all they care about is who will win.

    But they, that's just me.

    Keshi:

    It IS scary. And so is yur most recent post. TEASE!

    I've seen it and need to be very Canadian and restrained and neutral in my response to the prospect of how you and I would survive together after a plane crash.

    Gulp.

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  5. very interesting post dude... i have no idea whether america is ready for a black male or a female president- but its gonna be interesting!

    ooh, come see what i did!

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  6. Hillary will squeak by and leave millions of young and minority voters disillusioned by the internal bickering and Obama's defeat. The net result is that they will stay home 'in droves' on Election Day.

    McCain wins.

    America is a very dangerous place for ANY politician and there are plenty of sociopathic assholes dying to get into the history books beside Oswald, Sirhan, and James Earl Ray.

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  7. hubby and I have been following this but not that closely.

    but i do agree that whatever the outcome between clinton and obama will have a profound effect on America.

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  8. What would be even more shocking is, if it was a black woman with glasses and ginger hair and a limp :)

    Standing with hands on me hips about your comment that woman should be in the kitchen, blah blah blah, DONT make me have to come over there and sort you out lol

    I to had visions of all the assisinations etc... I also hope that this is will not be a true vision....

    Good post matie....

    x

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  9. Why do we always refer to sociopathic ASS-ASSins by three given names???

    Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK)
    James Earl Ray (MLK)
    Mark David Chapman (John Lennon)
    Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (RFK)
    John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln)
    Leon Frank Czolgosz (McKinley)
    Nathuram Vinayak Godse (Gandhi)

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  10. I'm just hoping that whichever one wins the Democrat race, he/she takes on the other as vice president candidate. Wouldn't that be a rush?

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  11. But not with the results you suggested... eek...

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  12. This an interesting post and I have the same fears. All the men that seem to have the best in mind for us get eliminted. Ever notice that? Why are so many so hell bent on destroyng the chances we are offered?

    It is strange that these same people say they want America to be strong yet they take away the very people that could have made us stronger and better. Sad, just sad.

    A side note to ur brother. You may be part right about the power and money. Understand that Bush is connected to Arabic Nations, theres his power and money, but then he comes from wealth doesn't he. But to say we are only about those two things you are sadly mistaken. Try adding truth, justice,. Try remembering this country is about its people not brainless, money hungry people. We gave him the power and he ran with it. Shame on us. Now, if we are smart we will take the power back and elect someone worthy of the seat in the big white house. But we will also remember that he may sit in the seat, but we hold the key to the lock on that door. Furthermore, if we are strong enough, we can lock that door and keep him there or open it back up and kick his butt out of it as well.

    Soft love,
    T

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  13. I think I read some similar thoughts on one of HE's posts a short while back. You two are surely not the only ones to think of this and I would hope that security for the president, especially if that president is Obama or Clinton, will be especially tight.

    Personally, I suspect that there are still too many Americans who can't handle the idea of a black president. If their only choices were a black man or a white woman, I think they'd vote in the white woman. However, (and I could be totally off the mark here) I think most of the people who are racist rednecks tend to vote republican anyway. So, I don't know... I have no predictions. I just hope for some very positive change.

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  14. Angel:

    I didn't really get to the point as much as I wanted to (in retrospect) in this post.

    It just seemed to me that with the world so on the edge right now about Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and all as a result of Dubya's f*ck-ups, it's a crucial time.

    How can I know this for sure, but I think the Americans themselves feel the same way.

    The mood is for change, much the same way as it was in the 60s when JFK, Martin Luther King and RFK were on the precipice of bringing it about.

    We know what happened to them. Whatever forces existed at the time extinguished them and the hope that came with it.

    My sense is that the same kind of dynamics exist right now, with the prospect of a black or female president.

    My fear is that there will be radical elements out there who will decide neither of these scenarios can happen.

    That's what I'm talkin' bout. It's just such a concoction of unacceptability, I worry, a prime time for the wackos to come out of their burrows.

    (You have embarrassed me with your 'Come see what I did' post'; I'll probably be the only commenter! But I'll get there. Hugs.)

    HE, formerly known for a millisecond as SS or whatever else):

    Plausible theory.

    But while he would be a massive evolution over Bush's caveman mentality, if McCain wins, the world will end.

    We might as well just play Phase 10until the end-time, which would be in about 10 minutes.

    Mench:

    That's for sure!

    Toasty:

    Ginger hair and a limp? Let's see...who are we talkin' about? Oprah? Sorry, I'm not a modern culture king...

    I think you SHOULD come over here and sort me out, actually...but take your apron off first...

    (Of course, I was just kiddin'...)

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  15. Toasty:

    I didn't finish that sentence...I meant I was just kiddin' about women just havin' babies and cooking dinner, etc.

