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Fuckin' A, people.
17 years ago
PRESIDENT OBAMA.
I am so damn happy I could burst.
Adios, Reaganomics; and your extra-specially-retarded stepchild, Shrubanomics, too. Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.
Goodbye Idiocracy. What a joy to have an intelligent President again.
They tried to smear the man with Guilt-By-Association bullshit. Rezko, Ayres, yadda fucking yadda. They tried to suggest he was nothing more than a pop star. They tried to make us believe he was all words, no action; that he was a terrorist in disguise, a stealth Muslim, a Communist, a Socialist, and oh dear but he's BLACK! Obama's campaign brought out the worst from the inbred corners of this nation, more than any other candidate in recent history.
Finally, something changed. Something triggered the little grey cells to start ticking over and analyzing information, rather than just sucking it down like a baby at a tit. We looked at this man through that distorted filter...and found those lenses just didn't work for us any more. The reality didn't match the spin.
Then we voted.
And now it's done.
Hello, 21st century. We aren't quite turned around yet....but give us time. We'll be there, better than before.
Im so freakin stoked and happy for America now!
YES WE DID MOTHERFUCKERS
Im happy, but im sure the KKK are pissed.
YES WE CAN BITCHES.
I've got relatives like 'em, too. *sigh*
Good riddance!
I hope we hand the GOP an even better gut-punch two years from now. The Republicans need to re-group and figure out who the fuck they are. Do they really want to be tools for some psychotic religious bigots, or corporate whores? Time to choose which fucking side you're on.
My roomie was pissed, because she's under the impression that her dad (a doctor) will lose his job if Obama nationalizes health care like he promises to.
So I had to do my happy dances in a corner where she couldn't see. ;D
Apparently switching from a private practice to a government-run job will bring about the END OF TEH WORLD.
Or at least cut the paycheck more than they'd like.
But if that's the case, then my roomie has even less reason to worry. Unless her dad's afraid that all the other health care jobs will compete with his business.
He might be president, but he's only a man. His influence is limited if people just let him bear the whole burden of change.
Here's to hoping that the record participation to these elections is a sign that people are willing to work for the better.
Good luck America, we're rooting for you!
It's gonna happen. Trust me when I say that. I'm no kind of genius. But you don't need to be to see change is coming. We've been buried in shit for nearly a decade. We don't have any choice but to change.
I am kind of skeptical of how much things will change.</i>
Just think of how much changed for the worse over the last eight years.
You're right :)
To the FUTURE!
It's gonna be hell for a while. That's the only thing that really blows about this. Eight years of the Shrub has left us screwed six ways to Christmas. There's a lot of shoveling to do before we get out of this mess.
Good things are comin'. :D
I worry that people thinking this will be the greatest thing since sliced bread are falling prey to tactics of hype, but I guess there's no point in furthering that discussion—I'll just brave all the "first black president" banners and cheers of hope while observing this most interesting turn of events.
…I also feel really bad that someone will probably assassinate Obama (we all saw it coming). Does anyone know anything about Biden? I'm assuming he's better than Palin.
So you'll "brave the first black president banners"? Is it really going to be such a trial for you? Is the gravity of this moment so completely lost on you? Apparently. You're more than willing to cast aspersions on the motivations of those who voted for our first black President, and in the same post admit you don't know anything about Joe Biden, a man who's been serving in the Senate for more than two decades. It's not so hard to be informed as you appear to think. All it takes is a little effort. Not enough people did that research....as evidenced by the 40-odd million idiots who voted for McCain. But enough people DID pay attention at long, long last, and something marvelous happened.
The man knows how to motivate people. He inspires people to get involved, which they've done, in huge numbers. He won by a greater margin than freaking LBJ. All previous presidents who accumulated that much national energy went on to accomplish some amazing things. Will Obama be remembered in the same way as the Roosevelts, or Kennedy? I don't know. He's got the charisma, and the intelligence, and much more experience than most give him credit for. He's proved he can organize a top-flight campaign. It's possible he'll fail to be a good President.
Historical precedent says otherwise.
I wish I could say your concern for the "presumed, eventual" assassination of our 44th President rang true. The sentiment comes across as stilted as the rest of your posturing, this affectation of detached intellectual superiority you've got.
You make for a pretty ineffectual troll.
The "braving banners" remark I also didn't explained well to you. I live on a college campus that is very—how do you say?—affirmative action. I am sad to say this'll be the new element added to black history month. I appreciate how far America has come, yes, but I also will grit my teeth and bear the rest of the nation that thinks reparations for slavery is backwards.
