Me & Barack

I've been all over cyberspace as one of the participants in will.i.am's music video supporting Barack Obama. I'm very pleased to be one of those who feel that he has what it takes to be president. I first met Senator Obama in the summer of '06 at the Senate building in DC. I was immediately taken with his intelligence and ability to connect with people.

Since that time, his political vision has impressed me as being able to reunite our country along the fault lines caused by the policies of the current administration. Someone who can lead all of us would be the the ideal candidate and I feel that Barack is that someone. I am looking forward to having the chance to vote for a candidate with his gifts.

I've been amused to see how Mr. Obama's critics have tried to pull him down by criticizing his "lack of foreign relations experience." I'm not aware that either Hillary Clinton or John McCain have any huge advantage in the awareness necessary to deal with the foreign relations aspect of the presidency. Only people with a Cabinet or State Department background can immediately state their readiness in that area. Mr. Obama has the intelligence and leadership qualities that will serve him well should he win the nomination and election.

Advisors play a central role in foreign policy areas and all of our presidents have relied on the help of those advisors to form their foreign policy agenda. As President, Mr. Obama will do the same. I'm sure his ability as an inspirational leader will help to attract the best advice.

Read more from Kareem at his LA Times blog

Comments

[scorbs]

Oh please. Obama stole his ideas all from Duvel Patrick because they SOLD well. There is nothing in Obama's past that suggest he unites anyone. He has no leadership on any issue of the day. He had an opportunity once reaching the Senate in 2005, to coalesce forces against the Iraq War and HE HASN'T DONE IT. When he was a "community activist," he allowed Rezko to rob poor people living in rundown tenements by helping him buy real estate in those communities, and then Obama took Rezko's money to help fuel his political career, as well as the Crowns, after he stabbed Maytag workers in the back.

[sherifffruitfly]

Moreover, Obama is a very studious person, unlike the current jackass-in-chief.

Magic has traditionally been my favorite, but on this issue, I'm with you.

[terril]

Obama's personal bi-racial experience, as well as his life abroad in countries vastly different from the US, makes me believe that he truly listens to different point of views and can reconcile them, because he has had to do this in his personal life. (Having to do the same in my own life across cultures, I excel in bridging differences)

Such a perspective not only helps as leader of the US, but also with foreign powers.

[IMustKnow]

Yes, but the black part of his heritage is what he is exploiting these days.

[Jaundiced]

In general, I agree with you. However, we will have to agree to disagree on your statement "¦being able to reunite our country along the fault lines caused by the policies of the current administration."
Our problems have been growing since the end of WW2. I don"t believe either Bush was president during that timeframe. It goes like this: Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam "Conflict", Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Gulf War 2, and several others I"ve probably forgotten. God alone knows what the next one will be but rest assured there will almost certainly be a next one in some poverty stricken corner of the world.
Blame Bush? Nope. Don"t blame him or Clinton or any other president individually. What we have today is the result of the sum of all the mistakes made by all the presidents since Truman (with possibly one exception " Gerald Ford - and I"m not sure about that).
That, of course, supports your point " we need a president who is a fixer-upper more than ever. I hope the next one will be.

[flacon]

they have kept us safe.

[Centaur]

Thanks for the post Kareem. Let's hope Barack get;'s to fulfill his mission. Right now, I'm watching him finish up a town hall meeting in Ohio. I would like to congratulate you on your great books. I would like tor know what your thoughts are about Magic( a Clinton supporter) calling Barack a "rookie". Imagine that! Magic calling him a "rookie" . During his rookie season, I recall him grabbing and hugging you after you made that last second shot (forgot the team you made it against) at the start of the season and you telling him to not to get so excited becauset there were many more games yet to be played. Perhaps you should remind him of that. Finally, here's a website you might want to check out if you don't already know about it. Just a hint, I just listened to "Buhaina" doing a number on the drums on a tune called "Ping Pong"..

http:''www.kcsm.org

[Centaur]

Sorry, that was a mistake for the website ..try this one..
http://www.kcsm.org/jazz91

[kempis]

There may be good reasons to vote for Obama, but the repeated theme that he has an almost supernatural ability to unite and heal the country is simply rhetorical--not real.

