Both Sides against the Middle

Tonight Senator John McCain will accept his party’s nomination and then all of the marbles will be on the table for the last stretch of our country’s presidential election. Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden for the democrats will challenge the republican ticket of McCain/Palin for control of the Oval Office for the next four year term.

The central issue of the campaign thus far has been “change.” One interesting perspective on the issue was advanced by the republicans when they said that “the democrats see the United States as broken and that Washington should fix it while the republican believe that Washington is broken and that Americans should fix it.” One thing that both sides agree upon is that something is broken and now is the time to fix it.

I chucked at the image that Governor Palin drew in her acceptance speech of a pit bulldog wearing lipstick. I consider myself to be a “yellow dog” democrat, meaning that I would vote for a yellow, lipstick-wearing, bulldog just so long as it was not a republican. The race promises to be quite a dog fight with Biden and Palin going for the jugular while Obama and McCain attempt to look presidential while they attempt stay focused on other issues, like the Iraq War, the economy, taxes, healthcare reform, energy independence, national security and (of course) the issue of which one of them is the true embodiment of the change needed in the White House. Let’s face it, an election campaign that features the candidates “contrasting their opponents from themselves” is much more interesting and has more popular appeal than one based solely on boring issue after issue. We Americans love to watch a good fight and we don’t really respect a candidate unless he or she can scrap with the best of them.

However, if the republicans feel that Americans are the solution to what is broken in our country, then why attack other Americans with campaign rhetoric? In fact, the culture war tactics of the conservative right would seem to more destructive to our country than is the potential threat posed by what they call “radical Islam.” Reckless attacks on the American freedom to worship God as a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew or other can be conveniently hidden behind the indignation of those who feel that to be politically correct is too much to ask of our fellow Americans.

Furthermore, the republican rhetoric indicates that the due process of law is desirable only for American citizens and not for enemy combatants. I wonder how a former prisoner of war, like John McCain really feels stripping any prisoner of war of all human rights, especially of those enjoyed by the regular citizens of the captors. Did Senator McCain really sacrifice all that he did for American freedom in Vietnam so that Miranda Rights would be sarcastically scoffed at by his VP running mate?

And, what ever happened to the experience issue? I agree that motherhood should not be an impediment to executing the duties of the highest office in the land. But, using the very same argument that one former New York City mayor advanced, the only candidate on either side in the race that has ever actually “run” anything from the executive branch of government is Governor Palin. Therefore, perhaps the republican ticket is upside down and Senator McCain should be running in the second spot for the GOP.

The thing that I find most refreshing about this election is the abandonment of the right-wing rhetorical recital of traditional family values as the center piece of their moral code. Long gone are the days when citing statistics of the rise in teen pregnancy among America’s youth as a sign of parents who have lost control of their children and that they are responsible for causing the moral decay of our society. They have also abandoned the tired refrain that marijuana smoking is the gateway to harder drugs and indicative type of moral cancer that is eating away at the very fabric of American culture. It is a good thing that the standard bearers of right-wing, conservative values within the republican ranks have abandoned those trusted, old themes because a Vice Presidential nominee with a pregnant, unmarried 17 year old daughter in her household and one who, herself, gleefully inhaled her legalized Alaskan pot (before allegedly kicking the habit) might find it hard to be as enthusiastically accepted as was Governor Palin during at the republican national convention.

Finally, the record of standing up to the special interest within her home state and toughly facing government corruption are items that Senator McCain says helped to him to decide to tap the young Alaskan governor for his running partner, after their first and only meeting. If they should prevail in November, I hope that she will be as successful in putting her fellow republicans into Washington jails as she was in putting them in Alaskan ones. Moreover, perhaps she will find some new offshore oil reserves in the Potomac River so that she can banish the lobbyist from the Capital hallways and on to more profitable oil drilling platforms, much like she did in the great frozen north … to a rousing chorus of “Drill, baby, drill!” This would be a necessary achievement for Governor Palin because when the United States uses 25% of the world’s oil but only has 3% of the worlds oil reserve, the obvious republican solution would be to make up the other 17% by drilling in our own (or rather Washington, D.C.’s) backyards. Of course, the current republican strategy of supporting a one billion dollar a day victory in Iraq might also be effectively argued before the American public, if it were not for the nasty inconvenience of the loss of the lives of thousands more American servicemen and women than were lost in the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center Towers. I’m sure that if Osama Bin Laden, were a registered republican voting in the upcoming election (and who knows, he might just be … considering the fact no one in the military seems to know where he is hiding), he would be happy to support the McCain/Palin ticket because they will continue the same ineffective policies of the Bush Administration’s “War on Terror.”

