Hope is Not Enough

My vote, here in the red belly of Georgia, didn't help
elect him, and I doubt that my urging others to vote
for Barack Obama had much effect. No one
seemed impressed by my Obama/Biden buttons,
nor indeed seemed even to notice that I wore them.
The signs I placed in my yard near the road were
only there for three days before they were stolen.

I didn't get to Chicago for the mass ceremony in
Grant Park where I participated in the protests
against the Vietnam War forty years ago. I have
no television reception, but I did get to watch on
my computer as people came into the park, and
the park filled until faces stretched far into the
distance and still there were people coming down
the sidewalks, then after the speech the great
surging mass moved slowly toward the exits until
little clumps of people could break away and
start walking back along the sidewalks. And I was
deeply moved, especially by all the beautiful young
people, but also by those of all ages who had been
told by the leader they elected that he believed in
them. America can be rebuilt. he told them, repeat-
ing several times the phrase they would echo back:
"Yes we can".

I hope they will still be able to believe in themselves
at the end of the next four years. I hope they aren't
counting on recovering the way of life they once had,
for no leader, no matter how qualified, is going to be
able to more than leverage a few speed bumps into
the downward spiral of a morbid and decaying system.

Never Mind the Polls

The polls aren't necessarily right, said John the
Candidate, he who likes to campaign with Joe the
Plumber. No matter that even the Fox News poll
shows Obama winning, he says he's going to turn
this race around: "I'm a fighter!"

He's only echoing some of the news stories: It
ain't over til its over, and so forth. Some are
hinting, some simply stating, that many who say
they're voting for Barack Obama will chicken
out once they're in the privacy of the polling
booth. They're afraid they'll be called racist if
they tell the truth: They won't vote for a Black
man.

I'm sure this will be true in some cases. So
many questions about the accuracy of the polls
made me uneasy, too, until I read a comment on
one of the forums: ask the bookies! When it
concerns their pocketbooks, they'll try very hard
to get it right.

Although online gambling is illegal in the U.S., sites
based in other countries offer odds to anyone who
wants to bet, and the odds against a McCain win
are very long- 7 to 1 and up, with the numbers
reversed for Obama. A couple of the sites no longer
offer bets on Obama.

I wish I could be in Grant Park Tuesday night. I
was there 40 years ago when Chicago's finest
clubbed and gassed anti-Vietnam War protesters.
We were trying to get a message to the Democratic
Party hacks secluded further down the shoreline,
blind and deaf, nominating Hubert Humphrey, paving
the way for Nixon to win.

I don't think Obama will always hear us either, or
that he will end the war in Iraq as swiftly as he
indicated when he first began to run. But I voted
for him, and I wish I could be in Grant Park again,
this time with a more valid hope for peace.

Signs of the Times

I got signs.
Two of them, one on each side of the entrance to
my driveway. I was not only the first kid on my
block, but the first for miles around to display
Obama/Biden signs. On the entire 22 mile
stretch of highway I drive to my book building
and back, I have seen signs for all the candidates,
but nary an Obama sign.

I had made two fruitless trips to the storefront
campaign headquarters of the local Democratic
Party. The first time, about six weeks ago, I was
told they had been ordered, should be in any time.
That prevented me from ordering any from the
Obama website. On my second visit, I got the
impression there wouldn't be any more. But-
lo and behold- they did get a few, two whole
weeks before the election. So here I was in this
deep red state with blue Obama/Biden signs.

And I had them for two whole days before
they were stolen. The sign I've had for a
local candidate, also by the entrance to the
driveway, still stands. Some folks must feel
so threatened by the idea of Obama becoming
president that even the signs need to be kept out
of sight. I don't think my signs would have made a
difference in how people are going to vote. I did
want to show my support for the one I think is the
best candidate. A lot of us have already voted.

One poll, the "Insider Advantage" (never heard of
them before), gives Obama a one point lead in
Georgia, but all the rest have McCain leading by
one to six points, and I think they are probably right.

But there are maps showing Georgia faded
to pink- or is it old rose?- and some
commentators are saying it is now purple.
Maybe the signs really were a threat- but
no, there have been reports of stolen Obama
signs all over the country for weeks now.

Some folks who are losing their one house will
vote for the man who couldn't remember how
many he owns.