It can't be real. Obama has happily stood by while his surrogates have branded the Clintons racists and divided the Democratic party. Obama has demonstrated that if it benefits him, he'll countenance division. Yes, he will. And so have his supporters, For people who claim to crave "unity," many still don't know the meaning of graciousness. We'll see this demonstrated amply this week when Hillary concedes.

Obama isn't interested in unity. Obama is interested in winning. And it's a good thing he's not interested in unity because it's completely unrealistic to think that progressives, moderates, conservatives, socialists and capitalists, evangelicals and atheists, gays and homophobes--all can co-exist peacefully under one big tent, united in their admiration and faith in Obama.

In order for him to keep the peace, he'll have to govern with the equivalent of those "present" votes, for any effort he makes to move in any direction is going to alarm and disappoint some of his supporters who thought for sure he intended to go their way.

His campaign has been brilliant and effective, but what they're selling is unattainable. As a result, there are going to be some very disappointed people in the future.

Most disenchanted of all will be the progressives who find that one cannot be a uniter and a progressive in America. Obama is necessarily going to be a centrist--just like Hillary, only with better moves and a stronger political apparatus.

[dijo]

The Clintons branded themselves as racists by their poor behavior. Not once did Obama say anything about them being racists.

[Beowoof]

When someone breaks up with you, unless you're the stalker type, you have to accept it. If Obama loses, some of us might drink it off, but most of us will walk to the polls ill as we watch a 50/50 split between Clinton and McCain. If anyone can't see that the more Hillary loses, she divides, they're either a stalker or an operative. Obama is the uniter and thank you Kareem for pointing out a crucial point.

[kempis]

As I was saying, "Obama has demonstrated that if it benefits him, he'll countenance division. Yes, he will. And so have his supporters, For people who claim to crave 'unity,' many still don't know the meaning of graciousness. We'll see this demonstrated amply this week when Hillary concedes."

For the record, I'm no more a "stalker" or an "operative" than you are. I'm just a person with a different point of view from yours posting on a message board.

If most Obama supporters would indeed have voted for Hillary, then Obama and Michelle should have indicated that. I'm in my fifties, a lifelong Democrat, and I've never heard a candidate and his spouse use this sort of "take our marbles" threat before.

It was a bit divisive.

And it certainly has encouraged a number of bruised and battered Hillary supporters to think along similar lines. After all, if Obama hinted that it's cool to NOT support your primary opponent in the general election, there can't be anything wrong with it, right?

[LionEater]

Kareem, I hated you on the Lakers. But you've redeemed yourself for supporting Obama. I hope you get an NBA coaching gig soon.

[Dragon5616]

I appreciate your endorsement of Sen. Obama. I have always been a fan of yours, and not just for your athletic exploits, as magnificent as those were.

I appreciated the deft way you handled your conversion to Islam, your relationship with Coach Wooden, and the dignity and class with which you conducted yourself. I also appreciate your intelligence and scholarship.

While some celebrity endorsements mean little, yours is quite valuable in my view because of your thoughtful approach to all things in your life.

[ImmanuelKant]

Mr. Abdul-Jabbar,
Apparently the Financial Times is reporting that Senator Obama has called someone in Canada, in wink and nod fashion, to say he would not terminate NAFTA. This truly upset McLaughlin, on the McLauglin Group on Friday night, and I have watched McLauglin for years and he has never disappointed. If this is true I would have to question the integrity of Senator Obama just when I believed we had someone we could trust.

[Fabienne]

Both officials inCanada and the Obama campaign have categorically denied this and it's not been heard about since. It's just more silliness.

[vernonbc]

Of course he's not going to terminate NAFTA. Neither is Clinton or anybody else. The US imports their biggest share of oil from Canada. There are no wars being fought in Canada. Of course the US is going to want to maintain a good trade relationship with Canada. NAFTA isn't responsible for factories closing in Ohio, the tax system is. That's what has to be fixed first.

[leftcoastindy]

What? McLAUGHlin said something that turned out to be false? That can't be possible. He's supposed to be perfect....

NOT.

[lisakaz]

Wasn't that story already retracted???

