Barack Obama: Deeper than Politics

I'm not much for polit(r)ic(k)s. I get in, obtain the necessary info, then get my ass out of the way. Politicians sling hella mud & mad shit, & fuck getting my shirt stained with rhetoric, propaganda, & empty promises. No dice. I'd rather do what I can, & watch the rest of these lobbyists, opportunists, & agitators make mountains out of mole hills. Not to say that unemployment, the national deficit, & the state of America in general should by any means be reduced to mole hills, but you smell my cologne. We, the people, vote for our president (to an extent-I'm aware of the electoral college), but once he's in office, there's not a whole helluva lot we can do about his choices. Thats why we elect a specific dude, as opposed to having some village democracy, where we're either all in compliance, or burn those who aren't at the stake.


Sure, President Obama hasn't been the perfect president. I think anybody that's not Jesus Christ would fall short of that expectation. But, that's a drop for another day. I'm starting to believe that American's love to love something, just because that way, they're guaranteed to have something to hate later on down the road. I also think that's the dynamic of an abusive relationship. See what I did there?


But, I digress.


There's a pretty good chance that the majority of Obama's work won't get noticed, or acted upon, until after his term has come & gone. I'm cool with that, though. "Running" a "powerful" country can't be as easy as George W. Bush made it appear, with vacations & made-up words & what have you. But, at least he's setting the wheels in motion, really though. There has to be a first Black president to open the doors & windows of America, & humanity alike, in order for non-traditional candidates of the future to ever have a chance at a possible candidacy.


Obama's promise/premise, before he was elected, was "Change we can believe in." I'm not sure even he realized the deep double-meaning of that simple phrase. He may not change the national debt, or the ban on gay marriage, or the status quo of nationwide happiness, but what he did change, immediately after inauguration, was what it meant to be a Black man in America, especially through the eyes of young, Black Americans. Think about it.


For all the novelty attached, being the first Black anything is a big deal. But, the first Black president is the biggest of deals (even if he's just a figurehead, he's THE figurehead...). Media coverage, the proverbial free world at his feet-so to speak, accolades & accomplishments that would be considered great regardless of the overachiever's pigmentation. He just so happens to be Black (African-American). At a juncture where athletes & musicians are idolized & martyr'd, here came a man who, by hard work & determination, literally changed the game. Not the basketball game, or the rap game, but the game of life, & how far it's limitations can actually be pushed. When I was a kid, the only young people who said, with any seriousness, "When I grow up, I wanna be the president!" were nerds & social outcasts whose parents forced them to learn to play piano in between chess club meetings. The problem wasn't their ambition, or inhibition, but the fact that such a dream was just that-a dream, of MLK proportions. & unless you live on Elm Street, dreams & realities can not co-exist. Until...


Little Black children worldwide look up to Barack Obama in ways they don't even understand yet. A child's aspirations have no governor, except for their own imagination. But when said imagination can be shifted to real-time achievement, it's like taking the red pill in the Matrix. An entire generation of babies has been unplugged, simultaneously, whether or not Universal Healthcare gets passed into effect. Whereas Dr. King has been more or less relegated to a life to be memorialized, & a holiday to be enjoyed, Barack Obama is the now. Right now. Turn on your TV & somebody, somewhere, is talking to, about, or for him. & the kids see this. They see a Black man without boundaries, without a microphone or a basketball, & this becomes their attainable, achievable reality.


To the willing recipient, the "change" comes in the form of pride. A pride that can't be provided by an NBA championship, #1 hit record or blockbuster movie role. A pride that made grandmothers cry in happy disbelief, & grown people here & there pick up their jaws, as they, WE, witnessed history being made. Grown-ups are so quick to get caught up in the odds, ends & implications of matters at hand, that we often lose sight of the bigger picture. Thank God children are the future. Now, their future seems a little bit brighter.


I thank you for that, President Barack Obama.