Monday, December 8, 2008

Pre-election Blog - a Few Weeks Late...

I just got an email about the following:


POWERFUL ATLANTA MUSIC INDUSTRY SUPPORTS
BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT


Join us for a "once in a lifetime" party to support Barack Obama and encourage others to vote. Lets make history together. Please forward to family and friends.

Savoy Lounge has open it's doors to celebrate 2 important events: Barack Obama Party on Saturday night November 1st @ 9:00 pm and a live election result Viewing Party on Tuesday November 4th @ 8:00 pm. Lets laugh, cry, and make history!!


Lets Complete Dr. Martin Luther King's Dream
"Where people are judged by the content of there character and not the color of their skin."



So... ok... I know I've blogged a lot about politics over the last year, and I wind up commenting on everything anyone else ever says about it. And I'm probably over-saturated on the topic... but here's the thing.


This really sums up what I hate about race politics entirely... "Let's make history together" (translated: Let's vote in the first "black" president) and "Don't judge people on their skin color" are completely antithetical!

If being black is a non-issue, then you can't bring it up as a selling point.


As far as I can tell, Obama's primary appeal is simply his natural charisma and charming demeanor. As they like to say, he "seems presidential". Unfortunately, for someone like myself, looking like a president isn't the same thing as "thinking" like one. Or at least, one I have any interest in voting for. For the same reason that Bush's lack of speaking skills never bothered me, Barack's +17 speech-giving abilities don't interest me in the slightest. Underneath it all, the ideas have to be there, and they're simply not... not as far as I'm concerned anyway.

The other day - my dad sent me this: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d

It's amusing... and it does have a fine usage of Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" as musical underscore... but I challenge ANYONE to explain to me where - except for the color of his skin - Barack Obama represents "change"?


I need a presidential candidate to understand the Constitutional limitations of his power, I need a presidential candidate who will act as a legitimate check against the abuses of legislature by actually vetoing bills (as Bush almost *never* did), I need a presidential candidate who doesn't muck up the meaning of the document he's sworn in to protect by hiring teams of lawyers to find legalese loopholes in wording to do anything he damn well pleases in foreign & domestic policy... I need a presidential candidate who understands the Enlightenment philosophy that guided our nation's founders and created the framework for the greatest era of social, political, religious, & economic freedom the world has ever experienced. An era rapidly diminishing.

No comments: