Thursday, January 31, 2008

Obama Versus Hillary

Our nation has experienced what feels like irreparable injury from over a decade of Right Wing Cronyism. On the domestic front, poverty has increased, education has been mishandled, civil liberties have been stripped, and the concept of patriotism has been perverted. Further, America's standing in the world as an economic power and as a moral authority has all but collapsed as we've waged a war that was not our place to wage and operated that war in a manner that is not only incompetent but shows basic contempt for true democratic values and human rights. The war in Iraq has not only overshadowed our moral authority, it has overshadowed our ability to address very real human rights violations in places like Darfur, Congo, Uganda, and Burma.

As the EU and China become bigger players in the world, the US has been fading away as it's been ruled by a small group of privileged people who can't even agree that global warming is an imminent threat and that evolution is a fact of life.

I look to people like FDR who have not only had the right policies to pull our nation out of despair, but whose policies were part of a larger vision and who had the ability to articulate that vision in a way that made us want to be better Americans and better people. MLK and JFK were similar. They were fresh voices who could articulate their brilliant ideals with soaring rhetoric to make us all want to be better than we are and to remind us that hope was not lost.

In these desperate times,a progressive grassroots infrastructure has emerged that is ready for a progressive president who will inspire us to do more to build this movement. That person is Barack Obama.

No one can speak to this entire country like he can. No one can speak to the entire world like he can. Here is a chance to have a leader who will make us excited to be Americans. Who will make us proud to ask what we can do for our country. Who will show our world that is mainly made up of people of color, that the US represents all colors and races. This will provide hope to every person of color in this country. It will be a sign of victory of a long struggle that has been happening in the US since its founding...before it's founding.

Barack Obama represents something new. Something better. Something higher in all of us. This is what we need in a president.

In comparison, Hillary Clinton comes off as someone so hungry to win at all costs, someone uninspiring. The current primary is like a choice between a stern high school librarian who needs to force herself just to smile and be human, and the President of the United States.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Dowding Thomas

That's a pretty stupid name for a blog post about my doubting Maureen Dowd, but here I am doing it. Maureen Dowd. She seems to think that the political arena should be treated the way People Magazine covers celebrity gossip. So is this dumbing down American politics? That's a tough question, but I think I'm going to go with yes. Yes it fucking is.

Montel Williams

Not only is he leaving being a talk show host, but apparently Montel Williams spent 20 years in the military and won medals for being part of the invasion of Grenada. I respect that Montel served in the military, but the invasion of Grenada? That shit is sketched out.

Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one: “’What do you call a mainstream media that does not seem to think the invasion of Grenada was shameful and abhorrent?’ Give up! The US mainstream media, silly!”

And you want to know why the US media does not consider the invasion of Grenada as shameful and abhorrent? The same reason why the mascot at many US Catholic colleges is “The Crusader.”

They say the victors write history. “They” are correct.