Nov 4th 2008. Cleveland Ohio. Celebration Party.
I wouldn't know that the girl in the middle would later become my wife six years later.
Almost eight years ago today the nation helped elect its first African-American president as Barack Obama became the 44th dude to take the oath of office as POTUS. I remember being in D.C. with my Dad and friend amongst well over a million people on our nation's lawn (uncut) to witness this inaugural first hand. We were able to stand about fifty feet in front of the Washington Monument as we watched one of the many giant video monitors capture the history. There was a feeling that the million+ people on hand had just been told they won that much money.
I remember thinking about the historical impact of this event but having read the senator's autobiography Dreams From My Father, kept thinking,
"This man was raised by a single mother and he's the POTUS?!"
Wow.
Our President's story was and is in many ways the American story.
We had arrived in D.C. two days before the inaugural and got to witness an all-star eclectic cast of rock n' rollers and actors perform in front of the Lincoln Monument.
It was the We Are One concert: Tom Hanks, U2, Aretha Franklin, Garth Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, James Taylor, Denzel Washington, and Stevie Wonder. (to name just a few).
A few months earlier in Cleveland, I had the opportunity as a student to help canvass and get out the vote for the then Illinois senator who was taping into a well in American's soul to do something. I worked hand in hand with Obama campaign staff (my wife) and other like minded Cleveland peeps.
(I even got to unexpectedly hijack the microphone at Cleveland's Mandel Jewish Community Center, making student announcements, then introduce the late great senator Ted Kennedy. Picture below)
In nearby Lakewood Ohio they had set up one of the many Cleveland headquartered spots. I didn't know it at the time but this is where I'd meet my future wife who was in town from Redmond, WA to work for the campaign and help create history.
Let me take you on a little journey,
"I got so much trouble on my mind
Refuse to lose
Here's your ticket
Hear the drummer get wicked
The crew to you to push the back to Black
Attack so I sack and jack
Then slapped the Mac
Now I'm ready to mic it"
Wait no, that's Chuck D's welcome to the
'terror dome' and I don't support terrorists. I wish someone would have told me that eight years ago as a young impressionable college student I helped elect one as our 44th president.
(SARCASM!)
I first heard Senator Obama speak, not at the 2004 Democratic National Convention where he gave a speech about 'blue states' and 'red states' launching his 'political stock' within the democratic party, but talking about basketball on t.v.
I forget who was interviewing him or where he was, but I was watching the nightly news and the freshman senator of Illinois was talking about how he lives his life and views people in how they play the game. As a fan of basketball and playing the sport, it really grabbed my attention. I could tell this guy was a politician but also there was a sense of realness to him. You could tell he liked basketball. Perhaps it was the way the interview was set up but nothing felt forced or thought out beforehand. I remember they were following him on the road and he was talking about how basketball was a good 'getaway' from politics. He would think about the question asked for a couple seconds and then think out his answer in his words as he was talking, often times pausing to get his bearing.
You could see the gears working.
This was maybe 2007?
Fast forward eight years later as we are nine days away from swearing in someone who swears he didn't say 'A' and 'B' but most definitely will say "C". But in a tweet.
I digress, but not really.
Kind of makes you chuckle then Senator Obama's Reverend Wright controversy when an African-American preacher spoke passionately about America's sins and because Obama had attended the same church as this Jesus loving person all the Howard Dean "Yaaaaaaaaaaas!" hit the political fans.
(eye roll)
Eight years ago I was a junior at Cleveland State University and was able to somehow convince people I would receive a title called 'Media Coordinator for CSU democrats for Obama.' (Great resume builder)
The immediate surrounding area of Cleveland was our playground. One weekend we even took a bus (my fellow Cleveland State Students for Barack) to Eerie, Pa to canvass. This was an exercise in the ever growing racial divide we would sometimes experience as I was called a Winnie the Pooh character lover now take away the 't'.
In fact, I remember that in 2008 I witnessed this speech on t.v.
A More Perfect Union
That summer and fall of 08' had me exploring Cleveland's rich and poor neighborhoods getting an on the ground feel of what was happening in our country. I got to see Michelle Obama speak at CSU's student center as I made a "Michelle By Belle, I love, I love you, I love you" sign from the Rubber Soul album and this in no way drew attention from her security team........
.,.......
........
.........
I think I'm subtle.
....(2 months prior I had startled a bewildered Chelsea Clinton as I excitedly asked her to sign my copy of Joni Mitchell's Clouds album.) **She was named after the song "Chelsea Morning."
She looked at me the way you would look at a police officer directing traffic in a clown costume would.
Her father Bill came to visit Cleveland's mall some four months later when it was established that Barack Obama was indeed the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. With Cleveland Browns Stadium in his background, and the Science Center glaring, I watched fifteen feet away as Bill Clinton looked into my eyes speaking at one point and finally understood it when people say:
"This guy can say anything, and you will nod 'uh huh'."
Some months later I got to hear actor Forest Whitaker give a very intimate speech to about sixty students at CSU. Again, I surprised the actor by thanking him for coming, his words, and his acting in The Color of Money.
Next, Cal Penn came to visit and give a speech. I was shocked by how Hollywood conformed me to think this guy wasn't somehow smart. He is.
That summer/fall saw so many great artists promoting the hope and change message.
I saw the band Arcade Fire play an intimate show at Cleveland's BeachLand Ballroom, where they opened with David Bowie's 'changes' followed up by John Lennon's, "Gimmie Some Truth."
About four days before the election Bruce Springsteen gave a solo acoustic set on Cleveland's mall. Barack Obama was with him to speak after.
