I Am America

When I first heard Barack Obama speak, it was his "Yes We Can" speech. I was very impressed. It was clear he was trotting out a well-worn theme of change, tried on by very nearly every candidate for office before him. But, I kept my skepticism from turning into cynicism and decided to keep an open mind.

Between now and then, I've watched with interest and occasional fascination at this phenomenon. I don't mean the man, I mean the movement. At first, it was just a cadre of followers like any other politician will have. But I started noticing a specific energy to it all. There was an unmistakable skip in the step that was the Obama message. I watched it spread and grow, penetrating lands and towns I didn't think it could. I watched people I didn't think would, did.

Then the darkness started coming. The expected wave of smears typical of low-road dialogue. Like a wet blanket it started to lay over everything, smothering and disenchanting. Doubts were stirred, questions asked and re-asked in different ways. Revelations of this, discoveries of that. The noise level started getting significant.

My first sign that this movement had some legitimacy was the noise level. It started getting loud, significantly loud and more so than previous smear attacks. Obama's character was getting assaulted for sure, but not just that but a downright meanness crept into the dialogue. Insinuations of his being a corrupt liar or even willing to aid and abet terrorists. Then came the armchair political science minors, with their allegations of his being a socialist and a communist. Never mind the real definition of these ideologies, off with the commie's head!

Then came the worst. "I tried to find him on TV last night but all I found was a big gorilla in a suit." "How will they tell between the first family and the cooks?" It became "obvious" to some that his admission to Harvard, his becoming the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, and his becoming a law professor were all due to affirmative action. And of course, the veiled (and not so veiled) threats of hate crimes too unspeakable to relay here.

Then the night came for him to speak. The detractors were circling like buzzards, typically with nothing but baseless and vacuous noise - but noise nonetheless. Allegations of arrogance because of the set. Expectations of overt grandeur with "nothing real" as content. Mocking that "the prompter better be there tonight."

Then he took the stage. He graciously thanked a variety of people, told us America has always been a great place and then listed some central grievances that exist today. He said, "America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this."

He graciously thanked McCain for his service, then trundled on in to an effective several minutes of debasing the opposing Senator blow by blow to ultimately conclude that McCain cares - but doesn't get it. He indicated the failures of the Bush administration, implicating McCain along the way, and pointed out that we are not a "nation of whiners" as McCain's economic plan author Gramm said some months ago.

Barack went on to illustrate his roots, grounded in things hard-working and all-American; his grandfather, grandmother, mother and those he worked with on the south side of Chicago. He capped it by saying, "Now, I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes." McCain could consider himself cut down a notch right then and there, and rightfully so.

He then began to spell out the American dream. He did it in color, but most importantly he did it in a way that made it clear that this was a participatory dream, not one that his handed over or taken lazily.

"It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work. That's the promise of America -- the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper."

Barack then provided a punchlist of policy highlights, ranging from taxes to energy. Some were ambitious, but he pointed out that "now is not the time for small plans." I had to agree. He even threw in some fiscal responsibility to keep the bean counting detractors busy; the rest of us know that good ideas cost and it's whether we're willing to pay.

But then came the real speech.

"Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children.

"Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility -- that's the essence of America's promise."

I was listening closely.

He called out McCain decisively on debating who has the temperament and judgement to be the next commander in chief. He made no bones about it. Here was some fight. "You know, John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell -- but he won't even go to the cave where he lives."

Then came cold, hard facts, easily validated by anyone who is aware of the American experience both past and present. "We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans -- have built..."

Then the ultimate hat in the ring came. "what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and each other's patriotism." Yes, indeed. Bring that noise down and bring the real arguments.

And finally the fatal blow. The shot heard from Los Angeles to Bangor. The game changer.

"So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America -- they have served the United States of America.

"So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first."

You see, once and for all, Obama changed the conversation. Someone needed to do it, but who would emerge as the one to take the leadership? Obama did. With this one fell swoop, all the dialogue that had stacked, all the worthless noise from "terrorist" to "muslim" to "unpatriotic" to "america hater" and to any given racial slur came tumbling down, exposing from here forward any of those who maintain that line as dishonorable and left behind.

It takes leadership to do that. And then he did it again.

"I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

"You make a big election about small things."

And then the money shot: "What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's about you."

When Obama said that, you could all but feel an awakening spread across the horizon. Some distant sense stirred, some instinct that had become long-buried by loss after loss domestic and abroad, by failed politics, by refusals for diplomacy, by lies and distortions, by irresponsibility bordering on negligence. This instinct was what I had years ago known as "I will do this."

