Obama 08 - Written 9/24/08
If Doc can sympathize with the self-educated Jude Fawley and his common-man character in the strict Victorian era, I sure as hell can sympathize with a former president of the Harvard Law Review, a half-black man who has dedicated his life to improve his country, a son of a single mother who is losing an opportunity at a dream because of his middle name.
In the Daily News recently, in classic Northeast Philadelphia fashion, a local resident was quoted as saying something to the effect of (and I paraphrase fairly accurately), “How could I vote for somebody with the middle name ‘Hussein’?” Impressive backward thinking, my fellow American.
I’m amazed, baffled, and embarrassed by the divide between the Democrats and Republicans in what seems like a “make-or-break” election following the disaster that was “43.” After seeing absolute devastation caused overseas by basic and truly imprudent thinking, half of our country feels comfortable with a party who feels one word answers such as “bomb,” “drill,” and “victory” will be sufficient strategies for the shape of our country. While, on the other side, a brilliant and capable man is being so maligned that a good portion of our country truly believes him to be Muslim, a lie so far from the truth that from the outside it’s comical. Unfortunately we’re on the inside.
As a 17-year old I probably have no grounds to say this, but then again most 17-year olds aren’t as inherently confident in their own view of the country and their history as Tim Vernon is (notice the third-person). Has anybody since Bobby Kennedy inspired the same utter giddiness and enthusiasm among the younger generation that Barack Obama has in 2008? Has anyone even come close?
I’m no Kendall Mattern and I’m not trying to say Barack Obama is any sort of savior, but when an educated American surrounds himself with educated people and arouses a whole sector of society that has laid dormant at the polls for decades, I’ve got to say this man is the one for me.