Dreams From My Father

The best birthday present I got this year was from my mother-in-law. It was Barrack Obama's first book, Dream From My Father. He wrote this book in 1995 after becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
This book is very special because it was written before Barrack became a politician, so lots of what he writes about is stuff he would probably never ever admit publicly today had he not already penned it and published it.
I started reading it a few night ago. I don't read many books, even though I thoroughly enjoy doing it. So getting off my butt and picking the book up took some will power on my part to begin, but the momentum is on now.
The story centers around a young man with a black father and a white mother. His dad is pretty much out of the picture short of the epic tails his parents and grand parents tell him. He remains sort of a mythical and mystical character for much of Barrack's life. Being visually perceived as a black person, he is treated as such, even though when he goes home, and to family reunions, and other events he is surrounded by white people and white culture. Sharing his frustration with prejudice with his other black friends, he is stuck in a conundrum of a confused identity and place in a racist country.
The book is a great window into race problems as they where, as they are, and as they are perceived by minorities. I grew up in a town predominantly uneducated, poor and largely racist black people. The white population had various degrees of education and wealth, but was also predominantly racist. I have experienced racism against me, and against other black first hand and is something I think about often. The chance to have a look at the unique perspective Barrack offers a golden opportunity for those of us who care about race relations.
The other things that makes this book a real gem is that through it all he has become our nations first black president. From the feeling of hopelessness that he felt as a young man, to being granted the most powerful position in the world by the very country that once treated him unfairly is an amazing story.
It would be great if we could have this kind of story out of all of our presidents. A glimpse of the world as they viewed it growing up, written before the censor the politics forces one to put on their own story.
What sorts of problems plagued George Bush I & II, Clinton and Reagan as they grew up? How did their specific experiences influence their politics and outlook on the country and world. What sort of mistakes did they make that as politicians they could not admit to now? The ability to have these answers is an opportunity that no American should pass, regardless of their support for Obama or his policies.

Stem Cells, Ethics, and Ideals

Since Obama signed an executive order ending Bush's executive order that denies federal dollars for stem cell research on human embryos, the debate about stem cell research has hit the news again.

On thing I am noticing is how each side is careful to articulate their point. On the anti-stem cell side, the word "ethics" is thrown out there. Scientific research must fall within acceptable ethical boundaries. Destroying human life for the sake of scientific research is unethical, even if that research could lead to cures for many horrible illnesses.

On the pro-stem cell research side the word thrown around is "ideals." They argue that scientists don't study ideals, they study facts. Ideals are for politicians, not scientists.

I expect we will be hearing a lot more on this front. I also suspect that those opposing stem cell research will find themselves on the losing end of this battle.

Relating to the conservatives

Image from flickr.comIn the wake of the Obama victory the far right is really reeling in pain right about now. They feel that The USA has been played for the fool. The fear that terrorism, Satan and Karl Marx have jointly achieved a large victory.
On Tuesday The United States of America rejected fear, divisiveness, prejudice, and the status-quo. There seems to be a recognition by most that the time is now for our country to move forward in making important decisions that will determine our place in an increasingly globalized world. There is little doubt that our international stance is slipping fast (Bush openly rejected raising our stance in the international world in the 2004 debates) and that our current policies will only make it worse.
So in light of the major victory that we have gained by electing Obama it is easy to criticise and attack those who are scared by this new presidency. I think I may be able to relate to what they are going through.
In 1999 when Bush won I was shocked. This man had failure written all over him. Aside from his many failed attempts as a business man, he put a higher value on nationalism than patriotism. This guy represented the many kids I despised in grade school. He came off as an arrogant bully that thought that not only where his values and culture better than everyone else's, but that action needed to be taken to demoralize those who where not like him.
So when he was put in the oval office I was devastated. I could not imagine a worse person to lead our country. This was a rejection of all my values. How could my country be so stupid? It was inconceivable.
It turned out that Bush was much worse than I thought. I thought he would be bad, but I just didn't fully comprehend the scale of destruction he would institute. Torture, false wars, economic failure edging on the scale of the great depression, illegal domestic spying followed up by retroactive immunity, the destruction of the constitution, "with us or against us" politics, abortion rates go from declining to stagnating, etc. I just thought his policies would fail, I didn't realise they would destroy.
So now we have Obama and the religious conservatives are beside themselves in national disappointment. If Michelle Obama is proud of her country for the first time, they are disappointed in their country for the first time.
The USA didn't just reject Bush, the accepted a man who's pastor said "Goddamn America!" His wife was only recently proud of our country "for the first time." He sat on a board with a man who blew up domestic building in the sixties. His name is not "American." He is an advocate for the "Pro-Choice" movement. He wants to "spread the wealth around." Worst, he may be a Muslim in disguise, might not say the Pledge of Allegiance, and is probably being guided by Satan. He belongs culturally to the humanist atheists.
This is what the religious right is having a problem with. They don't see politics and people as nuanced. Sure, life has its curve balls, but problems are as easy as using as what they see as God's way to solve them. You do what you are suppose to and then you pray that the rest is just sorted out on its own.
The religious right will not do a self examination because they don't believe they where ever wrong. Sure, Bush had his problems, but overall he was pushing us in the right direction. He appointed two judges to the Supreme Court that bring us closer to overturning Roe V. Wade. The war in Iraq may have been mismanaged, but the ideal of bringing American (i.e. Christian) values to them with a gun and bomb was the right choice, even if the execution was less than stellar. They see this as God's country, and any efforts to build a pluralistic, inclusive society are dangerous. They don't see what good there is in compromising with the Pagan east.
For them these values are good, have been good, and always will be good. The see the last eight years as being great spiritually. They do not view the problems we face as being necessarily Bush's fault, and those that are do not trump the issue of abortion or unifying inclusion of those that do not agree with us.
Having had their values rejected is hurtful. Of course they are angry and baffled. I have been there too. My only hope is that Obama is able to use all of his talent and intelligence to bring about economic, social and global prosperity. I hope that in four years from now people are able to look back and say, "Thing have been going pretty good. I am happy overall with the direction of this country and optimistic about its future."
Four years is a short time to reverse the problems caused by the last eight. Destruction is much easier than construction. I believe with the right tone and the right policies Obama can do good and even make believers of his detractors. I hope this not because I want Obama to be glorified, nor because I want people to accept my point of view. I hope he does this because I want our country to succeed.