I do not agree that voting for McCain makes you an idiot. I don't think Americans should get punished for being financially successful. I think socialized health care sucks. I don't believe that killing a developed, living fetus is right. I think marriage would best be handled as a state issue over a federal one. I don't think I'm an idiot for believing in those things (but I can see I made myself out to be an idiot in my first comment).
I'd strongly recommend you not raise your expectations of humanity. The majority of people do not educate themselves on voting. Example: the majority of those that vote Republican probably do so because of religious affiliation or being indoctrinated into whatever. The majority that voted Democrat took notice at of sudden economic plummet, the War on Terrorism, etc…. Common issues that we can associate happening with Bush at the reign. While McCain isn't Bush, this makes a Democratic leader look much more shiny, doesn't it? And Obama, he's a top of his class, junior senator with a place in Senate for four years, two of which were mostly spent campaigning for his presidency. He also looks "black", which brought in more votes.
Did Barack's constituency consist of American's that finally started thinking? I think that's a little bold, and daresay, wrong. Yes, I'm willing to asperse the hell out of the buzz because most of the Americans you're praising for piercing a lens of distortion have their own lenses of distortion.
I will support Obama because the man is leading my country. I'll just be doing it without clicking my heels.
Some things just aren't clear to me. Why it's going to be so hard for you to put up with those who are excited to have, for the first time in our history, a black President. I can't wrap my head around the idea someone is sad over something so historic being added to our national consciousness. Sure, everyone can take damn near anything too far, but come on. Slavery is a big ugly stain on the American page. His election is a huge deal. Don't hide prejudice behind gritted teeth.
You're welcome to disagree that a vote for McCain was a vote for ignorance. All the support you brought forward against Obama was one tired right-wing trope after another. Pushing success? Please. Read his goddamn economic plan before you spout the talking points. While you're at it, do a little reading on corporate welfare in America, and how it's affected our economy. Do a little reading on the past twenty-plus years of deregulation, Free Market Uber Alles, and the Nine Scariest Words in the English Language, and what good it's done us. You think socialized health care sucks? Huh. Ever experienced it? Again, please read. Barack DOESN'T SUPPORT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE EITHER. I DO. It's one of the points of contention I have with the man. He's gunning for an expansion of Medicare, which will mean a government system running in parallel with the private health care industry. I've seen our health care system from all sides now. IT'S NOT WORKING. And the tied old Socialized Medicine bugaboo of the right-wing spin machine has run out of gas. You don't think it's right to kill a fetus? Join the club. The vast majority of people don't. Including your new President. Believing in a woman's right to control her own body and awareness of a fetus's human status aren't mutually exclusive. That's the line. Marriage is a states-rights issue? Not when it comes to legalizing discrimination. No state constitution gets to trump THE Constitution. Period. End of story. It's not something that will ever effect you or me anyway. The only reason to interfere with a person's right to marry the person they love, be it the same sex or not, is religious bigotry. No thank you.
There's twenty years of experience between you and me. Don't lecture me on my expectations are; you really don't have a clue what defines my worldview, nor are you in any position to advise me on what people are like. Dude. You're twenty years old. Like most people your age (including me, when I was twenty), you're high on opinion and light on knowledge. The proof's in the pudding: your analysis of the present political climate.
You seem to think McCain lost because Bush's incompetence made Obama all shiny. The incompetence of the Bush Administration certainly helped Barack, just as McCain's fatal choice of running mate hurt him. Sure. To suggest that this is the only reason, or even the primary reason for Obama's [i][landslide victory/i] ignores the past in favor of a warped view of the present. This landslide has been almost thirty years coming. The blue-collar, Union-attending white vote Reagan snatched from the Dems in the 80s has swung back into the Dem's camp, along with their kids, along with the new immigrants to our nation, because the GOP hasn't done JACK for them since Reagan's time. Wages have stagnated. The average purchasing power of the dollar has steadily dropped over that time. Health care's gotten insanely expensive. Worker's rights have been ditched in favor of corporate rights. We've exported jobs and leveraged our survival on credit, and now we don't even have the purchasing power to stay above water anymore. The middle class has been under assault for longer than you've been alive. What got Obama elected? THAT got Obama elected. Bush was just the ass-end of the Titanic. We've been strapped to the deck chairs for a lot longer than eight years. Even the Dems themselves got in on the act during Clinton's time. Now they're paying the price, too: increasing waves of Progressives are getting into the Senate and House, pushing out Old Guard Dems and GOP operatives alike.
