WHY BARACK OBAMA MUST WIN

By Talbert W. Swan, II

One year ago, I sent a letter to Senator Barack Obama encouraging him to run for President of the United States. I also wrote a column for this newspaper entitled “Barack Obama Should Run for President,” which was published in February 2007. As a follow-up to my previous article, I offer the following for why we should elect Senator Obama:

In April and June 2008, we will mark the respective 40^th anniversaries of the assassinations of two of the most influential American figures of the 20th century, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and United States Senator Robert Francis Kennedy. Both men were young, enormously intelligent, charismatic and gifted orators who challenged the social order of the United States and the world. They gave the world “hope” for a better tomorrow.

Forty years have passed and a new “world class” leader has emerged. He is a leader that transcends race, class, and ideology. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has caught fire and become a movement that is sweeping across the country like a tidal wave. The American people understand it’s the politicians who are a little slow; but, then again, the American people are always ahead of traditional politicians.

When visiting South Africa in 1965, Robert F. Kennedy quoted Archimedes by saying, “give me a place to stand and I will move the world.” In 1968, after the assassination of Dr. King, Kennedy said that Americans needed to make an effort “to go beyond these rather difficult times.” Dr. King stated, “Truth crushed to earth shall rise again.” Over the past 40 years there has been much crushing of truth to the earth. Senator Obama often speaks of “the urgency of the moment,” a statement uttered by Dr. King from time to time.

The American people have given Obama a place to stand and based upon the condition of our world, there is a definite urgency of the moment and a need to move beyond difficult times. The King and Kennedy movements and their legacies have been awakened through the memories of the “baby boomers,” who remember them well and hold onto nostalgia, and through today’s youth whose genes have memory of those hopeful days before the assassinations.

So here we are, in 2008, among a new generation in need of transitional leadership, a shared vision, mobilization of commitment for the vision and institutionalization of change strategies. The American people have been severely divided by race, class, religion, income, and other wedge issues used by today’s political figures. In my estimation, regardless of where one comes down on social issues, Americans are pretty much free thinkers.

Senator Barack Obama must win so that Americans are encouraged to continue to be free thinkers. We must promote all the possibilities and infinite potential of the unfettered human spirit.

Obama must win so that the ideologies of the few are not forced down the throats of the many.

Obama must win so the voice of consciousness is not silenced amongst the threat of being labeled as unpatriotic or un-American.

Obama must win because he understands the benefit of allowing diverse views to be articulated in a way that is meaningful in a pluralistic society.

Obama must win to create a new paradigm in which divisive politics no longer stifle open, civil dialogue where controversial ideas can be discussed and debated in a civil manner.

Obama must win to level the playing field between the healthy social order, education and the military industrial complex.

Obama must win to level the playing field between drug prevention/treatment and incarceration.

Obama must win to level the playing field between testing and comprehensive education.

Obama must win to restore hope and reduce cynicism and the fanaticism promoted by the neo-cons.

Obama must win so Americans can once again feel the hope that has been lost. n