First, Pourtout for 2028. I’m running for President and it will be on like Donkey Kong. My policies will be as follows:
A) Do what you got to do.
B) …Just keep it away from me.
C) To be the man you have to beat the man.
D) If you don’t have it, don’t spend it.
E) Legalize it…for the right reasons.
F) Whoever smelt it, dealt it (for foreign policy)
G) Would you want that done to you?
This is just the beginning. I figure that I have 20 years to work with. Ok, on to the post
I used to have a debate with my friends back in high school about who America would elect as President first, a Black, a Jew or a woman. Many of my friends would say a woman, I would always go with the Jew and we all agreed if you were a Black Jewish woman, maybe aspiring to become the most powerful person in the free world would not be in your best interest.
However last night, we now have an answer.
I try to not directly state my political views on this blog because first, I have to have some form of privacy and second, not many of you really want to hear that stuff from me which is fine. No matter who got elected President, I was down for reasons I’ll get into later. However, four things struck me from last night.
1) When I was watching coverage of the election on NBC, they had Rudi Guiliani on there to talk about his support for McCain and when he was finished, he said something that was very important. He said that you know what happens the next day after the election, we all become Americans and support whoever becomes President.
I’ve intentionally not stated if I’m a Democrat or Republican, because I’m neither one. I don’t label myself as a party because I’m more diverse then a party. I have views on things like abortion, gun control, education, death penalty, the economy, defense and other issues that cross over both traditional definitions of a liberal or conservative.
I’m an American first and foremost. I’m not an African-American, I’m an American. I was born in this country and while I do have ancestors from Africa and even Martinique, I’m an American and that is all.
I love this country and would do anything that I can by helping it. There are times when I’m not happy with the decisions that the government makes, my fellow citizens annoy me at moments with their actions, you get the idea. However, this is my country.
The beauty of this country is that despite the fact that each of us may disagree with each other on political issues, we find ways to unite and do what’s best for America. Right now, that’s to support President Obama and help evolve this country.
I would be saying the exact same thing if Senator McCain was elected because I would support him completely as well. I still support him. He’s a great American that has served this country in so many capacities. To just ignore his contributions would be foolish.
2) When Obama was declared President, I was watching ABC and they were interviewing 18-year olds who were voting for the first time. They talked to a woman who voted for Obama and she was excited about the win but then they asked to get the thoughts from the woman next to her. She said that even though the person she voted for didn’t get elected, she was just excited about voting.
I loved this statement and it reminded me of why we all should be happy to vote. I’ll hit on the racial angle in point #3, but from a purely American prospective, it is a tremendous honor that each of us holds.
Not every country has the ability to elect their political officials. An election is not about getting your favorite candidate into office and then getting angry if he or she doesn’t win.
Have I voted in elections and had the person I voted for lose? Sure, it may have happened last night. But this is my third presidential election to vote in and I’m humbled every time I step into that booth.
Do I get frustrated sometimes with voting, especially the Electoral College system? I sometimes do, especially when the candidates and the media seem to focus on Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania and seem to assume that other states are just going to go one way.
I can understand how a Republican in California or New York and a Democrat in Texas or Tennessee feels like their vote doesn’t matter because their states will most likely go for one side. Especially after 2000 when Al Gore won the popular vote but didn’t win the Presidency.
But the way that I get past that is point #3
3) Jesse Jackson crying when Obama was giving his acceptance speech.
I’m going to take you back to 1988. I was seven years old and my mother took me to our community center in Brooklyn, New York to vote in the Democratic Primary for President. I still remember going into the booth with her to vote for Jesse Jackson. I even got to pull the lever!
I talked with her about Jackson running for President and how happy she was that there was a chance that a Black man can get elected to this position. Of course, even then I knew that Jackson had no chance and he didn’t. But that didn’t matter to my mother.
You have to understand, my mother grew up in South Carolina in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Jim Crow laws, segregation, lynchings, blatant racism were not just terms that we learned in our history books, she and my family lived through that.
Black people like me want to talk about how racism is strong today. Racism is a walk in the frickin park on a sunny day compared to what went on back then. We complain about a White person maybe looking at us the wrong way. Please.
I’m not saying that racism doesn’t exist, but if we had the same weak attitude now back then, we wouldn’t survive.
I’ve never been called a Nigger to my face by a white person. I have been called that by a fellow Black person, but that’s another topic for another time. I’ve never been denied going into a building because of my race. I’ve never been hindered from doing anything in my life because of my race, if anything, it has helped me in some regards. I went to a private university in Nashville, Tenn. That wasn’t happening 70 years ago.
To my mother and many in her generation, voting is a right that people literally died for someone like me to have. She always tells me to vote and while I want to have my voice heard as an American, I also vote to not disappoint her.
So when I hear from my mother this morning and her telling me how she was in tears about Obama being elected, it put it in prospective for me. She talked about how Obama was raised by a single mother with help from a grandmother, similar to my upbringing. My mother has always wanted the best for me and my two brothers and when she sees someone like Obama become President, it affirms her efforts as a great mother.
