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Is Obama a "Hybrid"?
If you haven't noticed -- we're living in the era of the hybrid.
My gas guzzling car is thankfully on its last legs -- and so I find myself test driving a Ford, a Honda, and a Toyota. All Hybrids that are counting on an electric motor to jump in when the gas engine isn't required. Part the future -- part the past.
But - there is more. My young son has been asking for -- well begging for really -- a dog. We live in the city, so the big dog with the hound-ish personality and the soulful eyes is out of the question. And the little dogs -- well, they're too little and frufru for our gang. So we were excited to find a dog that seemed just right. A Puggle. Never heard of them? It's a mix between a beagle and a pug. Breeders call them mutts. But owners call them hybrids. A bit of the big dog, a bit of the small. A mix that creates a uniquely new kind of dog -- one that we're pretty fond of.
Finally -- I went looking for a bike (part of the family green transportation initiative) and asked Felix at the shop to show me a bike that was part off road part racing bike... "ah you want a hybrid." Of course I do. A lightweight bike that I can ride on the street or the park, or on a bit of a journey. A Hybrid.
Changing times require new blends of old and new. Some tradition, some history, some new thinking.
So is Barack Obama a hybrid?
Lets take a look.
His father is Kenyan
His mother American (Wichita, Kansas)
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
At age six he moved to Jakarta
At 10 -- returned to Honolulu to to go prep school (Punahou School)
College, Occidental College -- transfer to Columbia University - then Harvard for Law.
An American born politician who spent four years in Indonesia... then returned to Hawaii -- and then was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
Sure, hybrid's are controversial. The purists want good old fashioned cars that burn gasoline. Hybrids are for sissies. And the hard core cyclists are going to look down their nose at my Hybrid bike. And dog breeders -- well, lets just say that the purists have little kind to say about the Labradoodle or our little Puggle. They're called mutts - or something worse.
But I think we're living in the era of the Hybrid. New mixes. New cultural combinations. And with this new era of Hybrid Politics -- an opportunity to see the word in a new way. Barack Obama is both genetically, socially, educationally, and politically a Hybrid. He's not obviously a black politician, having grown up outside the political dynamic that forged so many of the African American political leaders of our time. This has troubled some voters who questioned if Obama was 'black enough'. He's moved past these critics by in a sense agreeing with them, rather than pander -- and change his tone to sound more like an urban preacher when he speaks to black audiences, Obama has remained himself. He is well spoken, passionate, literate, and able to speak with his own voice. Compare this "Hybrid" Kenyan/American to Hillary Clinton's southern drawl and you see the natural conflict between the Hybrid make of Obama and the attempt to impersonate roots that she simply can't claim.
Welcome to America. A land of 'hybrids' -- all of us. A melting pot. A mix. And now, perhaps ready to elect a Hybrid Politician.
Obama drives a Ford Escape (The Escape Hybrid achieves 34 mpg in the city). And did we get a Puggle? Not yet, we're thinking about a Pugglehound now... a mix of a Basset and a Pug. Soulful yet small and spry. Seems like a good dog hybrid to us.
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His politics is radical left wing, not much of a hybrid.
Only if you're so far right that you think fascists are centrist.
Do not forget the McCain Hybrid... (It gets gas mileage which is Way Better than the NON-hybrid
version! And you'd have more than enough room (literally) for a proper, big, American dog.)
'The Hybrid taken to its logical extreme.
The 2008 Chevy Tahoe already has best-in-class fuel economy.(1) So why mess with a good thing? To make it better, of course. Seems the Green Car Journal agrees — they've named the 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid(2) the Green Car of the Year®.(3)
America's first full-size hybrid SUV is available in two- or four-wheel drive and provides the power and capability you expect from a utility vehicle while delivering efficiency you never imagined. Its hybrid propulsion system is designed to operate in three ways: electric power, engine power, or any combination of electric and engine power. When you need the extra muscle of Tahoe's Vortec V8, it kicks in seamlessly. When you need to conserve, two small and lightweight 60 kW motors get the job done.
And here's the big finish: When you pair the two-mode technology with our Active Fuel Management™ system, the Tahoe Hybrid offers up to 50% better city fuel economy over the non-hybrid Tahoe.(4) That's one hardworking hybrid.'...
Hey, look over to the right. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Coincidence?
Anyway, '50% better fuel economy' means instead of 14MPG, you get 21, by the way.
As my Grandfather used to say with great affection:
"I'm part English, Irish, Spanish, French, Devil and Dog"
Then he would laugh
Hawaii in the 60's was known for that kind of hybrid.
On dogs, what's a puggle like--livelier than a pug, but without the pug's respiratory problems?
Some friends of my parents thought that baggles--beagle/basset cross was the best of all possible dogs--not the joint problems of the basset, not the high strung temperment that beagles sometimes have. Theirs were certainly wonderful dogs, and I met another ten years ago or so that was equally wonderful.
(of course, if you got a high-strung dog with joint problems....)
This was an excellent, almost poetic, analogy. Good job...
It is always Obama, dang, They may not want him for President but they cannot keep the pen from writing about him or tongues from talking about him. When was the last time someone said Clinton?
When I was a high school student, I complained to the wise female principal that I was neither one or the other, but both. She told me that hybridization brought about a superior product because the hybrid takes on the better qualities of each contributor.
Therefore, if you are saying Senator Obama is superior because he is a hybrid, I can and will accept the hybrid tag. Otherwise, it's an insult.
I think of him as a bridge.
Definitely, he is a bridge, there's even a sign which incorporates his name into a bridge. He really does connect us, and I believe that as President, he will prove to be a bridge over any troubled waters we encounter.
Bill Clinton ran on the concept of building a bridge to the 21st century and as we cross that bridge we find Obama on the other side waiting for those afraid of change to catch up. He can help lead the rest of the stragglers across that bridge to the modern era. He will help build the bridge across those troubled waters to unite us with a global community to tackle the crises that are facing all of us on this planet.
As much as change is frightening and difficult, we have no choice but to join with those beyond our borders if we hope to maintain any kind of standing in the world. If we shirk from this we will only further alienate ourselves from the rest of the world and as competition increases and our dollar drops, we may very well find ourselves smack in the middle of that old analogy of the fall of the Roman Empire. We cannot afford the imperialist war policies of either Hillary Clinton or John McCain.
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