zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric: Obama's Award Tour

Friday, July 25, 2008
Obama's Award Tour

In Berlin, Germany, Barack Obama had a rally for 200,000 people. They wanted to believe.

Meanwhile, John McCain ate a bratwurst with businessmen and bored reporters in the German Village section of Columbus, Ohio.

For the past week, Obama has been on award tour, and his message has been greeted with the kind of fervor that now makes U.S. reporters--overly sensitive to Clinton/McCain-esque charges that they are giving the guy kid-glove treatment--highly uneasy and eager to downplay.

Obama has modified his two Americas speech to talk about reconciling the world. In Germany, where at the Berlin Wall the First World once ended and the Second began, he said,

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

It was high theater. Obama was being consciously Reagan-like, consciously Kennedy-like, consciously presidential.

Earlier in the week, Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, despite being pressured by Bushites, signaled his agreement with Obama's call for withdrawal. Suddenly Obama's foreign policy didn't look plagued by inexperience, but blessed with prescience.

Meanwhile, McCain cancelled a visit to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico because of Hurricane Dolly. Then a massive oil spill along the Mississippi River in New Orleans kind of spoiled the whole idea that McCain might be able to steal Obama's thunder in the Mideast by championing the virtues of domestic drilling.

But for the Obama campaign--now well stocked with images of the true believers in Kabul, Ramallah, and Berlin to match those in Chicago, Boston, and Des Moines--the real battle will still be fought on home soil.

Despite Obama's award tour, he has not moved the meter much. He still has a slight lead in all national polls, and there are signs that at least one key red state--Florida--is getting grapes.

But with bad news coming down the wire every day on oil prices, mortgages, and the economy, the next month leading up to the conventions will look more like trench warfare than a love parade.

Welcome back Senator Obama. Back to the grind.

posted by Zentronix @ 8:32 AM 0 comments

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Previous posts
Nas On Fox And Colbert
Nas Joins ColorOfChange To Put Fox News On Blast
National Hip-Hop Political Convention Opens In 2 W...
Why The Papers Are Getting The Race Polls Wrong
Kevin Powell :: It's Time For New Leadership
New Yorker Goes Imus On Obamas
HKR Radio :: Rosa Clemente On Her VP Run
Green Party Taps Hip-Hop Activist Rosa Clemente Fo...
McCain :: My Crew, My Dogs
Rinku Sen on Immigration and The Meaning of July 4th

select * from pages where handle = "BlogLinks" #content#

Archives
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009