Izzy Mo’s Blog

Barack Obama: “Victory” Prints

Originally uploaded by hyperakt

I’m having a surreal moment right now.  I still can’t believe Barack Hussain Obama is my president.  It’s really strange.  I’m happy but cautious.  In some circles, I’m not allowed to happy about it.  Whatever.  I know he’s not an angel.  He’s not Superman.  And his handsome stature, eloquent speech, African-European heritage and political savvy doesn’t make him perfect.  But he has the potential to be better than the one we put up with for 8 years. 

I know he can’t undo all of America’s bad foreign policies, especially in regards to Palestine.  He might try but AIPAC really, really, REALLY has a lockdown on Washington.  And we who clamor for justice for the Palestinians have not created a viable counterweight to that.  So I’m not expecting miracles.  A left-leaning radical president has not stepped into the White House so don’t even think that way. 

I would caution people about expecting to much from him.  He can’t clean up eight years in four.  The economy and criminals who control it have more power than him.  We have to be in it for the long haul.  Thankfully, lots of people, Muslim and non-Muslim, have been congratulating me and other Americans on Obama’s success. 

What I hope for is four years that reflect a principled, balanced, ethical leadership.  No more recklessness, no more “my way or no way.” Insha’Allah, we have elected someone who will do his best to listen, give an ear to both sides.  Insha’Allah, we will understand that President Obama (man, I still can’t get over that!) can’t do it by himself.  It’s time to fulfill our end of the bargain.  If change is really coming, it has to come from all of us.  And changing the last eight years is going to be a long, dirty battle–but a worthy one.

Be very afraid. (emphasis mine)

Make Believe Maverick

In its broad strokes, McCain’s life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers’ powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives’ evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.

A better pilot?  :::Gulp:::

I’ve been in the States since Friday morning.  Within two hours of leaving the airport, I was at the Georgia voters’ registration office.  Yeah, I voted.  I thought that I could let apathy be the rule for this year’s election.  But everytime I think I’ll sit out, I find myself back at the ballot.  I guess all those civic classes from grade school are still a part of me. 

This following entry is not to criticize those who are sitting out this election for various reasons–especially those based on Islamic jurisprudence.  Some do not believe it’s halal or even moral to participate in this election.  I’m sure many of us are agonizing over it.  We don’t want to elect a tyrant yet we don’t want to sit back and watch our country fall apart.  And while voting is certainly not the only way to practice civic responsibility, it is one of the easiest.

I’m not expecting miracles from Obama if he wins.  I know there’s only so much he can do.  And it will take more than four years to clean up this mess.  But…

Sweet holy crap, McCain and Palin have gone too friggin’ far! 

While I think it’s wonderful that so many people of different backgrounds have rallied behind a Black candidate, it’s still obvious that for many people race still matters.

How can we take seriously a VP candidate who changes colleges six times within six years?  Obama is a Harvard grad who graduated first of his class.  Yet his contender graduated fifth to last of his class at the Naval Academy at Annapolis.  Yep, he was #894 of 899!  This is further proof that as a candidate of color, you have to be better than best and smarter than the smartest–even if your challengers have all the intellectual capacity of a brick! 

We have two people, vying to lead the so-called friggin’ free world, who are affliated with such groups as the Alaskan Independance Party.  This is a group that wants Alaska to be its own independent nation and doesn’t have any warm, fuzzy feelings about the United States. 

I’m glad I won’t be here watching this insanity unfold because and I feel like I could get an ulcer.  That’s why I’m up at 4:30 am writing this entry.  It’s just so unbelievable (yet, maybe it isn’t all that unbelievable) that it has come to this.  An over-achieving Harvard grad against an under-achieving, cantakerious, sickly old man and a former beauty queen with dreams of Armaggeddon. 

And I haven’t even talked about Palin’s psycho minister who make Reverands Parsley and Hagee look like lambs.  Check out Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on Tariq’s blog. 

Bin Laden is somewhere laughing his drawz off!

Now since the Republican party likes to shout about morality all the time, I think it’s time to take the gloves off.  Because everytime they start talking about morality and family values, one of them gets caught in a bathroom trying to hook up with gay prostitutes.  We all know that Sarah Palin has a daughter who had a child out of wedlock.  We know that both Mc Cain and Palin were unfaithful to their spouses. 

Do you think Obama would be given a pass if it was discovered that he cheated on Michelle?  Do you think if he graduated fifth to LAST that they wouldn’t point that out every single second?!?!!

We have a financial crisis that’s so bad that people are finding murder and suicide as viable solutions.  How desperate do you have to be that you would rather kill yourself and your whole family than face another day?  A woman, who is 90 year old, shot herself before she was evicted from her home.  Rep. Dennis Kucinich pleaded her case and now Fannie Mae has forgiven her (ain’t that a joke) and she doesn’t have to pay back her home loan.  So I guess you have to kill yourself (or others) in order to manage this economic crisis.  Meanwhile, executives from AIG celebrated the recent bailout by chilling out at a California spa. 

Check this out…

AIG documents obtained by Waxman’s investigators show the company paid more than $440,000 for the retreat, including nearly $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 in spa charges.