    HE:

    Keen thought on the three-name thing, but I'm sure the cops do it strictly for ID purposes.

    I don't know how many Lee Oswalds there might be in America or on the earth's surface, but almost certainly they would not want to be associated with killing JFK.

    Thus the cops' insistence that killers of famous people be ID'd with their middle names included, to try to minimize that potential...

    Andrea:

    Exactly, and HE has said for a while that's how Hillary and Barack should have started out...as running mates instead of running against each other.

    Too late now though, I think...and America's collective brain would explode, I think, at the prospect of their two top leaders being black and female or female and black...

    And, yes, hopefully this doesn't all end with the results I postulated about...

    Inside, Outside (Tara):

    Your new avatar leaves me breathless. I'm also breathless from the -47C cold, but that's different because my lungs are frozen.

    Now that we're past that, it seems to me there are forces that just don't want life to be good and things to be calm and reasoned and compassionate and sensible.

    It would all make too much sense and, somehow, erase the chaos that they want.

    I'll leave the rest as a discussion between you and ur brother, who is my brother (*runs away*), except to say that I hope America does embrace and will be able to embrace the true democracy you describe.

    Anna:

    HE would never be intelligent enough to post something like this. (OK, OK, he's the most knowledgable and intelligent person I know)

    You may be right about Hillary and America's choice, although I'm not at all so sure. I think Bill is both a help and a hindrance to her.

    I think if a lot of women get out and vote in November, she'll win. If not, and if the black vote comes out big-time, maybe not.

    It's too early to know that. I'm just happy with the thought that at the moment, it appears it's going to be one or the other.

    And that's a turning point, one way or the other, a history-changing event. That's what I like.

    I agree entirely: positive change is what it's all about.

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  16. Anonymous7:18 a.m.

    Black. Woman.

    Need I say more?

    BTW, I am kind of brown woman.

    * *

    No grin. I do not feel like it.

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  17. ya better be kidding sonny ;) - ok thats 2 reasons now to come over and sort ya out LOL

    and, the ginger hair, glasses and a limp was just adding to the minority list you started :)

    x

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  18. Gautami:

    You don't feel like grinning? That's a woman's prerogative, I guess! Feisty girl!

    And yes, before you changed to tea cups, I could see that you were a lovely shade of brown.

    And that you are a woman.

    :-)

    Toasty:

    I better be kidding about what?

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  19. I confess the thought had crossed my mind. It's easy to believe that assassination and conspiracies don't happen anymore, they're so 30 years ago, but I do harbour the same fears for Obama or Hilary. It somehow seems that there's a powerful anti-progressive force at work in all human activities, advocating a lack of change and conservative policies.

    On the other hand, our Kevin Rudd has recently become Prime Minister of Australia, god bless the tubby little fellow (he looks a lot like Tin Tin), and nobody's tried to kill him. Among his first official actions were to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and arrange to say "Sorry" to our Aboriginal people. He has appointed a whole minister and depatment for Climate Change. He's our little greenie, left-wing PM.

    So there is hope.

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  20. I'm watching Hillary and Obama debate each other right now and it kills me that these two didn't get together 2 years ago and sewn it up. What a waste.

    They agree on 98% of things it is just ludicrous the way they are trying to differentiate themselves...it's all about experience and credentials but who the hell is ever prepared to be President?

    Thank goodness we have a 36 day Election in Canada.

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  21. Stace:

    If your new PM has done that, I think there is hope. And I would love to see a U.S. ruled by a woman or a black.

    It seems to me the way things are now in the U.S. that things can't be anything except better, even if McCain wins.

    But if it's Romney, god help us all. The end of the world will surely be just around the corner.

    Eek.

    HE:

    It is so good to see your ugly, yet familiar, avatar gracing this cyperspace again.

    It is who you are. And the universe loves it.

    I had more important things to deal with tonight than yet another Clinton-Obama burp-fest.

    I think in the end, whomever wins between the two of them will see the light and they'll run together anyway.

    They would be unbeatable. And they'll change the world for the good.

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  22. This is an amazing post. I have had these thoughts too. I don't think anyone gets how much those assasinations broke this country. It was a time of great hope. I was a little kid. My dad took me to demonstrations, the vibe was unbelievable, so great. But, there are forces out there, and now there is a glimmer, a little glimmer of hope again, and I am scared.

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  23. Annie:

    Yeah, exactly. Those were times of mom and apple pie and great hope and sunshine...

    And then the grassy knoll.

    And they keep replaying and replaying those scenes on TV, in one documentary or another, as if to make us never forget what might have been.

    Like I said in the post, I sure HOPE nothing happens to derail what appears to be the inevitable.

    But it's like my Spidey senses are tingling, as you said just when there's some glimmer of hope.

    Eek. Please, no.

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