Obama of Chicago: Carl Sandburg Should Have There Been!

Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs ... that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing!

(from Carl Sandburg's "Chicago")

After Super Tuesday, watching the returns from the primary "Chesapeake,"
On Lincoln's birthday--no less--we heard a black man from Illinois speak
...oratorical eloquence, in Madison, in the state of Wisconsin...
Herald of hope in the human breast. Carl Sandburg should have there been!

From the southside of Chicago, Obama had exploded on the scene
...winning in surprising precincts, a veritable electoral stew...
From Atlantic to Pacific coasts: Blue states, red states, purple, too.
Out of Africa, a transcendent leader, something we have never seen!

Like old Abe, the lean, young Senator, announced in Springfield;
And promises, in soaring rhetoric, to hold us to our ideals:
To end the war; and to be our brother's keeper here at home.
O' God, protect him, wherever this elongated campaign roams.

But could he deliver, asked the all-too-sober Economist?
..."the fierce urgency of now" hardly comprehending...
We are the ones who have been too long waiting--
For a new politics to rise through the political mist.

Yes, our time has come, and we intend to change the world, agreed!
Give "cool hand" Barack the reins, and our country will once again lead.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world; and things that have never been...
Why not? To what has never been? There is no copyright on "I have a dream."

True, hubris lurks at every turn, and the quarry of cockiness.
She mocks: the sky will open up, and the light come down
...while celestial choirs raise their voices...
On the way to Washington, let us keep our feet on the ground.

February went by, then along came the big Ohio and Texas primaries;
Alas, they were humbling in their impact, and broke a string of victories.
Hillary & Bill's strategists launched a national security "swiftboat" attack:
By firing a "kitchen sink" fusillade--worthy of Dick Nixon--at his back.

But fear not the "red phone" gimmick, we have a long way to go, to Denver.
Young Barack -- of the "big shoulders" city -- will be like the streams of a river
That ultimately make glad America, here and over there, as the City on a hill...
In the meantime, give the people a compelling vision that leaves the critics still!

Comments

[lizziej]

I love it!

[outnow]

Anyone who is interested who is interested in Abraham Lincoln's speaking style should pick up a copy of the six volume set "Abraham Lincoln."

There are many similarities in Obama's speaking style with Lincoln's in terms of their style, content, and delivery. In Volume 11, entitled the Parie Years, under Speaking in Cooper Union, it appears that Obama and Lincoln were very similar.

"His face lights up with an inward fire...His voice was soft and sympathetic as a girls...not lifted above the tone of average conversation...a particular naivete' of manner and voice produced a strange effect on his audience...hushed for a moment to a silence like that of the dead..., according to a reporter.

"let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it." (Speaking of preventing the spread of slavery into the national Territories and into the free states).

But Lincoln made it clear that to reach for middle ground of the issue of slavery was like looking for a middle ground for right and wrong. It would be as vain a search as looking a man who was "neither a living man nor a dead man."

There are issues where there should be no compromise with the worst evils of unregulated capitalism. Slavery was one of these evils.

I hope Obama will read Carl Sandburg "Lincoln." King Solomon realized that you can't split the baby for the two contesting women who each wanted custody of the baby.

"

[MyThought]

Barack Obama is like a televangelist - just listen to him. He doesn't know what to stop talking and is so preachy. If I want that, I'll go to church.

Rev. Barack Obama, send him your truth dollars....sigh and ugh.

[Shantee]

FOR YOU DEMOCRACY by WALT WHITMAN

Come, I will make the continent indissoluble,
I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon,
I will make divine magnetic lands,
With love of comrades,
With the life-long love of comrades

I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of Amerca,
and along he shores of the great lakes, and all over the praries,
I will make inseparable cities with their arms about each other's necks,
By the love of comrades,
By the manly love of comrades.

For you these from me, O Democracy, to serve you ma femme!
For you, for you I am trilling these songs.

submitted by girrrrls for obama--08

[indie17]

It is beautiful, and I love it.

[akhinaten]

Monster. Inc (AKA Hillary's Campaign) will Eat our sweet prince alive

[Thorn]

I don't know whether to feel horribly embarrassed for you or simply cringe.

[myskylark]

carl sandburg is spinning in his grave.

[OSUMercutio]

I'm not a huge poetry fan, but great post!

[PioneerKing]

Sen. Clinton's kitchen sink attacks may have not have been fatal to Sen. Obama's campaign. Just you wait till the bathroom and the rest of the house goes flying by Sen. Obama's campaign will crumble and the republicans will crush what ever is left standing.