And did people vote for him strictly because he was black? Probably. Funny, being black hasn't helped the black candidates in the past....what....five or ten political cycles.
Did he serve only two of his last four years in the Senate, spending the rest of the time campaigning? Um, no. One more right-wing trope. Barack has spent plenty of time campaigning. So did McCain. They still managed to get in their votes when the time came, and to leverage this as some sort of negative when it's a GIVEN is crap on its face. It ignores all that came before his Senate term.
I'm bold and, daresay, wrong? Huh. My lens may be distorted from all the bullshit I've seen since I started my career, sixteen years ago. Yours is distorted by a complete lack of practical experience. Maybe when you've done some living you'll get some clearer vision. 'til then, keep your assumptions under tighter wraps. It'll make getting along in this world easier, I promise.
I view current reparations for slavery as being racist. I don't know if you listen to NPR, but about three Saturdays ago, Weekend America had an article on a female pastor, urging white congregation members to look at black congregation members and join her in a corporate prayer, apologizing for the wrong-doings of whites against blacks. I would prefer Barack is celebrated as an underdog, but I think even bringing up that he is black as a success is backward. Any votes for or against him based on his skin colour is sad, and I would not want to undermine years of civil rights movements by celebrating that he is black. Does that outline my opinion better? Keep in mind I'm horrible at knowing what my own words sound like.
And sorry for coming off as an ineffectual troll. That was never my aim.
Don't worry about reparations. It's not going to happen. For better or worse, it is a fringe issue and that's where it's going to stay. We're bleeding a billion dollars or more a week into Iraq and Afghanistan. We've got a bank meltdown here, which may be followed by a credit meltdown in the very near future. Obama's going to have his hands full. Reparations, if it even makes it to the table, will get quietly shelved...or not so quietly as the Asian and Native American communities point out how unfair it would be. I'm willing to eat crow on this one if I'm wrong, but I don't think I will be.
I do listen to NPR, and I've heard that sort of thing. I'm not much for collective guilt trips, nor rehashing what can't be fixed by processing about it. For some people, that sort of thing works. And for some (just like the hardcore racists on the right) it's the process that counts, not the result.
I also listen to a few folks on Air America, and the BBC, and ITN, and Pacifica. I try to listen and read widely.
We had a 65% voter turnout. Remember that when you think I'm giving the American public "too much credit". Remember that the movement which got Obama elected was on the grass-roots level. Many more people gave at the ten and twenty-dollar level than even in Dean's campaign, and that campaign was wildly successful motivating those under 30. All those things point to people who were voting with their heads, not just their hearts. I can't substantiate this with facts yet, but I trust my gut, and my gut says this is a paradigm shift. We've gone through multiple conservative/progressive cycles in this country. Generally the conservative cycles end in the same way: a profound economic crisis brought about by deregulation, extreme concentrations of wealth and crazy borrowing, all at the expense of our middle class. Each time we've managed to claw our way back out. We'll do it again. Count on it.
Thank you for taking the time to read as well as debate. I appreciate that. My apologies, too, for being exasperated. I didn't need to be so harsh.
I was attending a meeting on a Diversity Board on campus a few weeks ago. (I figured if I was going to bitch about some element of school I might as well educate myself on it.) I was talking to my friend about diversity when he brought up something. He knew a man renowned for his "black poetry". (I don't know if that means it's urban, slavery, or what, because there is no such thing as "black culture".)
I asked him what makes black poetry black. He ended up confessing that the man's skin colour was the deciding factor. This man cannot write about problems black people faced exclusively, because none of those problems exist. Other races and cultures were segregated and repressed like Africans (Asians, anyone?).
Keeping with the poetry as the image, I thought of how book stores had LGBT and ethnic sections, probably under "special interest". If I was running a bookstore, and had to separate poetry, I'd separate by genre and probably American from international, providing my collection was strong enough. I would not take black or gay poetry and give it its own shelf, because that would be very "separate, but equal" of me.
Celebrating black history month and remembering slavery is okay, but in order to keep things equal without separating them we can't celebrate it by itself, and we have to emphasize all conflict and race equally. I'm Irish/Italian in descent, and my feisty, off-the-boat Italian grandfather has faced his share of ridicule growing up in "new country", but if I celebrated white history month I'd look like a fool. People would think it's racist, because Caucasians happen to make up the majority of America, for now. I've been told we have months where we celebrate Asians and Hispanics, but 99.9% of Americans probably don't observe that, including most public schools.