I barely know what Obama said after that. I was immediately occupied with the realization that up until this very moment, I had approached the election the same way I had approached the government for some years now - with a demanding "what will you do about it" attitude. Before I had devolved to that level, it used to be "why can't we seem to do anything about this?" and before that was "what are we going to do about this?"

But before even that, before all of it, back when I was younger and less afraid of life, it was "I will do this." Back when I only knew two things - find something good and apply yourself to it. I didn't understand many things, but I understood these two fundamentals that operate only in harmony and never alone. They are what brought me years forward to a prosperous family.

Obama was finishing his speech, and I was enveloped with "I will do this." I realized that my apathy, my cynicism that I didn't even realize was dwelling within like a parasite was all falling away. Exposed and betrayed for the facade that it was.

You see, it winds up that I'm America. I always was. I always will be. So long as I'm here and breathing, I am the United States of America. And so are you. Each of us is America. So I say no to the apathetic, who have hammered "change" into the ground like a noisy plank on a hardwood floor. I say no to the naysayers, who replace susbtance with volume. I say no to the cynics, who are repulsed by and inspired to attack at anything that even hints at a positive promise.

I absolutely believe Obama. Not because he is amazing, not because I'm "blinded by the messiah." I believe he is right about ME. I believe my actions can make a big difference. I believe I am able to change the world around me. I believe I can do anything I want if I want it bad enough.

Great leaders are the ones that make you realize or remind you of your strength, not that they are the strong one. So it winds up that this November I'm not voting for Obama, nor am I voting against McCain.

I'm voting for ME, and I'm voting against all that is apathetic and cynical. All that is baseless, useless and negative for the sake of being negative. Thank you Barack Obama. Oh, and America? I'm back.

Can Repub's State Their Case Without Mentioning the Dem's?

John McCain has a lot of explaining to do. He needs to help us all understand why we should elect another Republican president after at least six solid years of Republican control has caused so many problems.

We went to war to retaliate against the terrorists who attacked us, but in seven years we haven't captured Osama Bin Laden and we haven't been able to bring Al Qaeda to it's knees in Afghanistan. Instead, the Bush administration decided Iraq was more important. One by one, the reasons we attacked Iraq have fallen down - there were never WMD's, there was never an Al Qaeda presence, Saddam Hussein was NOT corroborating with or assisting Al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein was no more a threat to the United States than any other lunatic dictator, and we are NOT spreading Democracy and Freedom to a region that culturally can't even interpret that the same way America does.

Our economy is suffering under the weight of skyrocketing energy prices, the subsequent domino effect into food and other costs, and a credit crisis. If I and my neighbors could tell that unacceptable and fraudulent lending practices were taking place (because I was mailed and called with them CONSTANTLY), then why couldn't the administration tell? Where were they on this? Nowhere. Instead, we had to come up with HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS to bail it all out (thanks again, China).

Health care has been an increasing problem for at least 20 years. For the last 6 of those, what did we do about it? Apparently nothing. In that time, I personally watched two single-income, middle class families with kids get completely wiped out. It was so horrible to watch, it struck fear in me and makes me want to vomit just thinking about it. I and other families tried to help them, but it was too much. The one family suddenly went from being able to pay a couple hundred bucks a month on medical to owing $170,000 or more. They lost their retirement, their kids college and their (*)(*)(*)(*)DED HOUSE. According to the AARP, 1.85 million Americans go bankrupt each year due to medical costs. I am afraid for my family, because clearly my hard work will amount to nothing if one of us gets sick (God forbid).

Energy, for God's sake, energy. We've had technologies to replace the reliance on oil for decades, DECADES. No investment to level out the costs and make them competitive, no significant government backing to bring these to the table in a truly viable and widespread way. Meanwhile, we sit and watch as oil hammers on the environment, rises in cost due to being an unsustainable model, and drive our foreign policy into ditch after ditch. Where was the Bush administration's leadership on this? I'll tell you where - they were in Iraq, destabilizing the region AGAIN so that we can pay through the nose. And if I knew that China and India were on a massive consumption horizon and I knew this back in the late nineties, what excuse do the Republicans have for their lack of leadership on this? They had nearly eight years. WHERE ARE WE? And to think McCain's energy plan puts nuclear power and more oil drilling at the forefront! You'll forgive me if I'm NO LONGER INTERESTED in the only two energy sources that screw up my kids' future.

