THE ROVING EYE Barack Obama rules, OK
By Pepe Escobar
On Tuesday night in Boston, the United States was hit by a weapon of mass
enlightenment. The name of the weapon is Barack Obama. He's not even a US
senator - yet: but he will almost certainly be one in November. Not a uniter,
not a divider: the ultimate transcender. Some day, some say, he may become the
first black president of the United States.
Democrats in Illinois - where he is a widely admired state legislator - already
know a lot about "the skinny guy with the funny name", in his own words, as he
is a state legislator. The best in the blogosphere, such as The Daily Kos
website, have been praising him for months. As the keynote speaker on the
second night of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, he was to be
introduced in prime time to the national stage. But transcending already high
expectations, he did not just deliver a speech praising presidential candidate
John Kerry. He made history, his oratorical mastery drawing instant comparisons
with Dr Martin Luther King's legendary "I Have a Dream" speech.
Most Americans didn't see it. In a graphic display of their concern for the
public good, US television networks - ABC, NBC, CBS - did not broadcast the
15-minute speech, opting for deep slumber in sitcom hell. On Fox, it was as
though the speech never happened. It was up to those Americans who saw it on
cable - and felt chills down their spine and were moved to tears - to spread
the word frantically by phone, e-mail or text messaging. Rapture soon took over
the blogosphere, instant Obamania leading to all manners of Democratic ticket
configurations after Kerry/Edwards 2004: Edwards/Obama in 2012;
Clinton(Chelsea)/Obama in 2016 (or vice-versa); Obama for president in 2016 or
2020 (if he has not had a bullet in the head by then).
Obama's speech, delivered with an almost immaculate balance of passion and
restraint, was a masterpiece of all-inclusiveness. He characterized the United
States as "a magical place", with its people's "insistence on small miracles",
a place where everyone should be "my brother's keeper" and "my sister's
keeper", where "the politics of hope" triumphs over "the politics of cynicism"
(the "politics of hope" is vice presidential candidate John Edwards' key
theme). As a transcender, he was careful not to insert the slightest hint of
criticism of racism and imperialism. Obama also did his best to bridge the
false gap between Red (Republican) and Blue (Democratic) states, insisting on
common values. All of this with splendid touches, such as "Blue States Worship
an Awesome God": this is the name of a favorite Christian pop song of the
Bush-voting evangelical right.
He started very low key, unfolding his extraordinary family story - father from
Kenya, mother from Kansas, the meeting of immigrant and Middle America - to
include it in the master theme of union and hope, in a delicate but relentless
crescendo. He evoked "the audacity of hope". The tone and the deliverance were
resolute and at the same time extremely uplifting - almost like a pop-song
version of a psalm. No wonder the end of the speech swiftly connected to a pop
version of a psalm, the ultra-cool "Keep on Pushing" by the legendary Curtis
Mayfield and the Impressions ("Maybe someday/ I'll reach that higher goal/ I
know I can make it/ with just a little bit of soul").
One America
Obama's mix of Clintonian third way, Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King all
rolled into an all-inclusive package cannot but be radioactive material. In
Obama, the Democratic Party may finally have found its own bridge to a
multi-ethnic, socially just 21st-century America. The Kerry campaign would just
need to release Obama on the campaign trail to have both the black votes and
the white suburban votes pouring in.
Edwards, in his acceptance speech on Wednesday night, once again developed his
trademark campaign trail theme of "the two Americas" - the corporate and the
working family's. Obama praised "one America". Former Vermont governor Howard
Dean was the trailblazer (articulating what he defined as the "democratic wing
of the Democratic Party"). Obama, one step ahead, is the unifier.
Significantly, someone who worked with both candidates wrote on the Daily Kos
weblog: "Obama is Howard Dean at the next level up. That is, Obama articulates
the same positions and pragmatisms of Dean ... only better. More eloquently,
more convincingly and with an ability to avoid the divisiveness that Dean
generated ... But they are different ... In some ways, Barack Obama was the
beneficiary of the energy Dean created in Illinois. I can tell you that many of
the people I worked with in Illinois (and Iowa) for Dean transitioned their
energies to working for Obama."
One of the key questions now is how US mainstream media will spin the new
political superstar. Pundits were caught deer-facing-the-headlights style, as
Obama sharply enhanced their "slicing and dicing" of the US. Some cable
talking-heads, such as CNN's Aaron Brown, at least acknowledged they had
witnessed The Real Deal. Right-wingers were, and still are, well, speechless,
and left with the only spinnable option: co-option. For them, Obama's speech
was more "conservative" than Democrat.
Obama's inclusiveness completely paralyzed the neo-conservatives. He is
unimpeachable as he strives to abolish any ideological discourse. And if his
speech is described as having nothing to do with Democratic ideals, this only
reveals neo-con paranoia. What happened is Obama got some measure of praise,
and the neo-cons immediately changed the subject.
Obama's instant classic of a speech is destined to be sampled to oblivion.
Seasoned Republicans won't fool themselves. They know that with a few more
years of practice, a little older (he's only 42) and the gravitas acquired in a
senatorial post, Obama will be able to unleash major shock and awe over the
dividers, the extreme right-wing camp.
Republicans relentlessly play the race card to scare white Southern men in the
US - who keep voting Republican against their best economic interests. Obama
shattered this racist fallacy. And once again reflecting how race - as well as
class - is indeed a taboo theme in US society, even instant converts to
Obamania seemed to be relieved that he does not speak with the intonation, the
rhythm and the phrasing of black American preachers. This implies that as his
race is not obvious from the perspective of his speech pattern, there's no
limit for his achievements as a politician. Barring the hate bullet that
stopped John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King, Barack
("Blessed") Obama will live maybe one day to confront his blessed destiny: to
become America's first black president.
