This one’s from the heart, bear with me!
Last night was the most incredible night of my life, plain and simple! But first let me backtrack to me standing in amazement and disbelief with my fellow Americans in a jam-packed bar in the Lower East Side of New York City.
In my 21 years in the USA, I had come to give up hope in our so called “democratic” government. I guess it’s because I’ve never seen any of the good changes most politicians talk about trickle down to my family, friends or neighbors. Nor did I feel like my President connected or represented the real middle-class of America. I really felt you guys were out of touch. I mean John McCain doesn’t realize there are families surviving off of $30-60,000 a year because he has money longer than the eye can see. His idea of middle class in America is the people in the $250,000 tax bracket, so he wasn’t lying when he accused you of wanting to tax the middle class — it’s just that he is a bit more disconnected. Then I heard you speak. Mr. Obama, you made me feel like I was giving up too early. I would find myself losing hope or moreso not believing that this country would elect a Black man for its leader.
I mean, George Bush did serve two full terms as the country’s worst president and we watched him as he hoodwinked and bamboozled all of us. While we called him stupid and watched his bloopers on YouTube, he was getting over on us, getting fat while we starved. But today I realize we have grown so much as a people and as a nation.
For the first time in 22 years, I walked the streets of NYC without a feeling of separation between young African-American males and the rest of the world. Asians, blacks, whites, Jews, Christians, Atheist, Muslims, gays and straight, all celebrating this great leap towards a fluorescent future in the name of Obama. You have restored hope in America, but more importantly pride! Last night I sang the national anthem with a feeling my vocabulary will not allow me to describe. No longer will I tell people I’m from Canada. As of today, Nov. 5, 2008, I am proud to be an American and will represent my country with great pride.
You gave little black children around the world a new hero. Move over MJ, LeBron and Kobe. Instead of grabbing a pair of J’s and trying Be Like Mike, our youth now has another option: grab a pair of loafers and Be Like Obama. Thank you for setting off this spark. I know you are just the first of many changes to come.
With love, respect and admiration,
Konate A.Primus
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But all in all: Congratulations USA, you did the right thing! From over the pond: Thank you to everyone who voted for Obama, I’m proud that you’re American. (You may even start a little USA! chant if you like, I won’t roll my eyes this time)
Benjamin.
You admonish people for talking bad about a leader, then turn around and do the same thing yourself.
Does your hypocrisy hurt?
God doesn’t like doubleminded folks, he tends to spew the lukewarm out.
See, I didn’t see his pastor as bad fruit.
Guess that’s just my perspective.
Bible says try the Spirit by the Spirt. That’s what I did, and I’m satisfied. If your Spirit told you something different, so be it.
But, I think you do Christians a disservice by coming on to this site and spouting off as if your view is the “true” view of “real” Christians.
It is not.
In fact, it is the view of a certain segment of Christianity that is not related to the segment that I belong to. Truthfully, our two segments have been at war for much of this country’s history. So, as a fellow believer, I’d appreciate it if you would stop misrepresenting our faith and its precepts.
Thanks.
Great night. I am less than 100% in front of the kids today. So bad. Thank God it’s class photo day. The streets were… fun. It’s been rough day after, but in a good way.
As a Jew, I have listened to what Obama said VERY closely about his position in Israel. I have not liked Olmert’s leadership for that country, but I still view it as the homeland of my people, and am very protective of it. While I think Obama is a little too sympathetic about the plight of the Palestinian people, he has -NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT NOT SUPPORTING ISRAEL TO THE FULLEST-
Ever
In his life
And you can make up whatever you want about his position in the middle east, and spout about how his father is half muslim (so he must hate Israel) or about how his pastor is anti-semetic (even though a good majority of evangelical christians are too), but the bottom line is, until Obama does or says something that makes me believe otherwise, I am going to trust him in his belief that he will support Israel. And it’s sickening when one decides that his leader (you know, the one he should be supporting) leans one way with no evidence to back his statement up.
I’m done.
See, I don’t agree with Fishwagon, but I don’t agree with cats that quote the Bible out of context.
That’s BS.
If you don’t subscribe to Christianity or any world religion, that’s cool. If you think religious folks have committed some terrible atrocities, that’s cool too.
But at least have the intellectual honesty to actually do some research on the book you’re trying to malign. At least have the good sense to actually figure out how the book of Leviticus relates to the Bible as a whole.
Becuase if you did that, you woudln’t repeat trite lines about shellfish and hair braiding. You would understand the totality of Christian beliefs and while you might still disagree, you would so respectfully.
And if you already know how Old Testament rules about shellfish relate to the rest of the Bible and still make snide remarks, well that’s just despicable.