But do McCain and Palin talk about this?  Naaaah.  They focus on Ayers, the “domestic terrorist” and 60’s radical who currently teaches at the University of Illnois in Chicago.  I guess they couldn’t get the Muslim terrorist thing to stick (though I know they are still trying!) so they had to pull out this one. Though I can’t fault Obama for not knowing about this.  After all, the dude was 8 years old when Ayers did his radical activities.  Note to the wise:  a lot of those 60s radicals are now teaching in American universities or serving as politicians and lawyers.  :::wink, wink:::

And to show you what kind of man McCain is, he’ll attack Obama everywhere on the campaign trail and accuse him of all kinds of evil.  But he won’t do it to his face–this POW won’t do it to his face! 

Something has to give.  Obama is leading in the polls.  But I don’t like to assume anything because Gore and Kerry were the expected winners of 2000 and 2004 respectively. 

Something has to give.  Something has to change.

Too many of my friends are talking about joining me in Dubai. 

But this mud-slinging, politics of distraction has got to stop. 

Cut the crap and focus on the issues, pleeeeeez!

Newspapers get complaints for DVD ad on Muslims

The decision over running the ad was similar to what online services like Google Inc.’s YouTube and Yahoo Inc.’s Flickr face when they let users freely share provocative video or photos. They get complaints of promoting unpopular viewpoints when they try to uphold free-speech principles; they get complaints of censorship when they don’t.

Newspapers generally insist on giving a platform to a variety of viewpoints, but readers who complained were largely critical.

“I cannot believe that I was sent the hate-inflaming, fear-mongering video disk `Obsession’ in my newspaper!” Margaret Lewis of Durham, N.C., wrote to The News & Observer. “What will you enclose next? KKK robes?”

Because if it has, then I will weep. 

America is either going through a rough patch in its national history…

or it is going to be known as the shortest-lived empire in human history.

I’m trying to stay optimistic but Naomi Wolf thinks otherwise. (thanks for the correction!)

Dear World, Please Confront America

The Washington Post gave readers actual video footage of the abusive interrogation of a Canadian minor, Omar Khadr, who was seen showing his still-bleeding abdominal wounds, weeping and pleading with his captors. So the truth is out and freely available. And America is still napping, worrying about its weight, and hanging out at the mall.

****

We Americans are either too incapable or too dysfunctional to help ourselves. We need our friends to intervene, just like drug addicts or the mentally ill who refuse treatment. We need them to remember us as we were in our better moments, and to take action to save us from ourselves. 

 

A few days ago, I got an email from one of my online Yahoo groups. The email contained a long prayer, or du’a, for Barack Obama.  At first, I didn’t want to think anything about it because there’s nothing wrong with praying for God to guide and protect our politicians.  After all, we may not like them but they do have considerable power over us and we want them to use that power wisely.  But the wording of the prayer was so strange.  Our brother.  I could be paranoid or overly cynical. 

Back in New Orleans, I visited my friend’s clothing store.  I had to pause when I saw a t-shirt with a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Barack Obama…together.  Prior to this, of course, were the soulful musings of “Yes We Can” by Hollywood celebrities.  Hands down, Barack has the coolest, most hip celebrities in his corner.  Who could say no to Scarlett Johanson or Will.i.am?  We’ve all heard the comparisons made about him.  “He sounds like Martin Luther King or President John F. Kennedy.”  And let’s face it, those two men are burned into the American psyche.  They are our martyrs for justice and peace. They represent, for many of us, the best that our country has to offer in the way of leadership and courage (despite their well-publicized character flaws).  But to compare a modern-day politician to these two men is dangerous.  Just as some Muslim Americans wish for another Malcolm X-type leader to burst onto the scene, so do many Americans wish we had a leader–a real leader–who can fix this current, disastrous state of affairs. 

I know people, too many people, who are caught up in Obamamania.  And it’s hard not to get inspired.  It’s hard to listen to him not believe that a new America is possible.  After all, he have a Black man running for president.  This is something I thought I would never see in my lifetime but I’m witnessing it.  There’s a Black man running for president and he’s commanding the attention of millions.  And he’s doing it without singing, rapping, or dancing.  Naysayers like to point out that Obama is there solely because of the Black vote but the fact remains that there aren’t enough Blackamericans to put a Black man in the White House.  His supporters differ in race, social economic status, religion and politics.  Plus, the idea of having a president in office who can effectively articulate his thoughts and inspire people seems like a breath of fresh air when compared to eight years of stuttering, stumbling Bushisms. 

I like the idea of Barack Obama.  In fact, I love it.  He seems to represent a nation that has come a long way in race relations.  It’s inspiring to see a candidate who not only seems to have my political and social outlook, but also shares my color, heritage and race. 

I like the idea of Barack Obama.  But let’s look at the man. Let’s ground ourselves in reality and look at the politician.

Too many times, as non-Caucasian people, we get roped into this idea that the politician who looks like us will have naturally our back.  You know what I’m talking about.  “Well so-and-so is Black so I’ll vote for him.”  This is the same mentality that got Ray Nagin re-elected after Hurricane Katrina despite his dismal record.  And a lot of Muslims are saying the same thing.  “Barack has to say he supports Israel in order to get elected.  Things will change once he’s in office.  He’ll work with us once he’s elected.”  I don’t think it’s mean of me of me to ask certain questions or have particular reservations about the man.  No, I’m not voting for McCain but as this election pushes on, Obama leaves me feeling more uncomfortable.

(to be continued)