BARACK OBAMA SHOULD RUN

FOR PRESIDENT

By Talbert W. Swan, II

By the time this article is published in February, Senator Barack Obama will have already announced whether or not he is running for President of the United States of America. I hope he does. The junior senator from Illinois has become a national phenomenon and draws crowds of people who want to see him, hear him and touch him wherever he goes.

People can’t help but be attracted by Obama’s background, a White mother and Kenyan father, and his early residences in Hawaii, Indonesia and Kansas. His life’s experience is one of multi-racialism. In addition, he has a degree from Harvard Law School and was the first Black editor of the Harvard Law Review, which suggests a high level of intelligence, which he obviously used in establishing a political career in state level politics. To top it all off, there’s his charisma and that likable smile, telegenic qualities that fit well in a media where personal appeal makes for great political allure.

Senator Obama has attracted all kinds of people and has sold out halls in a rock-star fashion, eliciting the chant, “run, Barack, run.” However, unlike a similar chant meant for Jesse Jackson in 1984, this chant is not coming from Black people, which is a major difference. Obama has seemingly transcended the race question and garnered support across ethnic lines. As a potential candidate, who is favored by the White mainstream and running second in the polls to Hilary Clinton at this writing, Obama should run for president, which is also the right of Black people, especially since he doesn’t lose politically. Even if he loses the nomination, he will heighten his leadership profile in national politics and ensure his senate re-election in 2010.

I recently sent Obama a letter urging him to seek the presidency. I’ll close this column by sharing some excerpts of what I said to America’s only African American Senator:

In the latter part of the 1960’s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy inspired America and gave its citizens hope. The assassinations of these two great men within two months of each other placed America in a state of shock. The 1960’s represented a period of transition for our country as a type of malaise had set upon America in part because of a costly war, which brought out the worst in some, while Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy brought out the best in others.

In the course of human history, from time to time, a bright, shining star appears in the galaxy to lead us back to the path of righteousness or at least the path back to sanity. When that time comes, “in the eye of the moment,” nothing can dim the light from that star. This is the moment and you are a bright, shining star. Your political future is not in the hands of political pundits, whether from the right or the left [they very seldom get anything right anyway], nor is it in the hands of the political strategist or fundraisers. You are an idea whose time has come. We have come through many generations, men, women, boys and girls of all ethnicities, nationalities and political persuasions, to this moment in time. This moment is so much bigger than you and all the political establishments combined. This moment is the “call” to alter the course of not just United States history, but of human history.

I urge you to run for president of the United States of America and not to be concerned with anything or anyone who advises you differently. Your challenge is to remain true to your faith, your values and to motivate, lead and inspire America. When you do this, we all win. Whether or not you win the presidency, we win. We are destined to win back our dignity and respect, the respect of the international community, the meaning of the sacred inscription on the Statue of Liberty that urges the world to bring America their poor and hungry masses, and the expectations of Americans that they have a right to the truth based on accurate, objective and balanced information.

I am certain you are aware of the malaise our country is in. On the right there is too much hypocrisy and on the left too much cynicism. This condition has paralyzed our country to the point that it has been unable to act in its own best interest. Our elected leaders seem afraid to take a stand on sensitive issues such as, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Cuba, the war in Iraq, and the “isms.” Yes, the “isms” are yet alive and well in America, or else there would be no discussion on whether or not our country is ready for a woman or an African American president.

I believe yours is the charge to plant our feet on higher ground. You can be to America what faith is to the believer -- the substance of what is hoped for and the evidence of what is unseen. Phenomena are unseen; we cannot capture it, see it, smell it or understand it, we just accept it. This is your time, the moment for which you were born. You are now in the “eye of the moment.”