You can debate issues with people you disagree with respectfully and honestly because your ideas are better. You can win without lies of omission.
It’s sad that so many people deride Chritians for being unintelligent followers, than turnaround and display those same characteristics themselves when discussion Christianity. That does not create any progress. You can have discussions about inflammatory topics without being inflammatory.
If you think only one nation matter in world events, then we have totally different views of the world.
People are people, nations are made of people.
I don’t think the people of Israel are any more important than the people of America or the people of South Africa.
(in a good way).im proud to be an american,never been prouder. I have nothing more to say other than a quote from KG… “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!”
Also, the bible does say it is a sin to eat Shellfish, and it’s silly for Allenp to debate this.
Millions thing Allah is a prophet and we’re all going to hell for looking at women’s legs.
Millions think that they better not eat meat or else they will be reincarnated as a cow
Millions think that Jesus was a false prophet and that following him will lead to damnation
Millions think that only by following Jesus will you escape damnation
Millions of people listen to God and hear different things. Try listening to reason. Try tuning out the hate.
Rivalled perhaps by only the discussion on the Jim Crow laws and racism a few months back?….
I live in the United Kingdom and follow US politics closely (studied it at school in the US) and the amount of people i have run into in the last few days who tell me how delighted they are that Obama has won is unbelieveable.
What’s even more unbelieveable is that no one has given me, when asked, a valid politicalm, policy based reason for that support. ‘i trust him’ and ‘Mccain is a redneck’ (a ridiculous notion when actually considering his politics) seem to be the most common answers- it infuriates me when something this important becomes a popularity contest and that is what it has become- front page of a newspaper here today? ‘it’s cool to like America again!!’ seriously- i dont want Barack to be cool or charismatic, i want him to be a trustworthy and strong president and until we see evidence of this i would hope people dont get carried away. this sort of fanaticism is frightening if people can’t see both sides and that the man has some faults. He may well be a great president, but acting already as if he’s infallible already is a worrying sign-
Anyhow, that’s more a commentary on the stupidity of the general public than anybody here or Barack himself, but just a valid point that i dont feel Fishwagon should be condemned for
@Oliver: Fishwagon has said Obama was against Israel, then when asked for a reason, told me to “check google.” Fishwagon said Obama was pro-abortion, meaning he wants people to have abortions as much as possible. He said he talked to God and God told him that Obama would turn on Israel, and then went onto say that anyone who crosses Israel would be destroyed. I’m a huge Israel supporter, I have travelled there probably far, far, far more times than Fishwagon… and I can say with 200% certainty that the dude is legitly crazy.
I probably should pray that he realizes the errors of his ways.
The right man may well have won, but i worry that he may have won for the wrong reason and that is terrorfiying….just shows that celebs have no place in politics-
Going back to the quote you showed me, it came from an article written by Sameh A. Habeeb, a pro-palestinian journalist who writes from the Gaza Strip. In this article, he talks about how he figured Obama was pro-Palestinian from sympathetic things Obama had said in the past at fundraisers in more prominent muslim areas in Chicago. However, as the article goes on, he talks about how he was fooled, and how Obama is far more pro-Israeli than he initially thought, bashing him at times. He ends the article with “So, let’s pick the less worse of the two…Let’s endorse Obama.” That’s certainly not encouraging words. If you’d read the entire thing and not judge from small sections, you may realize these things before someone has to correct you.
As for your last few sentences, I really wanted to read up on it, but I couldn’t. First off, the “Conscientious Objection Act” is for the military. I’m assuming you’re talking about the ‘Conscientious Objection Clause’, which is a clause that states that doctors do NOT have to perform abortions unless a woman’s life may be in danger. I cannot find any information in that bill that talks about babies surving abortions, (which doesn’t make much sense, since I’m not sure with our current methods of abortions that fetuses CAN continue on) but I’m not saying you’re wrong either. If you can point me in the right direction and give me a serious link (unlike the previous Obama quote you gave me), I’d love to look it up and educate myself.
I would also like to point out that I am NOT a stout Obama supporter. I voted for Hilary in the primaries. I think Obama will make a superior president to McCain, but I’m certainly not one of those who are celebrating as if world peace has descended on the world. I am happy the color barrier has been broken in the most powerful office on earth, but now I await to see how Obama actually performs.
I am not, unlike you, going to start suggesting Obama is the anti-christ. Once again, you start off by shaming us for not being supportive of Bush yet you accuse Obama of the worst thing that one can be accused of in your world. Just because you say you “aren’t positive,” doesn’t make it any more vicious. You truly are a confused, troubled soul.
During a speech I delivered in Lecce in Italy, I was named as Barack Obama due to the way I spoke using some of the rhetorical and public speaking tips. I was asked then, What do you think of Obama?
