Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Mountain Top and Promised Land – Not yet

I had a happy go lucky post but I was like fuc that shit. 5 The world we live in has changed in just one day. Not via the first African American President, but more so because of a change in generations. The challenge of his victory is not for the man to succeed, but rather for those of us to step up to the plate and be critical, to become more knowledgeable and aware and more importantly, to except the responsibility of change. Yep, it is not on him, but rather us. We have been moved by rhetoric proffered by an impassioned man of intellect, can and will we match his motivation is what will be required for him to leave a legacy in the name of Washington and Lincoln. His poetry again is extremely lofty, but the challenge is and will be his actions and what he practice.

It was interesting for me that he thanked and congratulated George W. Bush for his leadership – namely because he criticized the policies of the former president and not the man. I wonder if we as people can do the same; separate the person and the individual from their policies. I do such but many cannot see such a distinction. I remember when J.C. Watts was in the house and how I vehemently disagreed with his positions, I still respected him, as I do Obama, albeit I disagree with his approach. I just don’t recall nobody getting upset when I held J.C. to task and respected him at the same time. Maybe I am wrong to obviate emotion from problem solving, but such is neither here nor there. But it is ok for Obama, not for me as a simple man who cooks breakfast and dinner each day for his family, runs his own business and brushes his teeth with baking soda instead of purchasing toothpaste.

True I am an idealist, and I may upset some folks when I say what they desire not to hear, or see or think about and to them. It is not about me or you, but us, and us is not monolithic clones – we are all diverse and valuable. But I will never take any thing personally if it is on a given subject matter, but I will if it is about me or my family. Maybe it is the scientist in me for it is my desire to understand, just understand. I do not mean or intend to offend folks, or make them angry with what I write, but if I do, so be it. I do not mean or intend to make folks happy or smile with what I write but if I do so be it.

The point still remains that collective responsibility will make or break the president and his success not me being critical or folks being over protective. It will be us. It’s like its cool for the news or media to keep politicians honest and be critical of them, even when they repeat as opposed to think and evaluate, but not a regular, single black male parent who only has the interest of his kids at heart and the world the reside in. I don’t desire ratings or viewers, but if u do it is cool, if you don’t it is cool. Just be open and objective is all I request and leave your emotion on the chest of drawers.

So do what you must and say what you must, be critical, even of me but equally of those that have control over your life more so than my words and thoughts. I just happen to be a product of my elders, and not the only person whose mother (since we had no car) had to take the bus to the only hospital (John Gaston) that admitted blacks, just so I could be born, So say and do what you must with respect to me for I am strong and a leader – just not a politician. Emotion in thought is for the week minded and followers when it regards problem solving and suggesting solutions.

I am just afraid, afraid that folks will think that we have over come that we are at the mountain top, that we have reached the Promised Land. But I know, like Richard Pryor, and Gil Scott, and George Clinton said – people can’t handle the truth. And albeit you may consider it my truth, the truth is until I see health care for all, until I see the education gap decreased (hasn’t since 1954 Brown versus Board of Topeka), until black men are not admitted to prisons disproportionate to their place in the general population, until kids in America if the are of African descent do not have a mortality rate of Uganda, until I am not the only African American father active in the PTA, I don’t care who or what color the president is, I will be critical. So take that and if such is perceived as a high horse and contrite and un-touching all I can say is Jesus wept. The work is on us folk. Maybe this is the post partisian area, maybe not. Likewise, maybe I should look at him as Barack Obama instead of Mr. President – naw, I think not. For as Obama has said, we should expect and demand more of our leaders, and I do folk.

26 comments:

404 said...

Well hell folk, tell us how you REALLY feel.......


You brought up many valid points and yes God...I too hold him accountable.


*packin my bowl,lookin 4 my lighter*

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

red snapper
look at u lol

AuTh3nTiK said...

I hold him accountable too!

and WOW at your post. As you can see "WOW" seems to be my favorite post phrase for you.

Anonymous said...

word.

SoulOnIce said...