When I look at black history month, and I learn about George Washington Carver, I feel like we take, "Look at this noble and brilliant scientific mind," and change it to, "Wow! A black person has somehow contributed to society!" to prove that they aren't stupid. They're human beings. Of course they're not "stupid" because of skin colour. That makes no sense.
Popping off my soapbox, this is why I will not celebrate Obama as being first black president. Race is so trivial a thing (as it should be) that I would not want to say it makes him different-enough to mention by the very ideals of civility we simultaneously want and repel.
There's no such thing as "black culture?" A black man can't write about problems black people faced "exclusively", because "they didn't exist"?
You're fixating on skin color and missing the boat. Black History Month isn't about "wow, a black person has somehow contributed to society". I understand that viewpoint because I used to have it myself, until I figured out it's bass-ackwards.
Black History Month is about waking people up to our own history, and how hard some folks had to fight just to get acknowledged. For more than half our history BLACKS WEREN'T EVEN CONSIDERED PEOPLE. You know that, right? The emancipation proclamation, etc? Yes, Italians received prejudice, and so did the Irish, and the Polish, and the Germans. That prejudice was (and remains) nothing on the scale of what blacks, asians, latinos or native americans have endured. I'm sure there were Italian bars where Irish people weren't welcome. Is it the same as the restaurants in Texas which had signs outside them saying "no dogs or Mexicans allowed"? No. Obviously related, and obviously different by miles. We didn't have lynchings of Italians. Or Irish. They didn't get killed for looking at Norwiegan women. There's never been a huge disparity in the courts between the judgments against an Irish man killing a man of British descent and a Brit killing a Brit. TO THIS DAY we have far more people of ethnicity in jail than whites, and the likelihood of a black man serving a longer sentence than a white man for the same crime is all too great. The issue of race was and REMAINS a massive issue for Americans. Black History Month is an attempt to a) make us aware how our nation has grown thanks to our diversity and b) give kids of said ethnicity a reminder that they've got value, that they're equals. You may not find that a message worthy of a public campaign, but you also have no idea what it's like to grow up as a black kid in a ghetto. By the by, yes, there are Asian and Hispanic History Months, but your percentages are wrong. It wouldn't surprise me if they weren't celebrated in the Midwest. The coasts are a little more diverse.
You're right to want to avoid celebrating people just for their skin color. From the standpoint of skin color, anyone can go too far in an attempt to define themselves. You've got Louis Farrakhan on one side and David Duke on the other. But to appraise a whole movement and the fallout from a huge swath of our history as being nothing more than a balloon floating on the hot air of racial pride is profoundly ignorant.
Speaking of ignorance: rock and roll. Pop. You know about music, right? Check out your American musical history. Rock came from Jazz, and Jazz came from the Blues, and we would have NONE OF THIS were it not for the slave culture that developed from slavery. That it came from mixes of Ghanans and Senegalese and other West Africans is to point at the root and miss the tree. That's one example of many. Try visiting New Orleans or Atlanta or Charlotte, or LA, before being so ready to dismiss what you don't know. America isn't one culture, any more than it's one race. We're a nation of mutts. THAT is what makes us strong. It doesn't weaken us to accept the cultures that make us whole.
I AM going to celebrate having our first black President because, among all the other things worthy of celebrating (his intelligence, his capacity to reach all sorts of people and get them motivated, and so on), it's a sign we're moving ahead again as a country. It means the concept of equality just got a huge boost. It means black kids will have role models OTHER than sports stars. It means we're growing up as a culture, that we're not just a white-plus-some-others society, like we've been for my whole life.
Some day race won't automatically suggest a divide. That day isn't anywhere nearby, as evidenced by the throngs of bigoted crazies that followed Sarah Palin to every rally. Until that day comes, we've all got to work to break that divide down. So I am going to celebrate something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.
You really, really need to get out of the Midwest, man.
YES
I know about the origins of rock. I don't think that prejudices against WOPs is as bad as racial slur of your choice. I appreciate and understand that America is not one culture, and is indeed a melting pot. Why did you bring up the music point? Even if I hadn't known about it, what did you think you were educating me on? I'm not trying to be smart—I just want to know what I came across as. What was I dismissing?
Have some faith that our president isn't a dumbass and knows how to keep himself safe. Obama had a Secret Service detail earlier than any other candidate.
You don't know anything about Biden? Biden is considered one of the lions of the Senate. He is the youngest man ever elected to the Senate, and he's been in the Senate ever since. Everyone who follows politics knows plenty about Biden, He's about as safe and vetted a moderate Democrat as has ever lived.
But I think we're gonna make it. :D
Claws up!
PG }:8>