Refreshing

That's exactly what I like about Obama: he talks at you instead of over your head, and it's that directness that is so endearing. No, we've not seen his like in many years. Still, no matter who's elected as prez, that person will be articulate compared to the current prez.

And yet, and yet....

There are still those nagging questions - not about 'his' intellect; but about whether or not he is as 'bought and paid for' as every other politician of the current crop.

Somehow, the politics of 'hope' does seem appropriate and many Americans need a bit of that today.

However, with hope comes expectation.

And there’s the rub, so compromised, indebted, unrealistic and in thrall to power and commerce is the American political system that one wonders exactly how the almost-inevitable dashing of many of those ‘hopes’ will affect the electorate when they come crashing into the hard resistance of reality.

And yet (more)....

...if he turns out to be the intellectual, capable of great oratory, that he appears to be, the power brokers that buy and pay may gravitate to his cause. The question then becomes whether he can control them, or they him.

They appear to need him more then he does them, especially if he is able to rise above the muck thrown at him, like he did to some extent with the 'race speech'.

All Obama is likely to be is

All Obama is likely to be is a step in the right direction. Choosing him is merely a sign that Americans are willing to begin to change from the truly disgusting direction they've habitually taken. Their society is largely a myth built on outright slave and wage slave labor. Very few Americans want to acknowledge that truth about themselves. But they really need to now, given their current economic circumstances.

Although what has amazed me about the furor over Obama's pastor Rev. Wright is just how profoundly racist the US still is. Sure I've seen it up close and personal on an individual level. But the news coverage is full to the brim with denial and condemnation for Wright's admittedly incendiary articulation of some very simple truths about the United States.

Obama is right that dialog is best achieved by acknowledging everyone's grievances, even those of racist whites, at least as a starting point. But the colossal level of American denial truly has an awesome quality to it. It seems to sit in the American psyche like some great mountainous leviathan.

At least with Obama, I think there is a chance of a softer landing for America and the world. But if Americans go in another direction.... well we're all in for a long and potentially terrible ride as the US suffers serious economic and military contraction, and potentially even collapse. As a nation they have so much potential to do real good, is just so sad that they, and particularly their elites, choose not to. What a waste.

Breaking the Rules

I think when it comes to oratory it is Reverend Wright who breaks all the rules....because he dares to speak the truth. Not an easy thing to do these days. And a dangerous truth he dares to tell....a sacrilege to the free market religion which is America.

For his sins, for the "depth" and "daring"in his oratory, Wright was reduced to "an endearing uncle" by Obama...who says "funny things now and then." Wright is in fact a dedicated and compassionate activist, a scholar who speaks five languages. He knows exactly what he is saying. And good on him for saying it.

It was more than just race he was talking about. But by trying to make his speech solely about race America has created a distraction ( served up nicely by Obama as well).... a distraction from the larger issue which is oppression - specifically the oppression of the US military-industrial complex. Oppression through free market/"democratic" forces that have enslaved America's and the world's poor. The slavery of the American power system. And no thing of the past. But alive and breeding across the globe.

But nobody, not even Obama wants to talk about this. He, in fact, condemned Wright's so-called "inflammatory" words in this regard.

Inflammatory? Or brave and true? Wright is taking the ultimate moral stand. For real change. And America cannot even fathom what he is really saying....it is so blasphemous to their America the Good insular view of itself. A painful shot across the bow of the patriotic conceit of America.

And that is what bothers me about how Obama condemned the truth of what his pastor was saying...as if it was a view from the past...a sixties revivalist view of a lovable but fading radical. He chose to diminish the words of Reverend Wright. To diminish his pastor's powerfully charged words of change. When clearly the world has never been more endangered by American imperialism than now. And America itself has only to look to New Orleans to see that Wright's message is as timely and as significant as ever. And never more needed to be said as now.

My vote would go to Wright over Obama any day. He is doing what any responsible moral leader in a country should be doing, questioning the status quo. In this case a very dangerous and threatening status quo.

To question, what a novel thing.

It is where Reverend Wright is courageously right and where Obama in his compromising Man For All Seasons role, displays a fundamental weakness, I think at least. And yeah, I know I am in a very small minority for daring to question Obama in any regard.

But isn't that what a real democracy is all about?

I'll take the way Wright breaks the rules over the way Obama does any day.

Obama's writing income

CNN has reported an interesting item about Obama's income (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/25/obama.tax.returns/index.html):

According to the 2006 return, Obama and his wife, Michelle, earned over $991,000 in 2006 and paid $277,431 on the income.

More than half of the couple's income in 2006 -- nearly $507,000 -- came from royalties from his two books, "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams From My Father." In 2005, Obama earned over $1,210,000 from royalties, according to the couple's returns that year.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments here.

Sounds good but...

It is one thing to say something clear and concise and quite another thing to just say something that sounds good. Lots of politicians can sound good without saying anything clear or meaningful. The devil is always in the details.

Obamania justified

Obama in office MIGHT fall prey to all the usual pressures. But maybe not. On the other hand, we KNOW that Clinton and McCain would obey the dictates of the military-industrial complex. I hope Obama survives to (and through) the election.

frank2

That is a leap of faith that is neither justified nor prudent. I will retain a lot of caution as with any bandwagon effect the proponents are usually headed for a major let down.

Read two books. Greg Palast's "Armed Madhouse" and Linda McQuaid's "It's The Crude Dude" and you will see that Obama alone not going to be able to do much to change the U.S. system which is totally corrupt. Without a major change in U.S. foreign policy, one that will create major economic pain for the U.S. in the short term, Obama will have the war hanging around his neck during his term. Once pain starts and Yankee hubris must be controlled, Obama will prove to be just another former President like all the others.

I prefer a dose of cold reality. Nothing is so imprudent as having faith in a politician.