Last night, whilst on vacation, I took some time out to watch Barrack Obamas speech at the Democratic National Convention on what was an auspicious day already.
I was blown away. I am by nature the most cynical of people but it is rare that one sees such a speech given by such a person in their lifetime. Although I don’t believe such an event is where you spell out the nuts and bolts of your policies (it’s more about show and soundbytes), I feel that he broadly gave us all an indication of what his presidency would mean.
In that speech alone, he racked up a bill of $250bn. The media were of course very quick to jump on that and take the stance of ‘where will this money come from’. I found this quite laughable. Have the GOP (Go On Prozac) not spent almost $1 trillion on a war nobody wanted or needed. That money alone could have put the US economy back on track, funded all of Obama’s plans and funded a military operation to finish the job in Afghanistan. Therefore is $250bn not a drop in the ocean?
America needs vision. When I was a young boy growing up in the UK, I used to look to America for all that was new, cutting-edge, state-of-the-art and cool. It was kind of gutting when I moved here to watch that uber-prick GWB spend this countries money like a rap star in Louis Vuitton. I mean what has America done in the past 8 years? Sure GWB may have teamed up with George Lucas to produce the epic movie Start Wars – The Empire Takes Flack but where is the vision? I recall a young JFK pledging to put a man on the moon – a seemingly impossible task (without a joint or magic mushrooms) but against all odds he did it. In our time the challenge is to find alternate energy sources so that we may live in harmony with our planet that we are merely guests on. We have the means but we lack the will. Obama, I have no doubt, will give us that momentum.
The GOP (Go on Prozac – please), will twist all his words because they are driven by fear. Like a dog takes a leak against a parking meter on the sidewalk – the GOP know no better. In my mind the Republicans are the old guard and represent everything that is wrong with America. They are insular, resource intensive (Hum-V’s and oil), greedy, hypocritical (they believe they are doing God’s work yet serve to line their own pockets) and worst of all they are bigoted. You know there is a group of old white waspy folk sitting in a barn somewhere in Texas saying ‘there is no way we can let a ni@#er run this country – my daddy would be turning in his grave’. That is what Barrack faces. In the words of Bob Dylan “the times they a-changin’”.
His speech took a lot of courage. He pledged to help 95% of the population with tax brakes. Meaning the 5% of rich people should expect higher taxes (rightly so). He will close loop-holes giving fat-cat companies less breaks and ensure they pay their way. He pledged to reduce our dependence on foreign oil within 10 years – this is a tall order but again, the right thing to do. After-al, the world’s conflicts stem from this dependence. He threw caviar at Russia (but kept the Stoli in the bottle), signaled that Afghanistan is about to have fewer caves, Iran faces being the testing ground for the new F-22 raptor/F-35 if it doesn’t quit with its nuclear rhetoric (although Israel will tell you that Mahmood just has a big mouth).
I cannot vote – Barrack O’Bummer!!! But if I could – this man would get mine. Still trying to find out if I can buy someone’s vote via eBay – does anyone know? America wake up, smell the inevitability of your actions if you vote for McCain. This is, in my opinion, a dithering fool who has about as much integrity as Iraq’s former Minister of Dis-Information. His presidency will mean more of the same from a man who is part of the elite who thinks middle class means having $5 million/or less of wealth. Doing your job and serving in Vietnam does not make you automatically qualified to run the USA. Sure he was a POW but that was part of the job description. Mr. McCain has consistently used this as his basis for being a solid man. It was over 30 years ago – get over it.
As far as I can tell, Barrack Obama is a good man, with good intentions and I am certain he will change the way we see politics and politicians. He is sane; of sound mind and I believe last night, we witnessed an historic speech by the man we come to affectionately call ‘President Barry’. The only thing between Sen. Obama and the top job is the voting system… To be continued…
