Obama Symbolizes America

Obama, the transcendent symbol, is more important than Obama, the progressive politician.

Obama may look black, may self-identify black because of his features, but he is truly an African-American. Anyone, including other blacks, who call him black, well they're just missing the point. He is a mixed-race American. He loves his white family. He loves his black family. It shows.

White folks sense this. Black folks take comfort in this, no matter how they might appear on the surface.

His demeanor is mixed. His vocabulary is mixed. He is a part of us, one of us all, and therefore the perfect person to unite those of us who long for a just and equal society.

The haters are out with their knives. We will beat them back this time. They must not be allowed to steal America from us again. This time there are too many of us.

Hillary Clinton must get out of the way of the march of history.

I don't expect Obama to solve all the problems. I expect him to fail at trying to solve many, even most of them. The forces arrayed against justice and good are mighty. What he will do is to set a new agenda, create a new climate in ways we can't even imagine...and he may not be able to at this point either.

Let's not forget that he is both a lawyer and a politician, that's two strikes against him in my book. But I look around at some of the politicians from here in Oregon and I think, well...things are possible.

Things have been impossible under the Republicans.

I'll feel much better when the "bad Hillary" is beating up on Republicans in a few weeks.

I'm not young and I'm not idealistic, but I know hope when I see it.

Comments

[live by the golden rule]

Why must it be Hillary Clinton who "gets out of the way of history"? Isn't it always the case that women are asked to step back and be considerate of others, while men are encouraged to be assertive and pursue their ambitions? Isn't it also historical to elect a woman so steeped in policy details with public service dating back to programs to help children, dating back to when she graduated from Yale law school?

[citizenoftheworld]

I agree with most of what your article
states.
I am also from a mixed race background
like Obama. I am Native American
and caucasian.
I am a realist and know like you, Tom,
that no one can fix all of the huge
problems that our country faces.
But, we need Obama's vision and his
intelligence and his ability to
unite. We need it desperately.

[amberglow]

"transcendent symbols" won't give us all true universal healthcare, or punish the GOP, or reverse the horrors, or help public schools, or fix our infrastructure, or punish companies who move jobs overseas, or bring back the pre-Reagan tax rates, or get rid of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act and the spying on us all, or...

[Doofus]

No, but a super-majority of Demos in Congress will.

[Doofus]

We can only hope that all the Hillary Hating Repos will be so confused if she doesn't actually get nominated that they will 'mistakenly' vote for Obama in November. If they forget to re-register as Repos after voting in the Demo primaries, that is *bound* to happen. Yay!

[InfoGiant]

Nice article Tom, and well said. I know when two time Bush voters (like my father) are switching over for Barack, change is in the air.

http://infogiant.wordpress.com/

[cke]

If Obama does win, I hope Hillary is not too damaged and withdraws from public service. The Clintons have too much of value to give to us.

[ozamerican]

In some ways, years of pent-up anger towards Bush is also being directed towards Hillary Clinton, the "establishment candidate." I think the reason everyone is allowing her to continue her long, slow march over the cliff is because it's more than merely symbolic, it's absolutely cathartic. Her fading tells us there really is something happening in America, and it's not going to be business as usual anymore.

What's happening in America is that we're waking up.

[Norge]

Yes he may well be able to if he does not become to far removed and militarized into a 5 star general as all other commanders in chiefs have in the past whiteman's house.

He will more than likely win the nomination and lose the election to the top gun McCain though as the fear factor is the repugs major weapon and the American people still so frightened of the world.

Rolf Kropgsæther

[Doofus]

As somebody recently said, he kind of makes us

proud to be Americans, again. How about that?

[MizJ]

This campaign has gone on entirely too long. We have had 14 months of non stop coverage with another 6 to go. Is there anybody left that Obama has not been compared too? I hope, if elected, we are not in for a very big disappointment since giving one man so much power and adoration while his mere claim to fame is that he defeated Alan Keyes in a senate race. Will he be ready on day one? I hope so because he really is going to be a roll of the dice.

[nypoet22]

poor choice of words by bill clinton. not because he's wrong per se, but because at the core of our national consciousness, americans like to gamble, especially when the stakes are high. all things told, i think obama is a pretty good bet.

[DoninJoisey]

He's been right about Iraq. He's right about speaking to other countries - without preconditions, as Colin Powell feels, and as recommended by the Iraq study commission (which was ignored).

Clinton STILL spins her Iraq vote - what was that "Saddam competing with Bin Laden" crap she spouted in the one debate?!?!?!?!

If she treats other countries the way she's been campaigning lately, we're ALL in trouble!