Early Voting

I've voted.
Early voting is great. Go when it's convenient. Get it
over with. The local Democratic Party still hasn't
made much effort on behalf of their national
candidate. Still no yard signs, no buttons available.
The lone staff person told me that Georgia isn't a
battleground state. The attitude is that it's solid
red and pretty apt to stay that way. Yet there are
indications that the red color is bleeding. I think
the red will be on their faces if Obama takes the
state, or even if there's a tie, and it is possible.

Yet another reason why I am not a member of
the Democratic Party. If I were, I would feel
obligated to help elect everyone who ran on
their ticket. But I vote for candidates, not
parties. This time I voted for two Republicans
for local offices.

A relative who voted for Bush in the last two
national elections says he's voting for the
Libertarian candidate. He's thoroughly disgusted
with Bush., but says "I can't see that Obama
would do anything for me."

I don't think he'll do much for me, either. I don't
own stock, and have no children or grandchildren
of military age. I voted to end the war in Iraq and
with the hope of medical care for all those who have
been suffering and dying early without it.

One woman I talked to said she's voting for McCain
because Obama will raise taxes. She lost her job and
has only two more weeks of unemployment insurance
to collect, says she's going to file for an extension of
benefits. The factory where she worked has laid off
more workers recently, and another local factory is
going to close entirely, throwing 400 more workers
onto a shrinking job market. But when I said Obama
would not raise taxes, but would lower them for the
factory workers like her, she brought up the Muslim
angle.

Suddenly I understood McCain's steady barrage of
lies about Obama's person and character. No one
is expected to believe them, but they provide excuses
for what some people plan to do anyway. They are
especially useful for those who cannot bring them-
selves to vote for a Black man.

Missing Signs

The candidates' signs sprouted and bloomed in
yards, vacant lots, on street corners, beside
public buildings, or any other place where they
can be viewed from the road. They were planted
before the April primary, and some still flourish,
those touting the losers having withered and fallen.

But driving through Chattooga County and on up into
Walker, I've seen no signs for Obama, nor any for
Obama-Biden.

I went by the Chattooga County Democratic Party
headquarters, newly opened in a storefront less than
a month ago in Summerville, the county seat, to get
a sign for my yard.

There were stacks of signs for the party's other
candidates: Coker for state senator, Reece for state
representative, Winters for county commissioner, but
none for their candidate for the country's top office. I
was told they had run out of Obama signs but would
be getting some in shortly, "and some buttons, too."

A couple hours later I was at the gym to work out.
There I talked to a weight lifter who had an "Obama-
'08" bumper sticker on his car. He said he'd been
trying to get the Obama signs, too, said he was at the
Democratic Party office two weeks before and had
been told they had run out of the signs but would be
getting some more "shortly".

"Same thing I was told today," I said.

"I even left my phone number," he said, "asked them
to call when they got the signs in. They never called."

"I haven't seen any signs out," I said.

He said there are some. "Drive down Highland
Avenue, there's plenty through there, and all around
that area."

Yes. Well. That is where Blacks settled when the
city was totally segregated, and the area is still
mostly Black (and the cities are still segregated,
albeit in more subtle ways).

Does the color of the presidential candidate mean
that the signs promoting him are also segregated?

Couple days later an article in the local newspaper
quoted the Democratic Party chairman as saying that
Obama signs are being stolen and McCain signs are
being placed in front of those that are left in place.

But why are there no yard signs along the highways
and the major streets? Surely some of the houses are
occupied by Democratic Party members who could
quickly replace any stolen signs.

The majority of the local Democrats voted for Hilary
Clinton in the primary. And some stated they could
vote for neither Clinton nor Obama. I will not be
surprised if they vote for McCain in Novemember.

I also vote for candidates, not parties. I'm not happy
with the way Obama has waffled and changed
positions, but I will vote for him in November. I
certainly will not vote for a lying warmonger so
intent on seizing power for his cronies that he will
do and say anything in order to get elected. I know
of several who traditionally vote either Democrat or
Republican, but now say they will vote for indepen-
dents or third party candidates.

I would like to join them. I would like to vote for
Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party candidate. But
with the war abroad and the war at home against
working people and families, the situation is too
serious in this tight race to throw a vote away.
Actually, protest votes can only help McCain.

Come to think of it, I haven't seen many McCain/
Palin signs, either.

Two Women

They stood near the cleaning products in the Dollar Store,
the day before Super Tuesday, discussing the candidates.

