Barack Obama And The Righteous Wind
By Stephen C. Rose
I doubt anyone remembers a Presidential candidate saying we have a righteous wind at our back, but these remarkable words are now part of Barack's closing stump speeches.
The phrase makes sense, given the Faustian drama we're in.
The McCain forces, believing wealth and success are divinely ordained to a small elect, circle their wagons as their one-time allies, anticipating the righteous wind, make little secret of retreat.
And we -- tired and believing -- listen for the tell-tale rumble. We are ready to resonate to it.
It is justice. And change. A dream long deferred. Utterly natural. Yes. And deserved.
We wish to forge a politics that reasons together and rights wrongs and achieves fairness for all.
A McCain campaign, mired in arm-waving, Wars-R-Us thinking, falls before this wind.
We have no right to universal rule. To permanent indebtedness. To endless inequity. To sanctioned abuse.
The righteous wind, when we can sense it, is renewable each day.
The Bible reminds us that it comforts. It is Beatitudinal. It can soothe grinding anxiety. It can clear debris. It makes the liberating exercise of responsibility and choice come alive.
Comfort is achieved by toppling the unjust and righting the wrong, from Guantanamo to the very bowels of our shattered justice system and our desecrated environment.
And, yes, the righteous wind unmuddies thought.
Good governance breaks tasks into doable acts. That is how Barack's mind works. How Colin Powell created loyalty at State.
Doable actions in a field cleared by a righteous wind.
Listen.
It is coming from the East. A West Wind. Yes. Heading toward you.
On Tuesday at dawn, a low rumble will waken Newfoundland.
Soon it will be be heard in the Keys. In Philadelphia. In the Virginias. Then over Asheville, Chattanooga, Birmingham. Past Selma and Meridian. Through Cincinnati and Toledo. Up past Wisconsin's lakes and down past Little Rock.
The righteous wind takes on musical cadences crossing the great river and coursing over plains toward Colorado, a jeweled barrier. Arriving there, it swirls through passes and dips down to the Four Corners, and up past Caspar, then Montana, all the way to Mount St. Helen's shadowed northern side.
Where suddenly it calms.
It wafts a kiss to California, to Alaska, to Hawaii, And says, Aloha.
Then the day is done.
But the righteous wind will resume tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
For as long as we can hear it, feel it, go with it.
It has been a long time for the times to be a'changin'.
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"The ill wind of opportunism is falling, the righteous wind of socialism is on the rise. By the end of this year the victory of socialism will be greatly assured. Naturally there will be many struggles ahead and we must struggle hard."
---Chairman Mao
I was on Heybeliada, in Istanbul, setting up a photo of an Ataturk poster in a shop window. This little guy comes tearing up on his bike, yelling “Hello! Take my picture!” So we do a couple of shots together. I show them to him in my camera, and he asks where I’m from. I tell him, America, New York, in my broken Turkish. He approves the photos, we shake hands, he says “Good-bye,” then zooms off. I think he’s our future, and that my country has one more chance to do the right thing.
Since 2000, I’ve been treated kindly by people in Canada, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Turkey. No one has shown me hatred. But I confess, I always identify myself as a New Yorker first, then as an American. That’s not right.
On Tuesday, we can reclaim our country by electing a moderate president with the strength, intelligence, and humanity to bring Americans together on the side of our better angels. Or we can give our extreme far right a mandate to impoverish our nation beyond redemption, and betray the promise of American democracy.
The mighty Casey is at bat. Will it be three strikes and out - or will we change history and bring joy to Mudville?
http://wil
40 years since Bobby and MLK. It way past time for change to come.
The times, they are a-changin'
I'm 70 years old, and I've waited for this day for all my adult life. I had hope in the '60's, and they they killed Jack, and Martin, and Bobby. Hope sagged.
My son campaigned for McGovern when he was 11 years old, and he had his heart broken. His job on election day in Dixon, CA was to ride his bicycle to the homes of Democratic voters and offer to have someone come and give them a ride to the polls.
At 4:30 in the afternoon, he was pedaling his bike down the sidewalk as I arrived home from the high school. He was in tears. "Mom, he said, "they are saying it's over! The people won't sign up for rides. How can they do that? How can they say it's over." I didn't have an answer, because I'd already given up hope.
Now I'm old - and hope is alive again. I think maybe it's true that this time, the times really are a-changin'?
Can we sometime sing "We HAVE overcome?" My 8 grandchildren (all except the youngest who is a baby), but the 6 who are adults and the middle-schooler - Can they live in a world where a thoughtful, intelligent black man can lead us into a better time? Where the dreams of JFK, and Bobby and Martin and Dorothy Day and Cesar Chavez can be realized?
I'm in tears of hope. Thanks Barack! and Stephen Rose!
Amen, the righteous wind, a long time coming.
Blow, baby, blow.
Nicely poetic, that was most enjoyable reading.
Wonderful.
Here's another:
http://www
Very nice video. Thanks. Words are important. Maybe I should add a DUH. But they are worth more than that. Cheers, S
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