(no subject)

[furrbear]

Written 70 years ago, the poem Let America Be America Again, by Langston Hughes,
has as much resonance today as it did in 1938:

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

from Let America be America Again (1938)
Langston Hughes [1902 - 1967].

Amen.

Sen. Obama was born Aug 5, 1961. He's less than two months older than me. As a friend wrote, "Some 40 years or so after Dr. King articulated his dream, we now begin to see its manifestation in the body politic to a degree never before possible. I have rarely been prouder to be an American. There is hope for this nation yet and hope coming to this nation."

Comments

[txcwby.livejournal.com]

personally, i don't think Obama is going to be an effective leader - politics takes corruption, and he ain't corrupted yet. (unlike the other candidates)

[cipherpunk.livejournal.com]

Obama has said that he was unaware of Wright’s appalling opinions and sermons for the more than two decades he was in attendance at Trinity. As the Rev. Pfleger recently showed, Wright wasn’t the only offensive bigot in the pulpit — it seems Trinity has a very serious problem with race relations.

I don’t think Obama is a bigot or a racist, of course. I believe him absolutely when he says those opinions are appalling to him. But I do have to ask myself — how effective would he be as a president, if he can be talking to the ministers of his church for twenty years and not know of their offensive opinions?

Obama is positioning himself as a candidate who can cross the racial divide and heal some of America’s racial conflict — but he’s been curiously silent on the racial divide in his former church. He condemns the statements, of course, as a man of honor must. But isn’t Trinity a great opportunity for him to show us what he can do, rather than tell us what he claims he can do?

Up until Rev. Pfleger’s remarks came out, I was an uncommitted independent voter. As much as I like Obama, I think he’s just too naïve for the Presidency.

[cipherpunk.livejournal.com]

And, just as importantly, there’s much to be proud of entirely regardless of whether he wins the general election — which, to be honest, I hope he doesn’t.

A short list of things to be proud of:

1. Yes, Virginia, it’s true, anyone can be President. The last twenty–four years have been dominated by two political dynasties, that of Clan Bush and that of Clan Clinton. America has no aristocracy, and by shunning Hillary the voters made it abundantly clear that being related to power does not necessarily get you power.
2. A biracial man is the leader of choice for a broad variety of races, genders, sexual orientations and creeds. He’s not my leader of choice, mind you, but not even I can deny him his rare gift of drawing together a broad coalition of people of like–minded politics. His ability to unify the Democratic base is even better than Clinton’s, and that’s saying something.
3. He will compete as equals in a competition previously dominated by old white men of privilege. Now, there’s a flip side to this. If he’s going to compete as equals, that means his followers have to accept the possibility that he will lose, and not look to shallow, puerile explanations for the defeat. A fair competition means you might lose, and if you lose, then you face the future with a smile and come back in four years. And if you win? Then you face the future with a smile and remember the other side gets another swing at you in four years.

[woofytexan.livejournal.com]

I did not know his birthday was the same as mine. rock on crouton.