What you said is something we all need to keep in mind: this should be motivaton for everyone to do better, become more knowledgeable, become more accountable, and to just...plain-wanna-do-better. I kinda worry (at times when I sit by myself at night; scratch that, I worry VERY MUCH) that our people will simply become content with the fact that we have a Black president, and he's just gonna hand something out. The people who believe that are in for a RUDE awakening, that's for sure.

Hopefully, people won't get it twisted. I'm THRILLED this man became President, for a number of reasons, but I also know this will not (and should not) mean work will be easier, rewards will be reaped, or anything like that. My own accountability has increased ten-fold, and I hope others will as well. Also, people have to be ready to be critical of his policies, have a game plan for action, and charge his ass up WHEN he messes up (because he will mess up). Like you said about Bush, he was critical of his policies, but didn't question his manhood. Bush seems like a cool cat. He just lost my respect as a President when he fucked up during Katrina (am I allowed to cuss on this site????). Basically put, this all needs to be kept in perspective (the next days, months, and years).

I expect way more from us (and maybe that's unfair, I'm open to listen) than I do from any politician, whether he looks like me or not. I just want him to do his best, and in return, I want us to do the same.

paisley said...

now that's what i am talking about.. .let the games begin......

rainywalker said...

RDB,
When Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address it was considered by many to be just another speech. The presidents speech which by the way he wrote himself also will go down in history as one of the best.
If the next four years does not work out it will be on our backs, the American people, not the president.
When I disagree with you I'm sure you will know it.
rainy

Glen Antoine Palmer said...

I am excited to see a man of color as POTUS. However, I am more excited about the tasks ahead. Maybe we have become too complacent and felt that the Civil Rights Movement was around. Maybe we got too fat off bling, flat screen TVs, and fancy cars. Personal responsibility has been put on the back burner. I was going to put this on my site, a bible verse President Obama used, because it sums up how I am feeling:

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

It is time for men to indeed become men and stop messing around. Taking care of business. Financially, spiritually, career wise, in our marriages, etc. We have to realize that the mountaintop has not been reached yet. I'm glad that you intend to hold everyone accountable...party affiliation, ethnic group, or gender be damned. Intellectual discourse is always a good thing.

KELSO'S NUTS said...

What I like and dislike both about Obama is that he doesn't seem motivated by money. His vices are a self-aggrandizement jones and a laxness on doing the homework. He's such a brilliant politician that he'll be able to go along ways before those vices begin to irk people.

I don't know what to make of George W. Bush except that he ran a very poor Administration, allowed Halliburton and Custer-Battles to steal everything that wasn't nailed down, and lied his nation into a war. I have a fear that they knew about 9/11 and figured it would make political hay they just never expected it to be that bad. But that's just a guess.

I thought this over for a long time, but I believe that Bush Senior and even Quayle were not that bad. They, too, had some greed and certainly availed themselves of S & L loot but nobody died over that. Operation Just Cause was Just Guernica and the worst thing MORALLY Bush Senior ever did. I'll give Bush Senior credit for stopping the carnage at 3000 dead and 100,000 homeless when General Colin Powell had fantasies about killing all 2,000,000 residents of La Ciudad de Panama or at least all 50,000 residents of the El Chorillo neighborhood.

On social policy, Bush Sr was way more compassionate than either Reagan, Clinton or Bush Jr. He INCREASED not DECREASED the AFDC allocation and the EITC for the working poor. His AG, Dick Thornburgh, was one of the more sensible and sensitive people to hold that position. Janet Reno was trigger-happy. Neither Bush Sr, nor Thornburgh, were terribly interested in prosecuting vice cases, nor were they the ardent FAKE DRUG WARRIORS that REAGAN, CLINTON and BUSH JR was. (Drug "Warrior" = Drug Dealer) despite the Noriega/Endara thingy.