"Not a woman," the older one was saying, "women don't
belong in a place like that. It ain't right!" She looked to be
about 60, but could have been younger, her face care-worn
beneath dyed black hair. "And that's not just me saying it,
that's what God says," and she rolled out the word "God" in a
loud, commanding voice.

"But the other one.." the younger woman began, lifting her
hands from her shopping cart to spread them in a helpless
gesture. She was about half the other woman's age, short
and overweight, her slacks bunched around her heavy
thighs, but her face attractive under skillfully applied makeup.

The older woman interrupted, her voice trembling with
emotion: "Oh, I pray to God he don't get in!"

Then they were speaking with lowered voices so I
couldn't hear the words, but I guessed they were
discussing the dilemma of race and gender, but possibly
in less kindly terms. Their mission was the same as mine,
to stretch their few dollars by buying some basic supplies
where prices are a bit lower than those in the
supermarkets.

Maybe they voted for Mike Huckaby, he carried our
county and won the state of Georgia. A lot of voters
found him comfortable, non-threatening. But Hilary
Clinton captured the county for the Democrats;
Obama won the state.

A woman and a Black man running for the highest
office in the land, and both getting a large number
of votes. Unthinkable only a few years ago. Obama
rings out the message of a need for change- our world
has already changed and is changing. The winds of
change have been more like a hurricane, blowing those
who refuse to accept change into the corners of life and
eventually into the dustbins of history.

About Obama's White Grandmother

It has been called "the greatest speech about race in
America in a generation," described as "Eloquent",
"Historic"; The New York Times compared the speech
by Barack Obama to those of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin
D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

Yet, soon after the last words had been uttered, reactionary
critics swarmed upon it like so many vultures picking out bits
of it to toss about. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the pastor
Obama has refused to sever from his life, has become the
Willie Horton of this presidential campaign.

But the most vicious remarks have been made about Obama's
remarks about his white grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who
helped raise him. Some have gone so far as to accuse him of
denying his white ancestory, of locking his grandmother away
and forbidding her to participate in his campaign. She is 84,
her back painful from osteoporosis, and has refused to make
any statements when reporters try to contact her by phone.

Others say he insulted her by stating she had been afraid
of Black strangers and had made stereotypical comments.
These critics, hardly any of whom can speak of Obama as
a candidate without refering to his race, cannot acknowledge
how it is almost impossible for a white person who has lived
in the United States for four or five decades to be totally free
of racial prejudice. Those who proclaim themselves without
prejudice are usually unaware of how they give themselves
away in remarks they make.

Their attitude toward the Rev. Wright's anger is similar to
that of a local newspaper which, when referring to an
incident of racial injustice, stated: "but that was before Civil
Rights," as if the valiant struggles for the right to vote, ride
buses, and eat at lunch counters, ended with the slate wiped
clean. It's as if to say, "It's bad, but that was yesterday".

Ah, but we old people grew up during those yesterdays,
daily we saw peoples of color denied good jobs and decent
housing, even if we didn't believe the prevailing myths, that
"they" were living where they wanted to live, with "their own
kind". We were inundated with racist media. Racism and
separatism was as much a part of our lives as the air we
breathed. Many of us were aware of the injustices and
regretted the way things were, but most of us couldn't
spend a great deal of time questioning because of our
own struggles to survive.

The younger folks of all colors are not burdened with the old
baggage their grandparents carried. They see Blacks with
good jobs, Black elected officials, policemen, firemen,
university professors, and so forth. Which is not to say that
prejudice has been wiped out. Far from it: there are still
ghettoes in most cities, there are unwritten laws that
prevent Blacks from choosing just where they wish to live,
and there are young people who have absorbed the
prejudices of their elders.

Just recently I heard of a white high school girl thrown out
of her California home for dating a young Black man. The
difference now is that they will not be ostracized by all of
society- a white classmate's family took her in- and they
can remain friends. Furthermore, that young white woman
who has grown up seeing Black students and teachers at
school, Blacks working at every kind of job, and in elected
positions, will remain more free of prejudice than her parents
and grandparents who have experienced different social
conditions.

But it doesn't matter much whether Obama's critics believe
all this or not. Most were already against him because of his
Black skin. Their outrage over his remarks about his
grandmother and about his pastor's diatribes will simply give
them another reason to cast a vote against him, as they had
already planned to do.