yitz is an agnoster - February 1st 2008

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yitz is an agnoster
Friday, February 1st, 2008

Date:	2008-02-01 15:01
Subject:	He's so dreamy!
Security:	Public

You know, two weeks after Bloody Sunday, when the march finally reached Montgomery, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the crowd of thousands and said "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." He's right, but you know what? It doesn't bend on its own. It bends because we help it bend that way. Because people like John Lewis and Hosea Williams and Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks and thousands of ordinary Americans with extraordinary courage have helped bend it that way. And as their examples call out to us from across the generations, we continue to progress as a people because they inspire us to take our own two hands and bend that arc.

-- US Senate Speech by Barack Obama

Gave some more money to Obama. It's possible that you can, too! And anyway, if you're not voting for Obama, we should talk. Maybe we can learn something from each other!

The problem I find with trying to make my case for Obama is that there are so many reasons for it, so where do I start? Do I talk about how he stands a much better chance of winning the general election than Clinton? Or how he's more likely to get stuff done because he knows how to work together with politicians on both sides of the aisle? What about his staunch opposition to the Iraq War from the beginning? Maybe the symbolism, both to America and the world, of having a black President named Barack Hussein Obama? The way he has inspired a grass-roots movement and given hope to people that our political system isn't broken beyond our ability to repair if we try? His commitment to open and transparent government? The simple fact that his rhetoric is an exhortation to us all to be a part of government that bends the arc back into the right direction? His academic manner of finding the right solution by listening to all sides of an issue, with a compass that is moral but not ideological? How he won't shy away from calling the economic argument against immigration scapegoating, or addressing anti-semitism and homophobia in African-American communities? His ability to unite Democrats, Republicans, and Independents as part of one America?

I think what it comes down to is - yes, there are many reasons to like Barack Obama, and why he would be a fine president - but it's not just about the individual, it's about the movement. Obama knows that it will take more than a change of personnel in the White House to right the wrongs in America. Obama is getting new people involved in droves - new voters, first-time contributors, new political organizers, and this is just the beginning. A democracy cannot function without an engaged populace, and that is, I think, the great hope of the Obama campaign - that we can once again become inspired and involved. It is our responsibility to bend the arc of the moral universe, and yes, we can.