He made no attempts to mess with either Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. His economic policies were identical to Clinton's, both tight-tight inflation hawks. Bush Sr more or less threw away his chance at a second term by doing the honorable thing and sticking to a tight fiscal policy through the recessions of 1989 through 1992 because that was what he thought was right for his country. He would have had a much better chance had he revved things up fiscally in 1991 but there was a tight oil market hang-over from Desert Storm and GHWB didn't want to gamble on stagflation. Bush/Brady had a very good and cost effective plan to ameliorate instablility in the emerging hemispheric debt markets. Clinton used the IMF/World Bank shock therapy approach until he saw what Vivendi had done in Ecuador -- privatizing the potable water supply -- and he subsequently backed off that approach, taking a much more collaborative, supportive, approach to the floating of the Argentine Peso and Brazilian Real as well as the linking of the Venezuelan Bolivar to the USD.

He even found USES for that silly Quayle. Quayle was no genius but had one very good quality: he was an extremely good guy. He was beloved by every Senator he had served with so he made a great salesman on the Hill for anything Bush Sr came up with.

All-in-all, while Clinton's foreign policy was a mixed bag favoring the good and Bush Sr's foreign policy was a little too aggressive, I really can't find too much difference in quality there.

I know sure as I'm typing this that GHWB would never have thrown 25mm children off of welfare during a boom the way Clinton did.

Both Bush Sr and Clinton were equally good on the fall of the Soviet Union and on facilitating majority rule in South Africa. Both handled Somalia and Rwanda equally badly.

Bush Sr had once excellent appointment to the Supremes in Souter and one stiff in Thomas. He got kind of screwed there because he let the political team choose Thomas when he wanted Robert Sweet or Royce Lamberth both top-shelf.

Clinton had one superior appointment in Breyer and one good one in Ginsburg.

Bush Sr campaigned as an ultra-right winger and governed as a moderate conservative. Clinton campaigned as a populist and governed as a different kind of moderate conservative.

Bush had the better Treasury Secretary in Nicholas Brady over Clinton's Rubin/Summers. Bush's National Security Team of Scowcroft, Baker III and Shultz were well above average. Clinton's had a mixed bag with Albright (horrible), Christopher (absent), Talbott (useless), Holbrooke (very good), Lake (absent), Woolsey (bloodthirsty) and himself (superior). Both Bush Sr and Clinton prosecuted their signature military actions with some degree of care. Bush was sharp enough to relegate Powell to #2 under Schwarzkopf for Desert Storm having finally realized just how crazed up Powell gets in these situations. Clinton made an easy and good call in Wesley Clark.

Clinton had a superior intellect, Bush Sr an average intellect but was no less effective. Bush Sr was extremely circumspect about mixing religion and politics. Clinton was not. Bush Sr was the last moderate Republican to serve as president and his record's in no danger. Bush Sr had an unfortunately awkward bearing and speaking style, whereas Clinton was all grace and charm. Bush Sr was an honest and occasionally honorable thief. Clinton was a dishonest and occasionally dishonorable person and a FUCKIN SHOW who was not a thief. Clinton was the first conservative Democrat to serve as President. Obama may or may not be the 2nd.

It's a very tough call as to who was better between Bush Sr and Clinton as a public servant. Bush Sr bravely dealt with 4 very difficult years. Clinton bravely dealt with 2 very difficult years and then served 6 more easy ones. In the end, you'd give the edge to Clinton for longer service in better economic times, but it's not the slam dunk it seems at first blush.

It makes sense, I know. It's all too easy to call it a no-contest win for Clinton but it wasn't that way at all. When everyone tells me something's obvious, I usually am 2x inspired to find flaw in the public's argument. I had to do a lot of reading and thinking about the question to sort that out for myself, buy Bush, Sr was nowhere near as bad as his reputation and Clinton nowhere near as good.

Obama's an odd case. EVERYBODY says he's the greatest but no one seems to be sure why they feel that way. So, my mind remains open and my research continues.

Angel said...

Hey Torrance, well I think that yes one man cant change everything, its up to the people now to start changing themselves, I hope him being on top provides inspriation to the lost

Vee said...

he should very much be held accountable. He signed up for the job...time to put him to work..lol

KayC, The Quiet Storm said...

