Reply #70: The "Cult" of Obama??

[davsand]

Bless you for talking so eloquently about this, Bonobo!

I am here in downstate Illinois and I have experienced what you describe for a while now. I got on board with the Obama campaign early on in his Senate Primary race and I had more than a few times that my Obama button or sticker generated a difference that is difficult to describe but very real. I was sporting a "Women for Obama" button as soon as they were available, and the phenom continues and has magnified.

I was raised by parents that came of age in a time when people were judged solely by the amount of pigmentation in their skin. Schools were segregated and there was a huge divide in this country. My father held on to some of that all his life. When Obama talked about his Grandmother saying stuff that made him uncomfortable I totally understood. When he later spoke of Rev Wright and that fact that he disagreed with some of what he says--but he loves him because of WHO he is, I understood that too.

I grew up in a time when Dr King was part of our world and people were working actively to get past the differences of race. I grew up in a world where everyone paid lip service to the idea that we are all wonderful and unique--yet we saw the inner cities dieing and we saw acts of discrimination every day. I watched as they passed laws to make discrimination less common, but I still saw things that were wrong and hurtful--and they were common. I chose to live my life looking for the commonalities we all share, and I chose to live my life in a way that affirmed the value we all carry.

In many ways, I think Obama offers our country an opportunity to progress in a way that we have not seen since Dr King was on this earth. I think what you experienced is just one small manifestation of that hope.


Laura