My mother may not have envisioned me becoming an Independent and actually voting for Republicans in elections, but she is proud of me using my right as an American.
So to see Jackson crying, even though a few months ago, he and Obama had some verbal beef, made me think about this stuff. Jackson was there during the civil rights movement in the 1960’s up close with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. I don’t even think he thought he would see the day that a Black man would be elected President.
4) We have a rock star as a President. That scene in Chicago was amazing. It was like an outdoor music festival more than an acceptance speech. Obama has that charisma that people are taken to. I’ve never seen a political figure who has such crossover appeal to everyone, no matter what race, gender, sexuality or any other demographic you can think of.
Honestly, when I look at Obama, I don’t get that sentiment of inspiration. I didn't cry or get emotional. He's another guy to me but I don't look at people based on their race at all unless I start thinking about my mother and things of that nature like I mentioned in point #3.
A) Do what you got to do.
B) …Just keep it away from me.
C) To be the man you have to beat the man.
D) If you don’t have it, don’t spend it.
E) Legalize it…for the right reasons.
F) Whoever smelt it, dealt it (for foreign policy)
G) Would you want that done to you?
This is just the beginning. I figure that I have 20 years to work with. Ok, on to the post
I used to have a debate with my friends back in high school about who America would elect as President first, a Black, a Jew or a woman. Many of my friends would say a woman, I would always go with the Jew and we all agreed if you were a Black Jewish woman, maybe aspiring to become the most powerful person in the free world would not be in your best interest.
However last night, we now have an answer.
I try to not directly state my political views on this blog because first, I have to have some form of privacy and second, not many of you really want to hear that stuff from me which is fine. No matter who got elected President, I was down for reasons I’ll get into later. However, four things struck me from last night.
1) When I was watching coverage of the election on NBC, they had Rudi Guiliani on there to talk about his support for McCain and when he was finished, he said something that was very important. He said that you know what happens the next day after the election, we all become Americans and support whoever becomes President.
I’ve intentionally not stated if I’m a Democrat or Republican, because I’m neither one. I don’t label myself as a party because I’m more diverse then a party. I have views on things like abortion, gun control, education, death penalty, the economy, defense and other issues that cross over both traditional definitions of a liberal or conservative.
I’m an American first and foremost. I’m not an African-American, I’m an American. I was born in this country and while I do have ancestors from Africa and even Martinique, I’m an American and that is all.
I love this country and would do anything that I can by helping it. There are times when I’m not happy with the decisions that the government makes, my fellow citizens annoy me at moments with their actions, you get the idea. However, this is my country.
The beauty of this country is that despite the fact that each of us may disagree with each other on political issues, we find ways to unite and do what’s best for America. Right now, that’s to support President Obama and help evolve this country.
I would be saying the exact same thing if Senator McCain was elected because I would support him completely as well. I still support him. He’s a great American that has served this country in so many capacities. To just ignore his contributions would be foolish.
2) When Obama was declared President, I was watching ABC and they were interviewing 18-year olds who were voting for the first time. They talked to a woman who voted for Obama and she was excited about the win but then they asked to get the thoughts from the woman next to her. She said that even though the person she voted for didn’t get elected, she was just excited about voting.
I loved this statement and it reminded me of why we all should be happy to vote. I’ll hit on the racial angle in point #3, but from a purely American prospective, it is a tremendous honor that each of us holds.
Not every country has the ability to elect their political officials. An election is not about getting your favorite candidate into office and then getting angry if he or she doesn’t win.
Have I voted in elections and had the person I voted for lose? Sure, it may have happened last night. But this is my third presidential election to vote in and I’m humbled every time I step into that booth.
Do I get frustrated sometimes with voting, especially the Electoral College system? I sometimes do, especially when the candidates and the media seem to focus on Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania and seem to assume that other states are just going to go one way.
I can understand how a Republican in California or New York and a Democrat in Texas or Tennessee feels like their vote doesn’t matter because their states will most likely go for one side. Especially after 2000 when Al Gore won the popular vote but didn’t win the Presidency.
But the way that I get past that is point #3
3) Jesse Jackson crying when Obama was giving his acceptance speech.
I’m going to take you back to 1988. I was seven years old and my mother took me to our community center in Brooklyn, New York to vote in the Democratic Primary for President. I still remember going into the booth with her to vote for Jesse Jackson. I even got to pull the lever!
I talked with her about Jackson running for President and how happy she was that there was a chance that a Black man can get elected to this position. Of course, even then I knew that Jackson had no chance and he didn’t. But that didn’t matter to my mother.
You have to understand, my mother grew up in South Carolina in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Jim Crow laws, segregation, lynchings, blatant racism were not just terms that we learned in our history books, she and my family lived through that.
Black people like me want to talk about how racism is strong today. Racism is a walk in the frickin park on a sunny day compared to what went on back then. We complain about a White person maybe looking at us the wrong way. Please.