I was puzzled for a second, then I answered, ” Obama is holding opposing views to Bush in all policies which is so requested to improve the American image in the world. Yet, when it comes to Palestine he is as supportive to Israel as Bush and even more.”
———————————–
This perspective was so clear during his first speeches after he won the Nomination of his party. At the AIPAC, Obama was reciting some of the Bush ideas and schemes towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He wants to give a livable and a connected state but he didn’t specify more about this state! Finally, we Palestinians and Arab Americans have to look over this race to the White House wisely. We have two choices now. Barack Obama who is slightly supporting the Palestinians and their promising state. In the other side, we have one of the biggest new Bushes, John McCain, whose stances are more extreme than Bush and all the new conservatives in the US. One of McCain’ s advisors said a couple of weeks ago that Palestinians should go to Jordan and establish their own country. Thus, McCain is so dangerous for us and his ideas are so malicious. So, let’s pick the less worse of the two…Let’s endorse Obama.
——————————–
Great article.
I agree with you on your thoughts that we shouldn’t baselessly celebrate him without seeing how well he will actually do. I understand that a good amount of people were bought on Barack’s poise and charisma alone, but as I said before, so were Clinton and Bush.
And while yes, Barrack probably had more baseless supporters, I doubt you were giving these grandeur warnings during the Bush era when people were elected Bush over Kerry because they’d prefer to have a beer with him.
Your message is right, but your heart is absolutely in the wrong place. Using the bible push your agenda, misquoting arabian reporters to get your point across… As you said yourself, we should raise and support our leaders. I will add to that, “until they so prove to us that they are not worthy of it.” Obama hasn’t even taken office yet. Start crazily reading off passages from the bible when he sends bombs to Israel or something.
“I believe in God and I believe in a devil. Everyone wants to believe in God but no one wants to believe in a devil. Evil does not come looking ugly and scary. Evil comes with smooth talk and beautiful promises of hope. I believe that everday ordinary life on earth is a very real war and that people are more open to deception than ever. I’m not saying Obama is conclusively part of that deception but I’m not ruling it out either, unlike 90% of the people I know.”
You know where that came from?
You.
I’ll repost, once again.
“not saying Obama is conclusively part of that deception but I’m not ruling it out either, unlike 90% of the people I know”
You are not having intelligent dialogue at all. You are contradicting yourself constantly, using religious passages in loose situations, and generally acting, as I said, like a very troubled person.
Either very troubled or secretly biased.
Also, just because I’m not trying to have open, intelligent forum here, I’ll also state that I could kick your ass in B-Ball, gramps!
As a Jew you know that Leviticus is part of the Torah and an example of Mosaic law. Christians do not believe themselves bound by Mosaic Law, particularly those laws dealing with social issues. This is something discussed in the New Testament.
This is basic Christianity. All you have to do is spend sometime reading the actual Bible and studying the opinions of people who are scholarly Christians.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a lot of trust from a lot of people.
This job is so important and deserves to be treated as such, not to be trivialised by idiot celebrities trying to get some face time or people arguing based on race (either way, there’s idiot racists on both sides) it should simply be about policies and politics..no more, no less. But is that the case? i honestly dont think so…But according to allenp that makes me a racist. And he still didn’t answer what specifically attracted him to Barack
Fishwagon: There is a separation of church and state. If this is how you gauge your politics, you really have to move somewhere else. I agree, israel must be protected, but I still don’t get your crazy inferences that Obama is some evil spirit ready to nuke the hell out of Israel. He’s given NO indication of this. I’ll once again throw these questions at you which you have never answered: did you worry about this same issue with either of the Bushs or Clinton?
Oliver: Can’t argue with anything you said there, buddy. Voting for Obama just because he is black is just as wrong as voting for McCain because Sarah Palin is a woman. Still, there is absolutely no reason to celebrate the election of a non-white, protestant president. I was on the phone for five hours, talking to numerous people how amazing this event was… and I voted for Obama because of his ideas of the Iraq war, education, and willingness to mend fences internationally.
tree rotten and its fruit is rotten, for a tree is known by its
fruit.” (NAB)
Yeah, you’re right. Obama won not because of his policy, but because he’s a good speech maker and all us drug dealers and gang bangers voted for him. You’re totally correct. I never voted for Obama because I wanted to end the war in Iraq, or increase education (so that all these gang bangers and drug dealers would have other options), or to enact long term fixes in health care and federal income taxes or to not blatantly ignore social security or anything like that. I voted for him SOLELY because he talks good and so did the rest of America. You figured it out. Only YOU know the truth, dude. Way to go.
Yes, because Ahmadinejad likes Obama. Obama must be evil. Really, truly incredible logic.
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