snazz told me her brother supports obama but is down on him for having opted out of public financing for the general election. he thinks the playing field should be as even as possible. i agree, which is exactly why i think obama had to opt out - and this has nothing to do with the 527s or anything like that. my reasoning, which to her credit, s didnt challenge - a reaction that perversely disappointed me - was that since obama is black, hes already inherently behind the eight ball; bearing that in mind, the very idea that we could possibly have a 'level playing field' in this election is fanciful. obama needs all the capital he can raise to counter-act the racism capital - built up over hundreds of years in this country - that he, and not mccain, has to fight against.
i mean, when obama announced he was opting out, he should have just said, 'of course i am. what am i, a shmuck on wheels? im the black dude with the funny name; i need all the help i can get. and that means outspending my opponent into the ground.'
you know, instead of blaming the 527s and swift boaters, which we all knew was a bunch of bull.
you know, instead of blaming the 527s and swift boaters, which we all knew was a bunch of bull.
anyway, generally speaking, the whole thing makes me think of my high school track team, during our junior year.
lemme back up a bit.
i was part of the 4 x 100m relay team during the indoor season. we were pretty good, but going into the manhattan borough championships at the end of the season, we didnt expect to medal - even though wed medaled in lesser meets, and despite the fact that manhattan was invariably the weakest of the five boroughs.
to make a long, glorious story short: on that cold january night, inside the stuffy and decrepit armory-turned-arena on 168th street, the four of us each ran personal bests. and our baton passes were seamless. and one team that ordinarily should have beaten us dropped the baton, either slowing them down irrevocably, or flat-out disqualifying them, i forget which. and, a member of yet another team that was traditionally stronger than us inexplicably bumped into another runner and fell down, destroying that squad's chances.
-and, lastly, the black dude with the funny name has to be able to outspend his opponent by leaps and bounds. he has to do this to do things like airing lengthy commercials in swing states that are aimed more at getting people familiar with him as a good guy than anything else - thereby counteracting the preponderance of insidious rumors and innuendo that force him to swim upstream in a way no other candidate would ever have to.
so yeah, obama needs a ton of money.
this is my final plea. if you havent donated to obama already, pls. go to my fundraising page and give whatever you can spare. $20 would be great, for instance. as of my writing this, im but $220 from my goal of $1,000.
help me reach my goals. dont you want to see me reach my goals, friend?
i leave you with the following. whenever tupac's 'changes' comes on my ipod, i cringe in anticipation of this line:
and although it seems heaven sent
lemme back up a bit.
i was part of the 4 x 100m relay team during the indoor season. we were pretty good, but going into the manhattan borough championships at the end of the season, we didnt expect to medal - even though wed medaled in lesser meets, and despite the fact that manhattan was invariably the weakest of the five boroughs.
to make a long, glorious story short: on that cold january night, inside the stuffy and decrepit armory-turned-arena on 168th street, the four of us each ran personal bests. and our baton passes were seamless. and one team that ordinarily should have beaten us dropped the baton, either slowing them down irrevocably, or flat-out disqualifying them, i forget which. and, a member of yet another team that was traditionally stronger than us inexplicably bumped into another runner and fell down, destroying that squad's chances.
put it all together and we won. we were the 4x1 champions of manhattan for the public school athletic league's 95-96 indoor track season. and dont get me wrong; we were a formidable team. but it still took that confluence of factors - that perfect storm of batons and bodies hitting the ground, and of each of us having our best performance ever - for four nerds* to win such a thing.
which brings me to obama.
this morning, danny and i had a conversation weve all had recently. namely, we never really though wed see a black man become president in our lifetimes, let alone this soon.
well, for this to actually come to fruition, it will take a perfect storm. for the black dude with the funny name to get elected**, several things all have had to - and will have to - fall his way. to wit:
-the current president had to be from the opposite party, and had to be loathed in truly historical proportions.
-and the country had to be in the fifth year of an unjustifiable morass in the middle east.
-and the erstwhile front-runner for the democratic nomination, who looked like a lock, had to inexplicably run her campaign into the ground.
-and our man has had to be nothing short of a brilliant campaigner.
-and the republican nominee has had to be ancient, imperious, impetuous, erratic, a mediocre campaigner at best, and bear a striking resemblance to beelzebub.
-my dad has said that many people in this country wouldnt vote for a black guy for president without a gun to their head; well, with the economy being what it is right now, they do have a gun to their head. ie, and the country has had to be in the beginning of an inscrutable financial morass.
-the current president had to be from the opposite party, and had to be loathed in truly historical proportions.
-and the country had to be in the fifth year of an unjustifiable morass in the middle east.
-and the erstwhile front-runner for the democratic nomination, who looked like a lock, had to inexplicably run her campaign into the ground.
-and our man has had to be nothing short of a brilliant campaigner.
-and the republican nominee has had to be ancient, imperious, impetuous, erratic, a mediocre campaigner at best, and bear a striking resemblance to beelzebub.
-my dad has said that many people in this country wouldnt vote for a black guy for president without a gun to their head; well, with the economy being what it is right now, they do have a gun to their head. ie, and the country has had to be in the beginning of an inscrutable financial morass.
-and, lastly, the black dude with the funny name has to be able to outspend his opponent by leaps and bounds. he has to do this to do things like airing lengthy commercials in swing states that are aimed more at getting people familiar with him as a good guy than anything else - thereby counteracting the preponderance of insidious rumors and innuendo that force him to swim upstream in a way no other candidate would ever have to.
so yeah, obama needs a ton of money.
this is my final plea. if you havent donated to obama already, pls. go to my fundraising page and give whatever you can spare. $20 would be great, for instance. as of my writing this, im but $220 from my goal of $1,000.
help me reach my goals. dont you want to see me reach my goals, friend?
i leave you with the following. whenever tupac's 'changes' comes on my ipod, i cringe in anticipation of this line:
and although it seems heaven sent
we aint ready, to see a black president.
lets prove tupac wrong, people!
*relatively speaking.
**keep in mind, im not advocating for obama just cuz hes black. i do like that about him, and think that symbolically his election would be great for the country, but i like his intelligence, shrewdness, his being the most liberal senator in congress, and yes, his charm, just as much, if not more. no, just as much.
1 comment:
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Post a Comment