I’m not saying that racism doesn’t exist, but if we had the same weak attitude now back then, we wouldn’t survive.
I’ve never been called a Nigger to my face by a white person. I have been called that by a fellow Black person, but that’s another topic for another time. I’ve never been denied going into a building because of my race. I’ve never been hindered from doing anything in my life because of my race, if anything, it has helped me in some regards. I went to a private university in Nashville, Tenn. That wasn’t happening 70 years ago.
To my mother and many in her generation, voting is a right that people literally died for someone like me to have. She always tells me to vote and while I want to have my voice heard as an American, I also vote to not disappoint her.
So when I hear from my mother this morning and her telling me how she was in tears about Obama being elected, it put it in prospective for me. She talked about how Obama was raised by a single mother with help from a grandmother, similar to my upbringing. My mother has always wanted the best for me and my two brothers and when she sees someone like Obama become President, it affirms her efforts as a great mother.
My mother may not have envisioned me becoming an Independent and actually voting for Republicans in elections, but she is proud of me using my right as an American.
So to see Jackson crying, even though a few months ago, he and Obama had some verbal beef, made me think about this stuff. Jackson was there during the civil rights movement in the 1960’s up close with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. I don’t even think he thought he would see the day that a Black man would be elected President.
4) We have a rock star as a President. That scene in Chicago was amazing. It was like an outdoor music festival more than an acceptance speech. Obama has that charisma that people are taken to. I’ve never seen a political figure who has such crossover appeal to everyone, no matter what race, gender, sexuality or any other demographic you can think of.
Honestly, when I look at Obama, I don’t get that sentiment of inspiration. I didn't cry or get emotional. He's another guy to me but I don't look at people based on their race at all unless I start thinking about my mother and things of that nature like I mentioned in point #3.
I don’t look at him as a Black man like myself to aspire to. He’s not my role model. He’s not my inspiration. I knew that I could achieve all I wanted to achieve before I knew who he was and will feel the same when he’s out of my life.
I look at a man who is my President and has a tough road ahead of him. I don't care if he was purple, he has to do a good job. I think that the expectations are way too high for him, especially from Black people. All because he was elected doesn’t change the lifestyle you’re leading. Each of us needs to look at our lives and see where we can make improvements.
If that means paying some more on taxes to help the economy, then let it be. If that means not getting your gas guzzler of a car and actually making sacrifices to help the environment, do it. If it means not getting another credit card, do it. If it means not taking out a loan that you can’t pay back for a monetary gain, do it.
We have to make individual sacrifices for the betterment of America.
Throughout the election, we kept hearing from voters about what America was going to do for them, but we have to look at what we’re going to do for this country.
In the next eight years, we are going to have to answer some major questions, probably go through another World War and make this work.
Obama isn’t the answer, but he can be a major part of the solution if we do our part.
I know that Black people are happy that Obama is in office, but they have to realize that Obama received nearly 60% of his votes from White people. The “man” elected the first Black president in US history, so enough of the “man” keeping you down.
I know that young people are happy that Obama won because he resembles us and knows our power. However, as a 27 year old, the whole “the world will be mine” mentality has to stop now. The world is mine currently and I have to take more responsibilities.
I know that some are unhappy with Obama being elected and that’s fair. I don’t agree with Obama on all of his policies but he’s our leader right now and we have to support him.
Those are my thoughts, I would love to hear your prospectives, even if you disagree with me.
I look at a man who is my President and has a tough road ahead of him. I don't care if he was purple, he has to do a good job. I think that the expectations are way too high for him, especially from Black people. All because he was elected doesn’t change the lifestyle you’re leading. Each of us needs to look at our lives and see where we can make improvements.
If that means paying some more on taxes to help the economy, then let it be. If that means not getting your gas guzzler of a car and actually making sacrifices to help the environment, do it. If it means not getting another credit card, do it. If it means not taking out a loan that you can’t pay back for a monetary gain, do it.
We have to make individual sacrifices for the betterment of America.
Throughout the election, we kept hearing from voters about what America was going to do for them, but we have to look at what we’re going to do for this country.
In the next eight years, we are going to have to answer some major questions, probably go through another World War and make this work.
Obama isn’t the answer, but he can be a major part of the solution if we do our part.
I know that Black people are happy that Obama is in office, but they have to realize that Obama received nearly 60% of his votes from White people. The “man” elected the first Black president in US history, so enough of the “man” keeping you down.
I know that young people are happy that Obama won because he resembles us and knows our power. However, as a 27 year old, the whole “the world will be mine” mentality has to stop now. The world is mine currently and I have to take more responsibilities.
I know that some are unhappy with Obama being elected and that’s fair. I don’t agree with Obama on all of his policies but he’s our leader right now and we have to support him.
Those are my thoughts, I would love to hear your prospectives, even if you disagree with me.
1 comment:
Why wait until 2028? You'll be eligible in '16. Better start preparing soon ;-)
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