Wednesday
Jan142009
Barack Obama is The Man
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 08:55PM "Unthinking respect for authority is the enemy of truth."
-Albert Einstein
Listen.
As the inauguration nears, I want to remind everyone that Barack Obama is The Man.
Not the "gimme a high five, 'Signed, Sealed and Delivered', everyone gets a puppy" man. But The Man.
We, Americans, we have a long tradition of sticking it to The Man. Of keeping our eye on The Man. Of not completely trusting The Man.
It's not personal.
Barack Obama is a great guy.
But, just because a great guy happens to be The Man, it doesn't mean we can stop being who we are and take our eyes off of him.
Americans have always kept their eye on The Man.
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Andrew Jackson? They didn't trust The Man.
Even when they were The Man.
Question authority. Be mindful of tyranny. Do not relinquish your responsibility as a citizen of this nation to be distrustful of your government.
It's what has made us great. It's what has kept us great.
It is what, during the darker moments of our history, has prevented us from being great. It is what, when ignored, has caused even abnormally patriotic brown Americans such as myself to have to endure subpoenas, unnecessary detainment and, I'm pretty sure, illegal wiretapping.
Look, I think Barack Obama is as anti The Man as a U.S. President could get, but he is still, my friends, The Man.
I understand the love fest that is the presidential election. I engaged in the love fest. But, people, the love fest is over. Barack Obama is no longer a hopeful. In less than seven days Mr. Obama will become president of the United States of America.
The Man. He's the guy we have to check up on. He's someone we must question. When we question him, when we take him to task for what he feels is best, we help him.
And we help ourselves.
The election is long over.
But our work? It's just begun.
tagged America, Obama, democracy, inauguration 09
America, Obama, democracy, inauguration 09
Reader Comments (28)
Well said, and I couldn't agree with you more.
It's almost as if you are channeling Jack Black.
I a big Obama fan, but I'm too old to accept anything at face value. I'm hoping he'll be the man and President we all expect him to be.
I *do* have a lot of confidence in him.
I totally agree with you on every aspect of this.
I do think however that what we should truly be grateful for is that George W. Bush will not be The Man anymore.
Thank you for reminding us all of that. I do agree with NYCWD and am glad that the last 8 years of absurdity will finally be over next week, hooray! But Obama has a long, bumpy road ahead of him and it's important that he is still held accountable.
6 days and counting.
The heavens will open - doves will fly - the choir will sing.
Please tell me I'm right, cause this shithole Bushie has left behind is stanky.
I damn near started a slow clap right here in my bedroom. Well said!
I'm hopeful, yet pessimistic, about This Man.
Don't fuck it up, dude!
Even with the objective realism you excellently portrayed in the post, the hate comes out from the snakes hiding in the grass.
The economy is bush's fault. Oil prices? Bush. Stock market, bush. Back acne, too. And my grandma got cancer and bush killed all those blacks in new orleans and that asteroid coming at us was actually formed from bush's puppy-kicking with a steel-toed boot.
Thank you for the much-needed dose of reality. Thank you for keeping your head and choosing to be fair and objective.
Never take your eye off The Man.
Damn white man always keeping us brown people down.
holy fucking great post, batman.
LOVE yew.
Fantastic post ---this very much distills how I feel.
I don't trust anyone.
:)
(Except you, of course.)
Well said! I'm hopeful about this The Man too, but I have my doubts...hopefully he'll blow those doubts out of the water!
Welcome back, Faiqa!
Excellent points all. You are the WOMAN. And I mean that in a “gimme a high five, ‘Signed, Sealed and Delivered’, everyone gets a puppy” way.
I love this. Love.
Thanks for an important reminder.
@SciFi Dad: Thanks.
@delmer: I did prep with a 24 hour marathon of School of Rock before writing this post \m/ !!
@NYCWD:It's true, we couldn't get any *more* "The Man" than W.
@Kimberly: I'm excited to see how we all handle the next eight (fingers crossed) year.
@Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]: I'm going to a little freaked out on the inauguration day if the heavens open and doves fly. Because someone already told me they think Obama is the anti-Christ....LOL
@Mistress Mom: Ooooh, I got a slow cap..
@B.E. Earl: How does one exactly manage to be hopeful and pessimistic? Is that the same feeling one gets when one finds out they've remade the TV series Knight Rider?
@whall:I really try to be objective because I think personal politics should always take a backseat to the best interests of our nation. Sometimes, the two don't always intersect. I still don't care for Bush, though. And I don't think history will be any kinder to him, either. I guess we'll see in 20 years... in the meantime, I will look to your blog to help me maintain my objectivity.
@Avitable: I...uh... yeah... WHAT?
@hello haha narf: :)
@Turnbaby: Distillation. It's my specialty. (Not really. I couldn't think of anything more clever to say).
@Sybil Law: That's right, you better trust me. Because I *KNOW* stuff. ;)
@Sarcastica: I'm hopeful, too. I think my doubts have nothing to do with Obama, but more to do with the various situations he's stepping into. It's a sucky time to be President... or a time filled with enormous opportunity.
@Finn: *high five to Finn*
@Miss Britt: You're welcome. :)
Excellent post. Eloquently written. For the rest of the night, I will be saying "damn the man", from one of my favorite movies:) Obama will have several major issues he must tackle head-on, starting Jan.20. It is important to hold him accountable for his actions as well. Thanks for this reminder.
@Becky: Empire Records? "Damn the Man, Save the Empire!!" Is that the movie you're talking about? I love that movie.
No one could have said that better. (I don't know if you noticed, but the rhythm of this post is kickass. Sorta reminds me of something Huey -- from Boondocks -- would say.)
@Elizabeth HA!! I love Boondocks. I take sounding like Huey as the HIGHEST compliment!!
@Faiqa...Is there any other movie?!? That movie is one of my top 3 faves!!
What Dawg said about Bush. What you said about the man!
Not everyone gets a puppy, but his daughters will. ;-)
I agree. I'm not one to immediately jump on the Obama bandwagon, but I am hoping he will be all that we hope he will be. But that won't mean the blinders are pulled down over my eyes.
I like that man. I also have high hopes for him. But, I'm hoping that he will be fair, and he has the look that he will. Faiqa - you ARE the MAN!! SO, how do you pronounce your name? Faiqa (Fay kah) or Faiqa (fay quah)? I want to make sure I'm saying it correctly to myself. You know what I mean?
No doubt. A man who's helping the government gradually take over finance, insurance, investing, automotive, healthcare, and other industries. A man who came up awfully quickly to now owe some favors to some Chicagoans we likely don't want to see repaid.
We'll see.
Great post, let us hope he can be the man we want him to be, I third Dawg's thought.
[...] the making. And, while I am cautiously optimistic, I direct your attention over to my new friend Faiqa, because I doubt I could say it any better than she does, and I hold the exact same opinion about [...]
Watching the inauguration yesterday, a friend commented, "Oh my. He's the Man now." And hey, I live in Berkeley. We always question the Man.