As my good friends in Louisiana say during the election season, “Vote early and vote often!” This presidential election race needs your energy and involvement if it is going to live up to the early hype.

Ensure Domestic Tranquility

In Barak Obama’s most recent speech, entitled “A More Perfect Union,” America’s clear choice for change in presidential election stepped up to the oratory plate and knocked it out of the park. Perhaps it was inevitable that the nation’s attention was diverted from political issues to focusing on our lifelong struggle with the issue of race relations, during the current presidential campaign. The greatest facade of all, in America, is the face we try to put on the residual damages and injuries our citizens bear resulting from our long history of African slavery. However, slavery is not the only wound that we regularly dress in our society of neighbors. The Trail of Tears still stings the hearts of Native Americans. Being ostracized as new immigrants still lingers in the hearts of Irish, Italian and Jewish Americans. Being forced into World War II concentration camps still resonates in the hearts of Japanese Americans. And, those are only a few of the loyal, patriotic American communities that have been hurt and still hold some anger for the country that they love. But even those who solely claim to belong the cultural heritage called, “American” can lash out in anger, as did two, named Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, when they were arrested for bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1995.

Senator Obama’s speech of March 18, 2008 echoed the words of the Preamble of the United States Constitution, “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union …” and he went on to shine a light on the many ways that a loyal, patriotic, former U.S. Marine and his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, could voice such a statement as “God, damn America …” from the pulpit and it not result in Senator Obama storming away from the church and disavowing any relationship between himself and the renowned preacher and theologian. If Senator Obama did not make it clear enough in his speech, allow me to restate the point I believe that he made. In spite of the multitude of sins perpetrated by our beloved country, starting with the sin of slavery, and the way that it might often be expressed in fiery orations (in barbershops, around kitchen tables and even in pulpits) we are a stronger nation because we are free to love those neighbors who are free to speak their minds and we are free to love our country even when we disagree, or are even injured, by her.

Therefore, when those wealthy American corporate moguls are asked to keep jobs in our country for American working families and to accept a fair distribution of all of our tax burden, they might be angry and feel injured when they lose a few percentages from their healthy profit margins. However, I hope they will still love America. And, when healthcare and pharmaceutical companies are asked to adjust their business practices in a way that affords the worlds best health coverage to all Americans, an not just those who are blessed with jobs good enough to provide it, they might not be able to offset the discount on the drugs and medical technology that they provide to the rest of the world by charging our citizens much higher prices. Nonetheless, I hope that they will still love America. Also, when the few major companies that make outrageous profits on America’s dependence on petroleum, coal and radioactive isotopes to feed her unyielding energy needs are asked to build a new economy based on “green” or ecologically responsible and abundantly replenishable sources of energy, they may be injured by having to completely recreate their core business strategies and infrastructure by curtailing executive salary increases for a short period of time. Yet, I hope that they will still love America.

I could go on and on and touch on America’s public school systems or the military-industrial complex or the failing U.S. monetary policy or the special interest lobbyist’s influence over government officials. As a pastor, I might even touch on organized religions failure in providing for relevancy in the spirituality in the lives of today’s generation of America’s youths and young families. The bottom line is that America may stand united, but as we strive to build a more perfect union, we could be more successful in achieving our constitutional goal of insuring “domestic tranquility.”

When, in this year’s presidential campaign, one considers which candidate has the social location, professional experience and popular support to help us to build a nation that represents a “more perfect union” described in the U.S. Constitution, the speech of March 18, 2008 sets Senator Barak Obama head and shoulders about the other presidential candidates. Indeed, the entire constitutional laundry list of what “we, the people” have set as national goals by establishing this democratic republic that we love would be better served by electing Senator Obama as the 44th President of the United States. That list includes, “establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare and promote the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our prosperity.” Can we, the people of the United States of America, work together to achieve these national goals better under the presidential leadership of Barak Obama than we could under those of his campaign competitors, Senators Clinton and McClain? Yes, we can!

