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Revolution Barack?

February 24, 2007

Took the kids on a little bus trip today down to auditorium shores in lovely Austin Texas to see if all this fuss about Mr. Obama has any basis in reality.

I should preface this entire post by saying that I am jaded by pretty much all politicians. I don't believe anything any of them say and I'm not liable to vote for anyone who will have the remotest chance of winning in the presidential election. You can argue with me all you want about how I am "wasting my vote" - I have heard it all before and, frankly, I am not interested in discussing it. That said, it was somewhat painful to be standing in line with diehard Obama supporters who were talking to me and my children as if my allegiance to Obama was something to be taken for granted. It is not. While I think Obama is significantly more palatable than just about any presidential hopeful (who has any hope) I have seen in my voting lifetime, he is still a freaking politician and I am still freaking wary of politicians. I am interested in what the man says and the way he says it. I think he is a genius in the art of oration, actually. I felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to hear him speak. However, when the cameraman from some news station in Dallas shoved the camera in my face to get me to tell him why I had brought my children out (he actually asked if they were my brothers! hahahaha! I guess that's how he gets people to loosen up and talk to him.) I really could not muster any pep rally levels of enthusiasm for him. I said we were here because we homeschool and this is history in the making, to which Monk wisecracked (good fucking lord that child!) "The making of movies is always boring, so I am assuming this making of history is also going to be pretty boring." I am sure we looked like ennui-stricken ugly americans, which is why the guy was totally salivating over us. He was probably from Fox, and we are probably now the poster children for the anti-obama campaign.

At any rate, I found a nice spot for the children to play, and they found a ratty old tennis ball someone had left behind and an impromptu game of soccer broke out. I narrowly averted one of coley's all-day temper tantrums by allowing him to make videos with my camera, and I barely was able to endure the AWFUL AWFUL GOD DAMN so fucking awful opening band that almost had me packing up to go home they were so bad. So so fucking bad. But I toughed it out and the next band (one of the neville brothers? I didn't catch who it was exactly) was much much more pleasing to the ear and then came some woman who I just don't know who she was or why she was introducing Mr. Obama (or should I be saying senator obama? I guess I should be. Or "Our Future President" Obama is probably preferable) and then I moved the kids forward to see if MAYBE we could catch a glimpse of this man everyone is raving about.

A glimpse was about all I caught visually, but I have to say Obama gave a really impressive speech. He was humble, yet his presence (even disembodied) was commanding. I did not disagree with anything he said, and I was impressed on several levels with the words he chose to communicate his points. Does anyone know if he writes his own speeches? I know it's not common, but the words he spoke seemed so his own, it is hard to imagine that he has a speechwriter. And damn it feels so slimy to have to even wonder if a potential president writes his own platform speeches! But anyway...yeah. All of his points were good. He had all of the what's and why's in place...but none of the HOW & damnit, I want to know HOW. I understand that's probably not something that needs to be fleshed out at this time, but wouldn't it be nice if it was?

At any rate, yeah. He's an impressive man and it was a freaking huge crowd. I am not good at estimating crowd size at all, but the only other presidential rally I have ever been to was Howard Dean's 2004 Rally here in Austin and everyone thought that crowd was impressive. This crowd was easily 5-10 times that size. If nothing else, it was nice to look around and see that many people who Give A Fuck, you know? (I just looked at the website, and it said 20k! Twenty thousand people! My, that IS impressive.)

And I am downplaying my appreciation of Obama. When we got home from the rally (after much ballyhoo and bellyaching from the peanut gallery about all of the walking their evil mother was forcing them to do) I got the texts that my friend Sam had sent after my phone battery died. I asked him what he thought of it all. He said he came away a lot more impressed than he thought he would...as he was expecting the same old politician song and dance. I felt likewise, and added that (as I stated above) I just can't get over the fact that he is a politician and therefore his sincerity is suspect. Like I said to Pansy, he really SEEMED humble and committed and sincere.

Who knows? I am glad I went, and I am happy I brought the kids along. I think (I HOPE) they will thank me for it later, even though the spent almost the entire time rolling around in the dirt and/or whining about having to walk. I am no less jaded about politicians than I was before I went, but I am a little more motivated to participate in the process.

Posted at February 24, 2007 12:07 AM

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Comments

And that's why I like him. As jaded as I am with politics (even thou I still participate heavily) he gives me more hope than I've ever felt from a politician. It's crazy! I have to force myself to temper my emotions, because I know that's when my brain stops working. And hell if I'm only wooed for my vote. I want someone to woo my brain. And somedays, Barak does that.

Somehow I doubt he totally writes his own speeches, but he does appear the kind to do the last rewrite.