I agree that just putting a black man in charge of the free world is not reaching the promise land.

I don't think any of us (him included) knows the magnitude of the mountain he has to face. Unfortunately I do think a lot of people will be disappointed in the years to come. He is not the second coming of the Messiah. He is simply a man who has to work within a system.

The greatest thing he has done is to start to enstill hope in black people which was lost for far too long. Maybe that hope will spark a little something to start black people to believe in themselves and the black family. If we can get the family structure and respect back on track, hope is not lost.

MP said...

I hear you on the whole reached the mountain top thing. We are far from it. Everybody excited but I'm still feeling very skeptical and I want to know what all this really means for America.

Amber-Alert said...

i agree with kayc...BO has given people hope hes an inspiration to a lot of folk so hopefully we can take that and move forward (yea we have a long way to go)...we should always have a certain level of respect for each other even if we disagree with a persons opinion or whatever..attack the argument NOT the person...once a person feels disrespected its a wrap...u've lost them. i actually felt bad for bush on tues...

msladyDeborah said...

Not by a long shot!

But you did hit on the importance of the moment. Which is the response-that is the key. What we decide to do for ourselves as individuals and collectively.

There is nothing wrong with being critical. Or pointing out what is incorrect. If we did not do so then we are the ones who have lost perspective.

Even though your mannerisms on a particular post did piss me off,I still maintain that we need our collective intelligence, energy and talent working to do what we need to. That would include you my brother.

He is going to be held accountable. If we do not do so-then we are not getting the gist of what should be going on.

Katrina said...

Agreed! Of course the job and the man should be viewed as separate entities. I'm still glad that a good man is in office, and hope he will lead us by his goodwill. I'm sure he will :) God bless America!

Anonymous said...

Oh btw, no I didn't take you off my blogroll, lol...but I added you to my new one...

http://blackgirlthoughts.blogspot.com/

Ms_Slim said...

Very good note. Now...what'd you think of my poem? You just came to it and sent me here LOL

Emily Troutman said...

hey i think you'd like my obama video. over the past week, i asked hundreds of people to pick a word to describe how they feel about obama's inauguration. then i took their portrait with the word.

the words included "proud," "love," "skeptical" and "angry."

i put all the photos into a video. check it out: http://www.emilytroutman.blogspot.com

or for high def: http://vimeo.com/2895468

Kit (Keep It Trill) said...

Excellent, excellent post. Dang, you just keep getting better, dontcha?

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

AuTh3nTiK
lol


Cheron L. Hall
thank u much jones

SoulOnIce
im in agreement and i hope he can do this

paisley
thanks sister

rainywalker
i know u about your loot as well

Glen Antoine Palmer
corrithians aint it?

TS
cant disagree with a word u said

Angel
true

Veronica Wright
for our kids for certain

Kay C, The Quiet Storm
i hope he has mad intellect cooler than being a thug


MP
we got to give him feedback and keep him in chk he still a politician


Amber-Alert
hope is good but with out action empty


msladydeborah
im sorry when did i piss u off maam

Princess Katrina
yep god bless america

Garth Sullivan
true except gitmo


Cheron L. Hall
ok just checking lol

Ms_Slim
im sorry i left my view lol

Emily
thanks i will check it out

Kit (Keep It Trill
thanks folk

Anonymous said...

Very nice post. Pragmatic and realistic. This man is an inspiration, not only to Americans, but the world. It will be a better world, and things will be different. The character of the man stands out more than any superficial skin - he is filling a void left by that puerille bragadicio that preceded him (ok, that's playing the man a bit)

Good luck over there!

Anonymous said...

Hey brother sorry for the late entry here and I hope you catch this but I found a cool cat during my pro-se legal studies that I think you will like.

Edward Lawson

as in Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352 (1983)

his website is here
http://edwardlawson.com/

Seems like he has his head on straight.

Anonymous said...

LOL your probably already know him HAHA

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