Far Left, Far Right or Center?

There once was a man who stood for change. And, shortly after Palm Sunday the opinion of the establishment turned violently against Him. They were wrong to do so, but unless they did, He would not have been able to convert His nation and the world to His message of love, tolerance and unity. The recent “scandal” concerning Barak Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and video clip catalogues of his sermons may just be the catalyst needed to center this country’s collective political consciousness from either the far left or the far right.

I almost had to fall on my knees as I watched former U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, explain to a cable news show host how Rev. Wright’s comments were not based as much on race as they were representative of the “Far Left” political rhetoric. He went on to say that the views of the reverend were not dissimilar from those of liberal ideologues of all races. I almost fell to my knees because I realized the power of this year's presidential campaign and its issues caused me to agree with the politically conservative icon, Gingrich, for the first time in my life. If the Obama campaign could bring Newt and I together, their must be the hand of God in it!

As a pastor myself, my opinion is that Jesus represented a radical change agent to the status quo in ancient Jerusalem. “Radical change” might be considered, as I consider it, another term for the modern political label “Liberal.” Political “Conservatives” might be described as those who long for the “good old days” and the values of their fathers and grandfathers. Many of those who gather under that political label, like former Speaker Gingrich, President Bush and Rush Limbaugh, might argue that they are indeed agents of change, but the fact is that our country has been under the reign of conservative government leaders and their policies for quite some time now. If Gingrich is right and Jeremiah Wright is not a hate monger, as many in the news media (and Clinton campaign operatives) would have you think. Rather, if he just speaks from a very “Liberal” socio-political perspective, it stands to reason that a large number of African Americans agree with that perspective. Duh!!! Who didn’t already know that!

Conversely, who speaks for the “Far Right?” Why, Christian conservative evangelical pastors who blame the September 11, 2001 attacks on the perversion of God’s law by gay rights activist, or others who would also be considered representatives of the “Far Left” within the American political process, of course. Another voice of ultra-conservative, “Far Right” ideology might be white supremacists, neo-Nazis and former Ku Klux Klansmen, like Louisiana politician David Duke. To string together video clips of their pastors’ sermons might be to create a similarly incendiary set of phrases and thoughts as those created from the sermons of Jeremiah Wright.

Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain are running for the highest political office in the land. Each of them would claim to be “Centrist” and not “Far Left” nor “Far Right.” McCain claims to be politically Conservative, running on issues like lowering taxes and a smaller federal government. Obama and Clinton, while refusing to be labeled Liberal, nonetheless represent the political ideology that the federal government should play an active role in improving the lives of marginalized, middle class and poor American citizens. Each of the candidates have been accused by those of either political extreme of not being conservative or liberal enough. However, it is only Senator Barak Obama whose campaign, when it was under attack by disclosed sources (i.e. Clinton campaign supporters with YouTube internet accounts) had the power to bring a liberal African American pastor, like me, and a conservative, “Ronald Reaganite,” former congressman, like Newt Gingrich, into agreement with one another. If the Obama campaign can bring the two of us into agreement with each other, perhaps Barak Obama is the presidential candidate who can best bring the Far Left and the Far Right together for the good of the nation and the political changes that we all desire, when he is elected as the next President of the United States of America.

Political Rhetoric Aside

The Democratic Party’s presidential nominee can be determined using three criteria. That candidate must have either won a majority of the states’ primaries or caucuses, collected more declared delegates to the national convention or have more popular votes that their competitors. Senator Barak Obama has done all three so far. Why then is Senator Clinton publicly calling for voters to support Obama as a Vice-Presidential running mate? Obviously, the second place candidate is not above the same political rhetoric that she accuses the front running Obama of spouting.