[Kane]

It seems that all the right people are supporting Barack Obama and his campaign. It gives me confidence that I'm on the right side of history. Thank you, Kareem.

[Jazz42]

I agree with you.

[jeersforfears]

If Barack Obama is a uniter and not a hater, then he is unlike every liberal poster on Huffington Post. Think you'd want someone with whom you're simpatico.

[irkthesmirk]

Hey jeers for fears, what do you know about "every liberal poster" on Huffington Post? First of all can you name them? What do they think? How do they feel about the current political situation in this country? Do you really know ANYTHING about EVERY liberal poster on Huffington Post? I suggest you knock off the generalities and name calling. It only makes you look ignorant.

[Jazz42]

Great comment. I completely agree with you.

[jerrychui]

In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better.

The 74-year-old Farrakhan, addressing an estimated crowd of 20,000 people at the annual Saviours' Day celebration, never outrightly endorsed Obama but spent most of the nearly two-hour speech praising the Illinois senator.

"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."
HOPE OF THE ENTIRE WORLD-- ha ha ha

Farrakhan compared Obama to the religion's founder, Fard Muhammad, who also had a white mother and black father.
FOUNDER OF BLACK MUSLIMS HAD A WHITE MOTHER AND BLACK FATHER LIKE OBAMA-

"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us," he told the crowd of mostly followers. "A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."

Farrakhan also leveled small jabs at Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, suggesting that she represents the politics of the past and has been engaging in dirty politics.

Farrakhan's keynote address at McCormick Place, the city's convention center, wrapped up three days of events geared at unifying followers and targeting youth.

It had a different tone from a year ago, when Farrakhan made what was called his final public address at a Saviours' Day event in Detroit. The 74-year-old was recovering from complications from prostate cancer and months earlier had temporarily passed on leadership duties of the organization's day-to-day activities to an executive board.




© 2008 Associated Press.

[jstock]

Whoopee! Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. In this case - and only in this case - Farrakhan is right: Obama IS "the hope of the entire world." Obama '08!!!

[shano]

And McCain has the support of racist, catholic hater Hagee. Why doesn he not denounce and reject that hatefull minister? Hate speech is hate speech coming from anyone of any religion.

[Bagger]

I agree with Louis Farrakhan and his remarks about Obama. I also think he is a racist and unproductive to our society. Obama has denounced and rejected Farrakhan. Thanks for posting. Your futile attempts to scare people are not working.

[IMustKnow]

And I suppose you don't think Obama will use that endorsement on the down low, while publicly denouncing Farrakhan; you know, kind of like the Canada situation. Judging by some of the posts by those supporting Obama, I have to wonder if they are capable of questioning anything Obama says. It's just gospel to them---Obama said it---it's gospel.

[fulano]

Great post Kareem, Obama is a uniter not a hater, smart, tough, thoughtful, a team player and a champion, just like you Kareem. He's got my vote just like you did as a Champion at UCLA and the Showtime Lakers.! How many times did we hear the great Chick Hearn exclaim "sky hook for the captain" . And I have seen you and your late Dad at the Playboy Jazz Festival, my wife and I always would say "That Kareem is not only a great ball player, a spokesman for all the people, a jazz fan (like us), but a good son to his old father, nuff said!
Si se Puede!

PS, Just heard that your old coach and the greatest coach and teacher that God has ever blessed us with ,"The Coach" John Wooden is in the hospital after he injured his wrist and shoulder, at 97 years old he is kind of fragile but he is in all our Prayers.

[Paul]

Kareem,

Your endorsement of Obama is as elegant as your hook shot.

Keep writing those books! Its great to see an athlete who has made a real intellectual contribution. Makes you wish more basketball players would finish college.

Love it when we catch a glimpse of you on the Laker bench. Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Byron, Riley and Chick. It makes me all weepy....

[TxWonderWoman]

Well if Barack does win the nomination, someone better do something about his wife Michelle. As Rush Limbaugh puts it "she's a rich target". She doesn't seem to get it. Read this..
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTViZjhhNGI1Y2QxYjE0ZDc0YmMwMjJiNmUyZjQ3MmU=

[drumz]

And who care what limpballs says? You?

[flacon]

I do!