Greetings!!
It has been some kind of something since the end of the Democratic Convention!
I could spend a lot of time oozing my groupie love about Obama and his acceptance speech. I won’t indulge, I will just let the man and his words continue to resonate and motivate me and others to be the best we can be!
Of course some time has to be spent on the Republican National Convention. I have never watched more than 15 minutes of the RNC. This year I was compelled to tune in because I needed to know how Senator Obama and the Democratic Party were being portrayed. I needed to take a hard look at the delegates – to see their faces and somehow see what motivates them to back Senator McCain. The most obvious difference was the lack of representation of color. It got to a place where I felt like I knew every Black, Latino, Asian and Other in the whole place because the same fifteen were presented hundreds of times throughout the night. Another thing I noticed about this small group is that they seem like zombies – somehow indoctrinated into a society that they did not necessarily belong. They probably are saying the same thing about the sea of color at the DNC, but it somehow seems so different.
Then came the big day that intended to be the 1-2-3 punch: Giuliani, Romney and Senator Palin, McCain’s choice for running mate. Now everyone that I know waited with bated breath to see her story – one that just one week before, wasn’t even trying to be told! When Giuliani and Romney took jabs at Obama’s record, it was really expected – all warm up “acts” zing the opponent. What I did not expect was the sarcastic, demeaning tone that Governor Palin opted to take for her debut on the world’s stage. Don’t get me wrong, she had a flawless delivery and definitely energized the base. She did a good job of giving America a glimpse of who she was and possible reasons that she should be one breath away from the presidency.
What she didn’t get across to me – why I as a woman would throw my support so squarely behind her because she is a woman? Also – who is she to go head to head with Obama, the media, and big government when her record speaks to flip flopping, scandal and red tape. Sara Palin is a poster child for the Hillbilly movement including having a baby and going back to work after three days, pictures showing her on the shooting range as if she was getting ready for Terminator 2008 – The Sara Palin Story, and being party to a shot gun wedding plot to reduce the sting of an out of wedlock pregnancy. What has been described as “spunkiness” seems to be more “bama-ness” (for those who are not sure what a “bama” is go to http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bama - number three seems to fit Sara perfectly.) I just have this horrible image in my mind of Miss Sara going to meet with foreign dignitaries in a country like India and she slays a sacred cow right there in the middle street. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that they have not had allowed her to do any serious speaking since the convention. They have been “de-bamatizing” her before they allow her out again. The Republican party is trying to make it about her and Obama when she is strictly a pawn in McCain’s game of chess.
The strategy has had some positive results – McCain is up in the polls and he is more animated which for some may make him look a bit younger. Based on what I am hearing on Black talk radio there is some anxiety which has translated itself into defensiveness. The media is feeding in to the “vagina for vagina” theory that assumes that Hillary Clinton’s women supporters are automatically going to support Palin because she is a woman. Although we shouldn’t let these factors derail us, it is something that has to be considered when taking next steps.
First of all – don’t be alarmed by murmuring coming from the Obama clan. With anything in life you have to move tactically. Palin wasn’t McCain’s first choice – it was a reaction to the Clintons’ performance at the DNC. Now Obama and his strategist have to make sure that the messages being conveyed are pointed. Not only that, these messages must be free of the sexism that many felt was ever present when Senator Clinton was in the race. That means putting your key sister soldiers in place to combat the war on Palin – a war none of us can afford.
Secondly – time is running out for people to get themselves together to vote. I have said this time and time again – felons, foreigner, fakers: do whatever you have to do to make sure that you have your paperwork straight before that registration deadline hits! I have been a lot of places this year and have talked to a lot of people and they all beam with pride about Senator Obama’s ascent. It’s all good to want to sport an Obama shirt/button/bumper sticker or debate the massive about his candidacy, but at the end of the day it begins and ends with your vote. Don’t let this race be close – we got 8 million Black people who are eligible to vote and don’t. Make it happen.
Lastly – do what we do when we are faced with insurmountable odds – pray in whatever way you do – bow your head, face Mecca 5-6 days a week, chant, sing, or whatever it takes to speak this presidency into existence. Then get up and get crackin’ – we need you!
I would love to hear your thoughts.
With that said – I wish you all the best today and always.
G
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