Biden campaign

On Sunday Joe Biden held a rally in front of FSU's Doak Campbell Stadium. I met up at Joe Brightbill's house and we walked to the stadium. There was a long line that took about twenty minutes to get through. At various points in the line there where members of the Obama campaign recruiting volunteers. There was only one person that approached us to sign something pledging to do something green, I don't remember and I didn't sign.
The entrance had metal detectors and secret service checking each person and their belongings. The area was covered in police cars, and some uniformed men where standing watch at the top of the stadium. The event was held in front of the stadium, not inside the stadium.

There was easily a few thousand when we arrived and probably about another thousand entered after we did.
The music at the event was a rotation of more-or-less bad songs with the exception of about two oldies. Brooks and Dunn's "Only in America" was also heavily in rotation, which was hands down the worst song they had on their list. Waiting for the event to start was similar to purchasing a car. You are made to wait and wait in what seems like an obnoxious amount of forever.
While waiting I discovered I was standing next to Mary Rozofsky, friend's mother. She is an exceptionally nice lady and it is always nice to meet up with her.

After long amounts of waiting people stood up and start cheering. Then nothing for a long time. Finally some people came up and started talking. One lady was some one from congress I think. The next was an Obama volunteer that packed up and left California to fight for Florida. She spoke about the importance of volunteering these last two days to make sure Florida goes blue this cycle.
Once they where done it was more waiting. Joe's dad, David, gave up his spot in a comfortable seat to come stand with us.
During the wait they had people they selected to sit behind the podium and cheer. Someone down below had them practice different chants. This would later be put in action to create some video camera magic for the news.
David and I had a long talk about computer and technology such as the EEE PC, I-Phone, G-Phone, Linux, Mac, etc. David also has his own audio-cast and blog at http://www.tallycast.com/ He had his camera and handheld audio recorder. Each time people stood up and cheered for what turned out to be no reason, he would start his recorder and then turn it off once we realized there was no action yet.
Finally Senator Bill Nelson, Jill Biden and Joe Biden took the stage. Bill started off and gave some forgettable speach and then introduced Jill. Jill gave a quick synopsis of Joe's past and current life as a senator and then brought him to the podium. Joe's speech was exactly what you would expect from any person running as the Vice President under the Democrat ticket.
Sitting just outside of the blocked in area where just under thirty McCain supporters. Their presence would have otherwise all been in good political sport, except someone brought a siren with them that the blasted during the whole speech. I thought they where being very childish in their disrespect. Thousands of people came to see history in the making and some sore losers found it their duty to do what they could to ruin it. The more inevitable the Obama win looks, the more desperate the other side becomes. On the positive side, at least we don't kill each other in events like this, such as what happens in too many other countries.
Joe did have one good line. The first time the siren went off I think most of us assumed it was an ambulance. The second time the blasted it Joe said something to the effect of, "At first I thought that siren was an ambulance, but now I see it is just some people on the edge whining." That evoked some good laughter.
The most interesting part of the whole event was the crowd seated right behind Biden. There was a person running down below camera level telling this group when and what to chant. These people where on mic so it came out loud through the speakers. I can imagine that from the point of view of the camera's the crowd was cheering Joe on. In reality, most people listened silently and the vast majority of cheering came from those behind Joe. I guess it looks good on camera.

I was pretty glad when Joe was done speaking. My legs hurt and most everything about the event was, well, non-eventful. Joe and I walked back to his house, eating at a place I think was simply called "burrito" (my treat) on the way. He treated me to a rib sandwich later on so it was all good.

Events like this usually make better stories than they do make for good experiences. Standing for hours to have a politician make a very canned politician's speech isn't really all that exciting. I wonder how running around a state and giving canned speeches to groups of people already in agreement with you inspires anyone that is undecided, or leaning the other direction to vote for you.

Obama

Ever since I first heard Barack speak, I have been a fan of his. I am not a Democrat, and voted Nader the last two elections. The last two Democratic nominees sucked pretty badly, and it was an offense to think that I would just shut up and vote for them.
Every time I hear Obama speak I am reminded why people by the millions are clamoring behind him. Yesterday Obama spoke at a church. While most church's yesterday where talking about how awesome fathers are, Obama took advantage of the moment to highlight a real problem that is causing real problems in our society. This problem is even more pronounced in Black communities, and is probably one of the leading contributors to the problems blacks face every day. What he highlighted was the important roles fathers play in the lives of their children, and how the overwhelming failure of fathers is creating major social and economic problems. If you do not believe that Obama is real, and not just fluff you must watch this video.
One other issue this highlight is Obama and religion. There has been a real push by the right smear-mongers to paint Obama up as a Muslim in Christians clothing. Despite the lack of any facts to back this up, the rumor presses on. Obama came to know Jesus through his own searching. McCain on the other hand was raised a Christian but seems to be more of a "non-practicing Christian" than anything else. Those of faith, who find such things improtant when picking a president, should have no doubt who the clear leader is in the religious area.

The video:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gG5nFK