The Republican party has a lot of explaining to do. Their candidate says he doesn't understand the economy, he thinks the fundamentals of the economy are strong right now, his former economics mentor (gramm) was of the belief that the recession was "in our heads," and he thinks the middle class goes up to $5 million/year in income. I realize some of these are gaffes, but PEOPLE - where's the Republicans argument to get us out of this to replace these gaffes? Do they not realize that the economy is the #1 issue in the country right now (Gallup)?

It's high time they shut down the BS machine and start talking for real about what they're going to do for the U.S. of A. As far as I'm concerned, they have wasted precious time. To be quite frank, I am INSULTED that they see fit to wither away my days with "media bias" and "the messiah" and "paris and britney" and "celebrity" while MY FAMILY IS AFRAID, MY AMERICAN NEIGHBORS ARE SUFFERING, and my FRIENDS ARE DYING IN IRAQ. How DARE they take my time with such things.

I'm not only open to hearing what they will do, I'm BEGGING to hear it. I hear it loud and clear from the Democrats.

I'm here to pick the team that will keep this thing called the American Dream from dying on the vine and becoming the trite saying it's in danger of becoming.

I'm here to speak for my wife who agonizes over our lives and our money.

I'm here to speak for my Mom that I have to take care of after she had her stroke last year.

I'm here to speak for my son and daughter because they're not old enough to defend themselves against the checks being written right now that they will have to cash in 30 and 40 years.

I'm here to speak for my brother in the Air Force, my friend in the Army, my friend in the Navy, my friend in Marines, my friend in the CIA, and my father-in-law who fought served in Vietnam.

I'm here to speak for my neighbors, AMERICANS every one of them. Who I would help but don't have enough myself to make the difference. Who ask me why these things are happening and what we can do about them.

I've always believed it's a good idea to swap parties every once in a while, and keep one party in office with the other party in congress; I see this as a necessary balance and I see the last 8 years as the result of imbalance. But I'm willing to listen before I pull the trigger on a Dem president and Republicans in congress.

So, can anyone tell me about the Republican argument? State the Republican case? I'm not interested WHATSOEVER in what Republicans have to say about the Democrats or Obama, just as much as I don't listen to Dems about Republicans. I watch what is happening around me and I make up my mind. So can anyone present me the Republican argument - standalone and without mentioning the Democrats?

A 300-Degree Compass

The Lives of Others is a remarkable movie. I had the good fortune of stumbling upon it late tonight. It was nothing short of hypnotic for me, a tale of 1980's East German oppression distilled of any virulent strains of naivete regarding the reality of it. In fact, I find it wholly impractical to call this a "movie," rather it is a sincere, genuine and essential story told fictionally and applied to the screen too successfully to bear such a label.

I'm finding more and more talk on the Internet about how Barack Obama is a "socialist." Those labeling him as such don't seem to understand the term. One person mentioned that they are confused as to how so many European democracies can be socialist. Confused indeed.

I find this sort of political discourse so pathetically ill-informed, so ... distorted. It's bad enough to not understand how the world around you works, but to layer upon that a blanket of supposing one does is just plain useless. Nay, dangerous. Of course, most anyone who is convinced by these allegations from the ether would have probably drawn the same conclusions on their own because only one so impressionable and devoid of motivation to be informed would be attracted to such "information" and willing to pass it on as fact.

But this story, The Lives of Others, so deftly puts into focus where my heart should be with all this. Are these accusations of Obama being a "socialist" merely the ramblings of right-wing extremists who subscribe more fully (but without knowing) to fascism and militarism? Yes. But more importantly, they are an essential component in American discourse.

The Lives of Others is a vivid reminder that there was a place somewhere (not the first, not the last) where the state monitored and restricted expression carefully and methodically. The state conducted surveillance on artists, writers, pastors and activists. Why? What do all these have in common? Because ideas are dangerous to a state that pretends to provide for the people.

To those who allege Barack Obama is a socialist, I say play on. Run your mouth for all it's worth. Write and call in to the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Savage. I'd sooner listen to such drivel and know better any day of my life than live in 1980's Germany and watch critical discourse - all manner of it - die on a vine. I'll rail against it in my own way, sometimes quiet and sometimes indignant. But either way, The Lives of Others has reminded me that sometimes the most outlandish, the most inappropriate and the most off-the-mark opinions are critical to the environment of truth and justice, as necessary an ingredient as the rest. After all, without all being exposed there can never be a clear and total comparisons drawn, no honest rationale for or against anything. It would be as though trying to find one's way with a 300-degree compass.