Obama

First, I have been negligent in my posts--my apologies, just wrapped up in personal crap. Enough of that though.

I find myself still supporting Obama, but I am still far from enamored with him. I think that is a good thing though. Were I enamored of a candidate, there would have to be something wrong with me, the candidate, or both.

Obama is normally cool and calm in his demeanor. He is normally very gracious and courteous in his remarks. Somewhat sophisticated (though I think he holds back quite a bit in the campaign), forgivably cliched in his responses at times, but always rational and decent.

He doesn't throw his hands in the air or give a thumbs-up when meeting a crowd, he politely waves and bows--or just bows. He doesn't talk in the patronizing Clinton/Gore/Hillarah style of veeeeery sloooow woooooords as if we're retarded chimps that have to be taught about the dangers of fire. He doesn't prattle on about bumper sticker slogans or pickup trucks or butterflies or bears in the woods. And he seems so....honest. One gets the impression that he has a hypersensitive bullshit meter that he has worked very, very hard to temper (I really like that part--if I'm right--because it shows much more discipline than I have).

He is a politician, so he has to round the corners of some political stances, yes, but he is very honest about his childhood and early adulthood (notice how no one brings it up now that he's been honest, btw), he tells Black church leaders that there is a problem with homophobia in the Black community, he tells an anti-war Democratic base that there will likely be a bump in his defense budget the first year or two he is in office, he tells teachers unions that--though he would dismantle the No Child Left Behind Act--accountability is still a good aspect of it and that he will maintain that part of it.

He tells us that there is a terrorist threat, but we're fighting it the wrong way. That there are threats to us, but none unmanageable. And consistently tries to remind us that we really are a great nation capable of so much more than we want to give ourselves credit for. I truly, truly believe he sees the potential of America in the same spirit Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, TR, Truman, and JFK did. Not in the Hollywood way Reagan did, but in the true, rational, tempered, and beautifully sensible way of this:

"Look at us. We are the most powerful nation in the annals of History. We have a better way. We are the only country on earth founded by the Enlightenment. We can do more, with less, and better, than any country on earth not because we are that innately brilliant or capable, but because we are so much better equipped to do it. We are the lucky ones, but we must not only realize our luck--we must act upon our luck. The only demise foreseeable for us can come from within."

And with all the above that I like so much, it worries me a little. I don't know if it will sell well to the majority. And, even if he wins the nomination, I don't think he would win a large majority in a general election--though I do think he would win. He is just too much for so many. Like, love, hate, or dislike him, I doubt any would say that he doesn't represent a substantial change for the US. And people are often, and understandably, wary of that very thing. But what a change it could be.

An end to the baby-boomer psycho drama that has been going on since the Vietnam War, an entirely new bent on foreign policy not born of realpolitik or the Messiah, a reformation of American Liberalism that is not built upon the Great Society (Noam Chompsky be GONE!)... Ahhhh, a boy can dream.