Can we the public tell when a presidential candidate is so desperate that she will say anything in order to catch up to a runaway movement of national change? Yes, we can. However, we can also appreciate how important it is to have all of the democrats who have been energized by the recent campaign to complete the mission of creating real change with a victory in November. Rather that trying to “hoodwink” us into supporting and upside down ticket let’s support the “Dream Team” of an Obama/Clinton ticket. I would even support the inclusion of Universal Healthcare as a plank in the final Party Platform as a compromise.

I want to see an end to the false war in Iraq, healthcare for all Americans, new green jobs for American workers, fair trade policies and America’s image abroad repaired causing fewer foreign radicals to want us all dead. If all I have to pay for all of that is to allow Senator Clinton on the ticket as Vice-President, so be it.

A Wonderful Thing

The Democratic Process is indeed a wonderful thing. As I watched the junior Super Tuesday primary election returns, I found it amazing that the old adage rang so true … “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” For all the talk of momentum, strategies, come backs, the fact is that the delegate count in the Democratic Party remained unchanged. Barak Obama did not lose any ground toward gaining his party’s nomination, when the dust settled in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The great opportunity represented in this election has been all of the energy generated within the voting public. Young people, African Americans, Latinos and Women have been empowered to a greater degree through the Democratic race than at anytime nearly 50 years. The great challenge will be how to keep the party together after the Democratic National Convention. It seems that Obama will still hold a lead in the delegate count, if the trend remains as it is. And, Clinton will still go into the National Convention with lots of political clout and popular support.

I must conclude that the only way that the Democratic Party can take the same energized voters into a successful White House campaign against the Republicans is to have both remaining candidates on the ticket. Here’s how I see that playing out.

First, Obama will have more delegates and therefore could not be denied the top spot on the ticket. Clinton would appear to have stolen the election from the people if she were to somehow persuade enough “superdelegates” to swing the nomination in her favor. The key policy difference between the two candidates is their Health Care Plan. Then, the obvious solution would be for Obama to accept the Clinton Universal Health Care Coverage plank into the Democratic Party’s platform and to run with her as the Vice-Presidential candidate.

Finally, I am very eager to see how elected officials who have endorsed Clinton, like our own U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, respond to the voice of their districts that have voted overwhelmingly in support of Obama. Can they realistically expect not to pay for their endorsements with the loss of the support of the voters? The Obama campaign represents how people can turn out to vote for a candidate, but they also turn out in record numbers to vote against a candidate who represents a threat to them or faithlessness to their ideals. I would find it hard to support and elected official who does not represent the will of his or her constituents. So keep a watch on those who are elected from the urban centers that have supported Obama but who now endorse Clinton. I would not be surprised to see them rightfully change their endorsements to Obama, rather to commit political suicide.

Fired Up and Ready To Go

Obama Campaign Rally 2/19/08

Toyota Center-Houston, Texas

Capacity Crowd w/ Obama on Stage

There are times in life when you are acutely aware that you are watching history in the making. As we watched the skyline of the Big Apple changed with a crashing cloud of dust, we knew. As we watched the night sky in Baghdad lit up with a shock and awe attack, we knew. As we watch dark blue states light up on the CNN Democratic electoral map of the USA account for Obama’s momentum swing from sea to shining sea, we know that history is being made.

Record numbers of voters are turning out to vote, not in the national presidential election, but in the state primary elections. We are watching a grassroots movement hatch out of the same democratic process which formerly disillusioned so many, but is now a source of pride. As the first speaker at the Houston Obama campaign rally last night rhetorically asked the enthusiastic crowd, “Have you ever been so proud to be a Texan?” My answer to those seated around me in the packed NBA basketball arena was, “Not since Juneteenth … the original Juneteenth.” Faces colored from butterscotch to dark chocolate all smiled back at me in agreement. They all sensed what I was sensing … history is being made.

Now, I don’t begrudge longtime Democratic Party warriors the opportunity to repay political debts to the Clinton camp. I’m sure that they will hop on the wagon when the second Super Tuesday results are in and Ohio and Texas vote to send the message to the New York Senator that it is more honorable to retire and let the momentum of the movement roll unfettered into the Democratic Convention this summer. All pundit pontification aside, the handwriting is on the wall and a Texas/Ohio sweep will be just the exclamation point to punctuate end of the primary race and the being of the national campaign for change.

