Obama Moments: Hip-Hop Artists & Political Figures Reflect

[claypool4prez]

http://www.ballerstatus.com/article/beyondhiphop/2008/09/5481/



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"On a nippy February morning in Springfield, Illinois, a man named Barack Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. The country collectively yawned, the media snickered, conservatives cracked jokes, liberals worried that he was just overcrowding an already packed field primary field, and Black America smiled, but rolled back over in the bed, back into the covers, believing that nothing substantial would ever come of it.

Because that's the way it's always been, and that's the way it is. That's the way it is, and the way it always will be. So, as Tupac so expressively put it, "And although it seems heaven sent / We ain't ready, to see a black president."



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"Now, with the convention past us, Obama has become the first African-American in American history to run on a major party ticket, and the first to ever be nominated by a major party. With Obama having accepted the nomination exactly forty-five years to the day that Dr. King delivered his renowned "I Have a Dream Speech," BallerStatus reflects on the moments and victories that got Obama to this point.

It's only fitting because we were there for the first electioneering at the historic Wayfarer Inn in New Hampshire over two years ago. And there on the streets of Columbia when Obama won South Carolina. Now we're joined in a conversation, about the irony and significance of Obama's candidacy, by Chuck D, Twista, the Kidz In The Hall, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Lord Jamar, South Carolina State Representative Bakari Sellers, as well as William McNary, an Obama elected delegate, and Rep. Keith Ellison, an Obama super delegate."


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BallerStatus.com: What is going to make Obama such a different president than McCain, especially in dealing with the economy and foreign policy?

Rep. Ellison: Well first of all, McCain said he'd have no problem if America kept fighting in Iraq for a hundred years. Obama wants peace, and he wants to bring the troops home. McCain has personally admitted that he doesn't know anything about the economy, and his advisers are the very people whose ideas got us into current economic mess. The differences are clear, between peace and a continuation of war, between continuing the Bush tax cuts for the rich or a new direction for the economy, and between hope and despair.

William McNary: As far as what kind of administration, and how he will treat people. Let's look at what he's doing now. If you go to one of his two offices in downtown Chicago, it is full of young volunteers. There are young people who are not only answering the phones, they're plotting some strategy. When he goes to different campaigning stops, he makes a point of acknowledging all the different volunteers who've helped the grassroots movement in that particular area. He will not just rely on the manpower or the physical sweat of young organizers, but he cares about what they think, he wants their input and to help him strategize. So I imagine or envision him being like a Franklin Roosevelt, who used to invite community organizations and unions and so forth to his White House and he would have meetings with them. He would listen to their concerns. Barack is going to keep his ear to the ground, and he'll rely on those people to keep his feet on the ground.