Virgo
There is a side of me that deeply believes we can all live in peace, that people from different backgrounds can work side by side for a better world and that we all can rise above hate and embrace loving each other.
From day one, Obama has me hooked on his vision and leadership. Every time I remind myself that he is an imperfect man in an imperfect world, he gives us a speech that directly targets that idealist side of me.
I almost can recite lines from his speech on race which once again forced all of us to look at race relations in America. Even his slogan, "Yes We Can," moves me every time I hear a frenzied crowd chanting it.
Yes, I know they're just words, and substance is needed, but actually at this time in our history I think we could use a good dose of healthy empowering words. Gandhi said that we have to value our words as much as our actions and no better case presents itself as an example of that belief than the campaign of Barack Obama.
In his amazing Berlin speech before well over 200,000 people, the man did it to me again. I started getting excited about believing again. Despite my best efforts to be dispassionate, I found that Obama drew me into this bubble of hope, vision, working together and ending hate and discrimination. "This our moment, This is our world."
I was near tears because how long over the last eight years have I yearned to hear the words of hope again? How long has it been since we have seen Europeans cheer and reach to touch an American politician?
COMMENTS (2)
RATE THIS STORY
There are reports today that Vanessa Hudgens has been...
I thought covering the Democratic National Convention in my hometown would be a breeze....
Comments
Re: Obama In Berlin: Damn Him!
By Its Amber, August 2, 2008 at 18:34David, I loved your article. Don't feel bad about feeling good. There's a reason he restores our hope and faith that we are near tears. We have been without it for so long. I know how you feel. I'm in the same boat as you. Great to read such a courageous article.
Re: Obama In Berlin: Damn Him!
By johnhatch, July 26, 2008 at 13:07If II were you I wouldn't be too quick to lose myself in hope over Obama. This is the quick change artist who just voted to continue spying on Americans and who joined the Decider in giving the big Telecoms retroactive immunity for breaking the law.
This is the guy who just knelt down in front of Israel and said in effect that he supports their sixty-year holocaust against the Palestinians. He supports Israel's 'Right of Refusal' to allow expelled people to return to their homes and lands. He thinks it's ok that Israel tortures Palestinians just as Americans torture Iraqis.
Mr. Obama has so obfuscated his position on Iraq that it's impossible to know his intentions, if he has any. He does want to send more troops to Afghanistan, having learned nothing from the Russian or previous British experience. That one is all about oil also, in this case a trans-national pipeline. Incidentally, poppy growth is now at an all-time high, where it will remain. The warlords and the CIA want it that way. Mr Obama has joined all the other hysterical screamers regarding Iran, forgetting that if it weren't for American meddling (oil again) in 1953, things would likely have been quite different. Here's a nation which indulged in massive war crimes in dropping two atomic bombs, preaching to a nation that has none, but that has a right to self-defense. America is threatening the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons. And Obama agrees. What could be crazier or more immoral than that? Or the massive 'defense' budget when so many Americans are hungry, homeless, sick and ill-educated?
Finally, Mr. Obama has made it clear that bringing the criminals in the Bush Administration to justice is not a priority. Never mind spying, kidnapping, torture, murder, two bogus wars (with perhaps 1.2 million real victims). And he won't deal with the other huge elephant in the room, 9/11, which becomes clearer every day as an inside job.
Mr. Obama speaks a lot better than Mr. Bush and that's a good thing, but words are only words. Real change can be promised, but it can't be delivered in a broken and corrupt system.
And do you know what? Even Robert Kennedy wasn't Robert Kennedy. He was a myth.
Yes, damn Obama. He's just George Bush with a college vocabulary. That's all that's allowed in modern America. Myth and illusion, while the madness goes on and on.