James Opiko asked: “Obama biro, yawne yo!” (Obama is coming, clear the way)—Tens of thousands of cheering Luo “Tribesmen” and ululating women screamed as they welcomed Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) back to his father’s ancestral land—Nyangoma Kogelo village in Luo Land, Western Kenya, several weeks ago.
In a matter of hours Obama had soared to unprecedented political prominence in Kenya, eclipsing a bunch of corrupt and heartless nincompoops—The (Mt. Kenya Mafia), who are ruthlessly grinding beautiful Kenya to the ground.
The only difference between the Mt. Kenya Mafia and the current U.S. Republican administration, is that the former have brought Kenya down to it’s “Economic Knees,” while it’s virtually impossible for George Bush’s government to bring down the mighty economy of the United States, no matter how much they misappropriate it’s coffers by way of inflated Iraq reconstruction contracts or Katrina FEMA trailers. Otherwise both groups employ similar schemes – exploiting and manipulating ethnic (racial) intolerance and promoting rampant corruption—a bunch of “cold-blooded” louts.
The six year cesspool of a mess presided over by the Bush administration might not be in vain after all. It has made America hungry for a messenger with a message of hope.
In the NBC “Meet The Press” interview of Sunday 22nd October, I watched Senator Obama intimate that—based on the responses he has been receiving across the country, he is considering running for the presidency of The United States in 2008.
What impressed me most about him is how he tackled the question regarding his previous assertion in 2004—that he would complete his six year Senate term and not run for President in 2008: “I have thought about the possibility, but I have not thought about it with the seriousness and depth I think is required,” Obama said. “My main focus is on 2006, and making sure that we re-take the Congress. After November 7th, I will sit down and consider it.”
Unlike the shifty, programmed, and selfishly partisan politicians I am used to watching on Sunday morning political TV, Barack Obama countered Tim Russert’s questions with poise, spontaneity and most important, he seemed very genuine.
In a political system muddied and tainted by arrogance, corruption and incompetence, watching and listening to Obama is inordinately refreshing.
In Obama I see an intelligent and capable man, unlike the current President who constantly reminds me of an unprepared and confused “open book, open notes” exam taker, badly rehearsed and totally incapable of articulating his views without the stewardship of his father’s cronies, Karl Rove his “Political Architect” and a bone breaking conglomeration of “Hyena” special interest groups.
Obama’s apparent good human qualities added to the fact that he is a great American story, makes the Senator a very attractive prospect for the ultimate prize in politics—The Presidency of The United States.
Is Obama Presidential material?
Many cite his lack of political experience, claiming his resume is too thin for a run at the Presidency. I disagree and here is why:
1. Unlike other black leaders, Obama doesn’t grind “white noses” in Racism, and at the same time he is a symbol of hope to millions of dis-affected blacks and other minorities.
Judging by his Senatorial election win of a 70% majority, Obama has proven that he is a very powerful vote magnet across racial lines. He has established an “inclusive” track record that would be vital in a presidential election if he decides to run. His candidacy would draw out millions of dormant black voters thus making the Democratic candidacy more viable.
On the flipside, we all know that there are some whites such as the right wing gutter constituents of con-man Rush Limbaugh, who will forever embrace Racism and will never accept a black president. A President Obama would mark the beginning of the placement this irritant breed to the fringes of political obscurity.
2. He is NOT a bumbling idiot, appears humble and has not been tainted with partisan politics. Perhaps even more important is that he is a confident intellectual, which I think is a necessary pre-requisite for handling the complex issues of the highest political office in the world.
3. The last Republican President who had some smarts was the foul-mouthed bigot—Richard Milhouse Nixon, who engineered his own downfall with a lethal concoction of homophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-black and “Communist Paranoia.” As a matter of fact Nixon’s political career spanned three decades of scare mongering, witch-hunts and dirty tricks, the same tactics that have been successfully deployed by the current administration over the last six years.
All others after him have been bumbling buffoons with slight exceptions in George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
Reagan the Serial Liar who made Americans feel good about themselves, was not only ill informed but partially senile towards the end of his second term – not particularly smart, but a great “Political Actor,” whose major achievements included presiding over the disintegration of the Soviet Empire (which was inevitable anyway), misuse of the World Bank and funding of CIA death squads to safeguard the corporate thievery by US multinational companies in Latin American countries…. and the worst in my opinion; propping the racist Apartheid regime in South Africa.
The “Great Communicator” was just another Republican crook!
Bill Clinton and John Kennedy did not have that much experience. Abraham Lincoln ran after two years in the House, Woodrow Wilson after two years as governor, and Franklin D. Roosevelt & Jimmy Carter after four years as governor.
Perhaps Dr. Martin Luther King summed it up best in his “The Drum Major Instinct” sermon delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, February 4, 1968 – He said: “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve…. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant,” qualities that are thoroughly lacking in the Republican base – the “self-chosen” people of “Faith.”
If the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton, a very polarizing Democrat, the Republican smear spigots will spill out of control and flood the whole country to an extent that the Katrina calamity will look like a storm in a teacup. On the other hand, an Obama nomination would fuel vicious racial and below the belt “Nyangau” attacks from the right wing, like the slime being spewed by Republican troglodytes against black Democrat Harold Ford Jr. in the Tennessee, or by incumbent Senator George “Macaca” Allen in Virginia.
I wonder if Senator Obama has the stomach for such personal and racist attacks—a GOP staple!
Colin Powell assessed these circumstances in 2000 and chickened out, and subsequently dimmed his star serving in this ham-fisted administration for four years before being pushed out in favor of “yes-woman” Condoleezza Rice. It is rumored that he feared political assassination.
Will Obama follow through or is his potential candidacy just hype?
It is time for America to put it’s Racist legacy behind it, to re-assess its future, and take a closer look at this rising star, for I think Barack Obama is ready—to cleanse the “maligned” soul of America.
Kitchen Decor Themes