Posted by: Roni at February 24, 2007 11:41 AM

Oh, I hear you Roni. I think he is by far the most exciting "electable" politician I can even imagine having been witness to in my voting history. And it is nice to have the brain wooed. Especially after so long with absolute brainwoo starvation!

Posted by: drublood at February 24, 2007 5:23 PM

This is exactly the reason why Obama is so bad. Politicians give jaded people hope hope and then repeat the same sordid policy of american imperialism we've been seeing for the past 50 years. Don't believe the hype. Find inspiration elsewhere, and you won't be let down.

Posted by: ilsott at February 25, 2007 4:03 AM

Maybe I don't get the Obama craze because my TV doesn't work so well, so I'm not watching much of it, so I'm not picking up on this great charisma or whatever that people say he has. Instead, I've read about the things that he's said and the contents of his book. And here are a few things that I've noticed: He says he appreciates the sense of "order" presented by Ronald Reagan. He says Clinton was right to destroy the last remnants of the welfare state. He opposes universal healthcare. He goes on about the importance of religion and faith. He says something in his book about how he used to admire the neatness and order of soldiers at a military base. His greatest solution to economic inequality seems to be that the rich and poor should understand each other and try to work together (as though their problems are equal). He says that he opposes the war on Iraq but makes it clear that he is perfectly open to bombing Iran. He says that the U.S. (i.e., the government/military) sometimes needs to act as the "world's reluctant sheriff."

Sorry, Dru, but to me, he's looking pretty much like the same old awful stuff.

Posted by: Richard S. at February 25, 2007 5:22 PM

but I mean, seriously, think about it. What ELECTABLE politician has a more palatable record? Not many, if any.

And yes, somehow, I am expected to vote for someone who is ELECTABLE. Heaven forbid I not vote at all!

Posted by: drublood at February 27, 2007 2:10 AM

also, clearly I need to read more. Because he really seemed to be all for universal healthcare. Perhaps he is just appearing to be for it, but actually for something different? I don't know. He spent a good portion of his speech talking about how American citizens need healthcare, and not only that, but businesses can't be competitive due to having to pay the healthcare costs of its employees. It sure seemed to me like the universal healthcare song and dance, but I am not sure if he actually used the words "universal healthcare."

I am too tired to do any research now, but you have given me something to think about...

Posted by: drublood at February 27, 2007 2:16 AM

Hi. I'm glad you didn't get annoyed at my getting so edgy about this issue. But it just bothers me that so many people who seem politically wise in many ways also seem so desperate to find something/someone to support in the sorry lot that we're being offered as the great presidential alternatives in '08....

I got much of my info on Obama from a combination of three sites, CounterPunch, Stop Me Before I Vote Again and the World Socialist Web Site.

I linked to the two latter sites in my latest blog post, in my own appreciation of these sites' blackly humorous comments on the candidates.

The WSWS is where I got a number of points I mentioned in my last comment. Some people would discount it because it's run by a Trotskyist group (and certainly, I'm not a Trotskyist - I remember disagreeing with them a lot re. their views on Kornstadt and some things they said about the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War); however, I've found that it's an excellent place to find informed criticisms on current events and capitalism in general. Because, they provide the quotes and facts.

So, I was impressed by this article on Obama and his book The Audacity of Hope.

I got word on his views about universal healthcare from a couple of places, but I had this paragraph from the WSWS article fresh in my mind:

Obama criticizes Reagan’s “policy by anecdote,” but how is this an improvement? In fact, Obama has explicitly rejected universal health care 100 pages earlier in his book. In the course of criticizing so-called “ ‘either/or’ thinking,” he rejects “the assumption that we must either tolerate forty-six million without health insurance or embrace ‘socialized medicine.’ ”

Anyway, if you ask me, it can't be more clear than that - the guy does not support a single-payer, universal healthcare plan. Maybe he supports a Hillary Clintion-type hodge podge designed not to hurt the insurance companies and ultimately too convoluted for anybody to follow. Or maybe a force-you-to-buy-insurance kind of plan something like the thing that was passed in Massachusetts and what's being promoted in California.

I'm not sure if he's advocated for any specific kind of plan, but it seems pretty clear to me that he opposes the only kind that I would fully support at this point.

Posted by: Richard S. at March 2, 2007 9:20 PM

Thanks for doing my research for me, Richard.

Nah. I wasn't annoyed with your comments, and I am not annoyed now. I really am just kind of desperate for one freaking politician I can vote for and not feel slimy about. So I really was practicing avoidance as relates to delving into Obama's actual voting record.

I have read articles about him on Counterpunch and The Black Commentator. Neither outlet seems the least bit impressed with him.

Posted by: drublood at March 5, 2007 7:47 AM