Make history yourselves. Engage the process. Vote early. Take someone to the polls. Register online as a supporter. Speak up at the barbershop, the water cooler, in casual conversation with friends of all political persuasions. Educate yourself on the platform positions and plans. Then, bury the historical hatchet that has hacked our nation in half. Can America really be united behind one candidate, regardless of their party affiliation? Yes, we can.

Sideline the Smoking Syringe

Roger Clements is defending himself against accusations of using performance enhancing substances in the pursuit of excellence in his baseball career. Barry Bonds has steadfastly denied taking such substances to a chorus of criticism and skepticism by sports pundits. And, Marion Jones suffered an embarrassing conviction and sanctions connected with her involvement with performance enhancers.

As I have witnessed the furor burn from the media through the halls of Congress, I find myself having the most politically incorrect feelings about it all. I can honestly say I enjoyed watching Jones jet past her Olympic competition and I don’t believe that she was the only athlete in the games who got a pharmaceutical performance boost. I enjoyed watching Clements push the age envelop into certain Hall of Fame consideration. And, I enjoyed watching Bond bash baseballs out of ballparks at a record crushing pace.

If nothing else, the proliferation of performance enhancers has proven that they work. The competitive edge that they gave the stars of baseball seems to have been nullified by how pervasive they have apparently been. If the Mitchell Report found enough suspects to field nine starting line-ups then any baseball players who weren’t juicing was either not trying or just plain stupid. All of the uproar is fueled by the hypocrites disguised as baseball “purist” whose unrealistic romanticizing of the sport conveniently overlooks other performance enhancing advantages that modern players have over their counterparts of a hundred years ago. I don’t want to see players go back to horsehair in their balls or leather and steal cleats instead of ultra light weight shoes instead or hand stitched mitts stuffed with goose down instead of high-tech and specialized gloves machine made for every position. Afterall, the Bronx Bomber never chugged Gatorade.

There was a time when American athletes gained an advantage over the rest of the world by indulging in the original performance enhancing substance … red meat! Our advances in food quality and distribution gave us a clear advantage over our adversaries in developing nations. Just as equipment upgrades in sports like golf, tennis, football, basketball, track and field, swimming, gymnastics, winter sports and … heck every sport ... have continued to advance, perhaps it is time to upgrade the athletes, too.

Inevitably, the argument against the use of performance enhancers comes to the negative example pro athletes sets for our nation’s youth. But in generations to come, as our children unlock the human genetic code, human beings will find valid medical reasons to tamper with human DNA, just as valid medical reasons have uncorked the bottle of the performance enhancing genie. Even though high school athletes might be getting bigger and stronger only the elite athlete’s training and skill can break records. There’s much more to hitting a ball, running faster or even dominating your opponent than merely bulking up or adding muscle mass. Hard work and God-given talent would still be what separates the amateur from the elite athlete even if the playing field was leveled by making performance enhancing substances mandatory instead of prohibited.

What am I saying here? Easy … SO WHAT! The current atmosphere of hunting performance enhancing witches is more harmful than helpful to the American society at large. First, it stigmatizes the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone by the people who need them to recover for devastating illnesses, injuries and diseases. Second, the witch hunt distracts money, attention and resources away from more important issues like the War in Iraq; threats to the global ecology; monetary policies that are driving us toward economic recession; the need for affordable and universal health care; the diminishing of America’s middle class; the plundering of political influence by corporate special interest groups; the lingering undercurrent of social ills like racism, sexism, classism, agism, etc.; the wake of death that washes over foreign shores due to unbridled greed of western civilization; and on and on and on. The more things change on the field of sports competition, the more they stay the same for the world’s marginalized and oppressed masses. The more pleasure we derive from the spectacle of demonstrations of rising human potential in sports, the more pain we ignore when the mothers of the Third World bury their infant children by the millions. Finally, (and more selfishly) I want to see a 3 minute mile or a sub-9 second 100 or someone jump 30 or 40 feet. I want to see the upper limits of human potential expanded to mythical levels.

In short, let’s stop holding back both the human potential to perform on the field of sports and the human potential to resolve issues that demean the value of human life. What do you think?