In what was the best hip hop performance I ever saw live, Jay-Z performing at Gund Arena/Quicken Loans arena WITH Lebron James was absolutely amazing.
The Brookyln MC teared through his hits and offered a live band worthy of an AC/DC concert meets Public Enemy feel.
All of this mind you was free to me. I wouldn't have given up that time for anything else. No other opportunity cost was weighed.
Eight years happened in a blink of an eye. The day of the election in 2008 Cleveland saw the longest lines of voting in its history. (This happened in a lot of cities). You would have thought that the Browns made the Super bowl. It was an exciting time. A time of possibility.
I imagine those who didn't vote for Obama were probably upset their guy didn't win but there was no denying a new 'change' in the air. Besides the historical implications that America had gotten around to the idea of having a black man as its leader, there was an overall optimistic hopeful (youthful) aura that the new Obama administration brought to Washington.
Like any politician and president Barack Obama will be
judged, analyzed, and critiqued. I'm under no illusion that whoever the POTUS is not only a demanding job, but also one with few if any, praises (And when you do get praise its usually (but not always), sycophants, and unwavering supporters who heep praise.) I understand my bias in liking our POTUS, and at the same time can't even imagine what are country would look like if he didn't have the power these past eight years.
(Disclaimer: The author would like to take this time to come clean to say even that despite his disagreements with 95% of his decision making and disagreement with most of his views, he liked president George W. Bush. I don't think, like most of my liberal friends, he was 'stupid' or as aloof as he came off. Personally I only think their are maybe ten people in any given country who can be a master of say five different subject masters and George W Bush wasn't one of them. That didn't mean he wasn't smart. I say this so the reader knows that while I may have partisan views, I'm not so 'id' not to see the benefits of those who think, feel, and see the world different then me. )
I know as Americans we tend to only view the past when it makes us 'feel good' for the 'good ole' days.' I mean our current President-elect wants to 'Make America Great Again.' As Americans we each have our own personal worldview of what makes America 'great'. (If we even feel that way).
Probably the only thing I've ever agreed with from our president-elect Trump is that when Barack Obama took office in early 09' we were not great. America was losing close to 750,000 jobs a month and our economy looked like The Cleveland Browns football organization since 1999. (Don't call it a comeback!) Not even LL Cool J could have saved us from the shit storm that was to happen.
Fresh out of the Big Short with no shirt, America was in a free fall that Tom Petty would scream, not sing, about.
Our housing crisis looked like if Lisa Left 'Eye' Lopez set fire to every house that was owned by Andre Rison.
...."No, I don't want no trade marker derivatives, trade marker derivatives are a Wall Street term that can't get no love from me, hanging on the Wall Street side of, of an illegal ride, trying to holla at me, NO!"...........
This is just common fact at this point but it was discovered that Saddam Hussein (you know the guy who was in cahoots with Osama Bin Laden) did NOT have weapons of mass destruction, rather, (To use the late great Robin William's special title) weapons of mass distraction were implemented to us. We were told to follow our leader's lead into a war in Iraq which both sides of the aisle now agree was costly and very unnecessary.
President Obama promised a change. He knew the waters were rough when he said at his first inaugural address:
"That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many -- and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights."
As of this write there a plenty of people who haven't seen the recovery efforts in their own life that plagued us in 09' and before. People are still in dire need. But make no mistake about it. Had it not been for policy implementations by president Obama (Saving the auto industry/Pumping money into the economy to save it) America would have no doubt been in a new great depression.) There's very few economists at this point that deny this would have happened.
The President, by his critics, is accused of blowing up the national debt. Not all, but some of these people are the same folks who had no problem bailing out the big banks that brought down our economy with billions of dollars or putting a war on the credit card.
Forgive me as I'm currently taking a Microeconomics class and so naturally I feel as if I'm a renown economist now. It's very fascinating studying a science that can never be 100% accurate and uses empirical data and logic at times to predict current, and future realities.
I will say that when I read from economists the underlying theme I get from any action to a reaction or causation is that if you invest in PEOPLE, you get a higher turnout.
Investing in People.
Maybe looking back President Obama could have sold his ACA better, or asked more in a Kennedy way to do something for the country. (He did do this. His words, he didn't do a good enough job) Maybe?
All I know is that for the past eight years I've been very proud of how this man carries himself first and foremost as a human being. As a father, a husband, a leader. There were trials and set backs and everything wasn't smooth, but damn was he a cool president. Eloquent too. I imagine liberals feel the same way about Obama as conservatives felt about Raegan, the great communicator.
Our President always asked us, the people, to invest in each other. He used his bully pulpit to express his anger over tragic gun deaths, health care, helping those who are less fortunate, and did so in the face of unprecedented obstruction and very little lee way.
He wasn't progressive enough. He wasn't conservative enough. He wasn't black enough. He wasn't white enough. When was he going to 'get real'? When was he going to really put his feet to the fire?
These are questions in articles I read over the past eight years. Eloquent people, who are passionate rightfully so, of their convictions will continue to hold powerful people to the fire. To hold up their end of the great bargain. That's democracy.
What I loved the most of President Obama is that in his eloquence he always tried to put the onus on us.
And so it is with a great thank you I bid farewell to his eight year legacy and continue to put the onus on me and not others to see the change I wish to seek.
Every great leader regardless of their ideas, has always put the power back to the people.
Sure Barack Obama was a politician.
I think if he's to be remembered for anything, it was elevating the language of love in the public sphere.
That's justice. And that's just.
"I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional. But it is a story that is seared into my genetic makeup that the idea that this country is more than the sum of its parts. That out of many, we are truly one."
- Leslie Nielsen
Just kidding.
Me signing Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together"
NOT in black face. It's a mask. I repeat.
