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Commentary - Feb 4, 2008 - Printable Version
- Barack Obama’s Blueprint for Change
by Mark Faulk
[Author’s note: This was my debut article for what I hope will be a long-running column in NONzine, a bi-weekly newspaper distributed throughout the Oklahoma City Metro area. This commentary addresses the so-called “Super Tuesday” primaries coming up on February 5th, where either 22, 23, or 24 states…depending on which reliable news source you’re reading…will choose their presidential candidates in both political parties.] I pulled into the parking lot on North Lincoln in Oklahoma City at 9:45 A.M., fifteen minutes late (as usual). By the time I parked my car and made my way inside, there were already a half-a-hundred supporters gathered for the Saturday, January 19th “grand opening” of the Barack Obama Oklahoma State Campaign Headquarters. Some talked amongst themselves, discussing politics in general and Obama in particular, while others were quiet, waiting to see what happened next. I found a spot near the donuts and coffee and surveyed the crowd. The term “eclectic” came to mind, or maybe “diverse” was a better description. It seemed both appropriate and symbolic of a campaign that has sought to reach across social, gender, political, generational, and racial boundaries.
By the time Oklahoma State Director Carrie Glenn and Field Organizer Ryan Harper began handing out neighborhood canvassing and phone assignments, the offices were overflowing with over 200 volunteers. They spent a few minutes debunking the slew of rumors that had been circulating the internet, and then went over Obama’s major platform positions and distributed brochures and copies of the candidate’s 60-page handbook. Entitled “The Blueprint for Change – Barack Obama’s Plan for America”, the booklet covered every major issue and encompassed the same sense of diversity that has come to characterize his campaign.
It had been almost three years to the day when I first wrote about the not-yet-elected senator from Illinois who electrified the 2004 Democratic National Convention. At the Democratic Convention, Obama gave a keynote speech that offered both a refreshing change from the old-guard politics that have eroded our freedoms over the last decade and delivered a message of unity. Saying that the “audacity of hope is God’s greatest gift to Americans”, Obama countered the divisive politics of the Bush Administration by declaring "There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America."
In my article on The Faulking Truth website in January of 2005, entitled “A Winning Ticket for 2008”, I described the Obama phenomenon this way:
At the Democratic Convention in 1968, after the tragic death of Robert F. Kennedy, a young Congressman named Julian Bond electrified the nation with his passion and integrity. This election year, another first-time Congressman reminded me of that day so long ago. In his keynote speech at last year's Democratic Convention, Senator Barack Obama from Illinois said things that most old-guard Democrats can barely remember ever believing, and said them in a way that inspired trust and instilled faith. Imagine that in today's political climate. It is said that even his rivals respect him....another first in the search and destroy politics of today.
So why not? Hillary Clinton in many ways represents the same old guard politics that she decries, and most other rich white Democrats are tainted with the same smell of corruption that has rotted the Halls of Congress for years. Senator Obama is young, he's black, and he's a politically savvy person who has awakened passion in America for the first time in decades. He would take office at the age of 48, an age that (once again) most Washington insiders can only dream about during their afternoon naps.
And he is the Republicans' worst nightmare.
Now, three years later, Barack Obama has followed through on the promise of the speech that seemed to awaken Democrats, and to a lesser degree all Americans from a deep slumber. He has run a campaign based on uniting America, not dividing an already polarized populace. He has pledged unequivocally to end the war in Iraq, and has been a vocal advocate for the rights of women, the poor, seniors, and the American worker. He has taken on political lobbyists and presented workable plans to reform health care, education, and protect social security.
Obama said it best himself in his keynote speech four years ago, and he hasn’t wavered in his beliefs since:
"We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states, and yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."
Nearly 300 volunteers, almost half of them involved in a campaign for the first time, would eventually pass through Barack Obama’s Oklahoma Campaign Headquarters that first Saturday. Armed with Obama brochures, stickers, booklets and their own enthusiasm, they hit the streets and manned the phones the very same day. With only 17 days to blanket the state, their single mission was to convince Oklahomans to cast their vote for the one candidate who truly stands for change and represents hope for the future.
This is the most important presidential election of the past forty years. This election is about reclaiming the heart and soul of our country, about finally turning the page to another chapter in American History. Regardless of which candidate you support, get out and vote on February 5th as if our country’s future depended on it…because it does. And that’s the Faulking Truth.
To lend your support to Barack Obama’s campaign in the state of Oklahoma, go to ok.barackobama.com , or visit their headquarters at 4100 N. Lincoln Blvd. in Oklahoma City.
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