Finally, the time has come for me to write about this presidential contest. The reason I feel this way first is because after viewing the first presidential debate it provoked me to comment. The second reason I am writing is more about the way and place I was raised. My father was a precinct captain in a place where African American precinct captains carried little weight, but not only was he a captain but a state democratic delegate for West Virginia. Last night, while watching Obama exchange verbal punches with McCain my heart was proud. I see he has come a long way since the debates with Clinton. Obama cut his teeth in the debate arena with Clinton and has learned from his short-comings which is what an intelligent person does. Now granted I watched the debate pulling for the candidate I support, but McCain struck me as being annoyed, acting as if any verbal exchange with Obama left a nasty taste in his mouth. That hit me as odd, this was odd because McCain has seemed "impish" and easily approachable while last night he seemed pissed and in a why am I debating with you type of mode. I loved it when Obama spoke directly, clearly and precisely.
One thing is really bothering me, a lot of media folks are stating that Obama has a problem connecting with the American people, how in the hell is that possible based on the size of crowds he draws. I was unable to witness this up close when he came to Charlotte, but one issue came to light when he was here. There was an elderly African American woman who was in the crowd and she calmly called out for Obama, he walked over and greeted her. This lady shared her story with him and he connected with her. Her story in essence was her husband who died recently wanted to hang on long enough to see Obama walk into the White House as the President and more directly the first African American President. She will carry that image with her when she see her husband again in the after life. I can relate to this story because as mentioned above my father, who has passed away would have been carrying the Obama poster. I guarantee you the poster would have been in his yard and each conversation would lead to politics. Another thing that is strange is listening to the media say things like he is "aloof, too-cool, above it all and finally elitist." Let me begin this by saying "ain't" no damn way we as African Americans can be considered elite. We have come a long way granted I know we have, (I am 48 years old, integrated an elementary school, viewed movies on the second level because we were not allowed to sit on the lower level, payed money to ride a bus only to be told to ride in the back of the bus) but elite status hell no, will we get to elite status, hell yeah , are we there yet, I don't think so. This man, speaking about Obama being raised in different areas, (by the way, in case some folks have it twisted, is the damn American dream) had to come to terms with his heritage, brings this ability to rise above the mess and deal with the issues. What does the media expect, does he need to start slinging obscenities, would that make him somehow okay on an African American level, please help me understand. One thing I know if cursing will help, let me do the cursing for him. Obama needs to appeal to folks across the board, while his race is important, that alone will not get him elected and he knew that early in the game.
Well let me wrap it up, I will be posting more as we get closer to the end of this race. I will definitely be back next Thursday after the Vice Presidential debate. I just hope Biden does what he needs to do, and be careful because beating up on Palin would be the same as beating up on a drunk. You may win, but it will not help.
Until next week folks!!
