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Posts tagged ‘Barack Obama’

Nov 6

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Looking Over the Mountaintop

“I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!” – 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr.

King’s “Mountaintop” speech was prophetic on many levels. It was his last speech and he seemed eerily aware of his own impending assassination the following day. It was also a prophecy for the future of America. Somehow King clearly saw our future and knew this day would come. I have great pride as an American that is has. I wish that Martin Luther King was here to see it but perhaps he really did see it all those years ago.

Millions of Americans woke up Wednesday morning to a new country – one where skin color no longer mattered to the majority. Colin Powell cried. A three star general. Yes, it was that important. Every person of color, not just in America, but around the world can lift their head a little higher and be a little more self confident knowing that Barack Obama has blazed a trail for them that 40 years ago would have been unthinkable.

Of course, this presidential race was about more than skin color, it was about “content of character” as King hoped one day it would be. But there is still much work ahead. The struggle is not over. As John F. Kennedy once said, “All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”

God, I’m happy to be alive at this moment in history.

Nov 3

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Fall ’08 Reading List

I’ve compiled quite a list for the rest of this year. I’ve actually finished a few of these but I wanted to write them down so that I can keep the list up to date. Not that anyone really cares what I’m reading, but I go back to these lists to find conscious and unconscious themes in my interests. I’m still tackling a lot of religious themes and also took a detour last month to read a few books by Barack Obama.

I also decided to read Mahabharata from beginning to end. I’ve read a greatly abridged version but the full version will probably take 2 years to finish. The unabridged translation of the Mahabharata contains 74,000 verses, long prose passages, and about 1.8 million words in total. Put another way, it is roughly ten times the size of the Iliad and Odyssey combined. It’s going to take me a while. I’ve also being pulled back into physics and I have picked up a few new interesting books. Of course, I’m still making an unsuccessful effort to learn Hindi – and, as always, I am re-reading some old favorites like Catcher and Pale Blue Dot. Anyway, this is the list.

I’m also going to try to get through a few Teaching Company courses by the end of the year:

Oct 30

American Stories, American Solutions

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Oct 17

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Underdog Psychology

David Brooks as psychologist? He wrote a great opinion piece for the New York Times today ((Source: Thinking About Obama)) on the psychology of Barack Obama. Brooks is certainly conservative but he is always level-headed and critical – that’s why I like his editorials. I suppose in his logical, dispassionate analytics he finds Obama a kindred spirit. Of course, by the end of the article he raises his elephant flag but up to that point he gives a fair and cogent psychological analysis.

I’ve read both of Obama’s books and admire his story. Even now, campaigning against an American hero that casts a long shadow, Obama’s back story is still very compelling. It’s not compelling in the way McCain’s biography is compelling but it is a story – in many ways – of what it means to be an American. His history is not heroic or glorious but it is remarkable nevertheless. He began life as an underdog and through perseverance and determination he slowly made his way to where he is today. I believe a dispassionate, skeptical leader is what America needs right now. Like Brooks says in his article, Obama doesn’t need us … we need him.

Sep 3

If the World Could Vote

November 4th 2008 the American people will choose a new president. The president of the United States of America is the most powerful person in the world. We would like to know who would be the next president of the United States of America – if the world could vote! In the presidential election in 2004 122,267,553 people voted. 6,500,000,000 people did not. Our mission is to get more people to vote than voted in the last election. Mission impossible, we know, but still, wouldn’t it be great to see what the whole world thinks?

If we are to have any chance of reaching that goal we need your help. Tell all your friends around the world about iftheworldcouldvote.com. You can send them email, share it on Facebook (we also have a group you can join), digg it, reddit, save to delicious … Or all of it. So go ahead. Let’s see who would be the next president of the United States of America – if the world could vote ;)

Cast your vote!

Aug 29

Obama Accepts Nomination

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Jun 4

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Obama Wins Nomination

In what he called a “defining moment for our nation,” Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday became the first African-American to head the ticket of a major political party. Obama’s steady stream of superdelegate endorsements, combined with the delegates he received from Tuesday’s primaries, put him past the 2,118 threshold, CNN projects. “Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America,” he said. “Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.”

Mar 11

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Hoodwinked and Bamboozled

I’ve always enjoyed talking politics with friends. I’ve even stayed in touch with History and Political Science professors from my undergraduate days. A few days ago, while talking with a former History professor, I realized that not everyone sees America the way I do. I told him that for the first time in my life I was really optimistic about a presidential candidate. I wasn’t just being forced to choose from two stooges that special interests had propped up. My optimism came from the little known U.S. senator, Barack Obama.

My professor, a man have great respect for, told me that Obama could never be president because he was black. I was stunned. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been. Maybe lots of people feel that way. But there are lots more that don’t. There are people who are donating to Obama’s campaign that can’t afford to donate. People are now voting in primaries that have never voted before. I think that people are beginning to realize that they have been hoodwinked and bamboozled by special interests and incompetence.
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