Senator Obama, To Sir With Love
Senator Obama,
Thank you. You have brought a sense of hope to this country, nay – to this world. It seems so long since we felt hope.
On September 11, 2001, the rooster crowed. A new age was upon us but the world was slow to awaken. Stumbling in the early morning darkness we knocked over two countries, alienated our friends, and disrupted world commerce. The people of the United States have finally wiped the sleep from their eyes and the Dawn of the 21st Century is breaking.
We can see clearly in the misty early morning light – the ways of war have changed. Great powers that might topple our government by force have diminished. Surgical strikes by small bands of terrorists serve well to disrupt our interdependent life flow.
We can see the ways of free markets bear fruit only when the playing field is truly free. Tariffs enacted in the past by partisans to protect corporate friends served to drive prices up. A lack of tariffs, labeled as free trade, serve to give the advantage to countries who have not processed and incorporated the ideals of worker and environmental rights.
We can see the effects of technology. The interconnectedness of the internet has served to subvert corporate controlled media and machine controlled politics. The local newspaper in this our home town is decidedly Republican – it would be unfair to conservatives to simply lump all things Republican with all things conservative. Conservative is a value system, Republican is a Party with self serving interests. But the local newspaper no longer holds sway over the local populace. The access to other news sources is as close as a keyboard.
We recognize today that we humans share a planet with all other living creatures, botanical, zoological, or marine. The fate and destiny of the human species is connected to the fate and destiny of the ‘least of these.’ “Whatever you do to the least of these you do to me.”
We are watching the demise of old time politics. Old fashioned Party politics is breaking down with a better educated and better connected general populace. If Party politics ruled in 2008 then others would be the nominees. But this year, as the voters awaken to the new realities of life in the 21st Century, the old fashioned Party politics is taking a back seat to a determined populace, walking with a worthy leader.
We see the voices of extremists being relegated to a back seat. These voices have shouted into the darkness, but have been brushed aside as a nuisance. The common sense of the people of this great nation is standing up to lunacy – lunacy that once had an influential voice. 
You have given us hope, Senator Obama.
We see a reflection of a new sort of candidate. We see a man who seems to have balanced empathy with intellectual curiosity. We see a man who has audacity – the audacity of Hope. We see a man who is patient, but determined. We see the fruit of 200 years of America – all that is good about America.
Modern America began as a step child of Europe. Cast into the frontier of hardship, surrounded by the bounty awarded to hard work, determination, resilience, and education.
We see those traits in your character Senator Obama. Senator Obama, we see you charge up San Juan hill, shouting to your fellow Americans, follow me – for victory is at hand. Your courage inspires us – inspires the world. The hill is daunting, and we cannot go without you – but you seem to have the humility of realizing that you cannot go without us.
We will go with you, we will charge the hill. Your courage radiates into the masses. Fear not – for we shall be with you. Together, the world will be a better place for our children.
We are at the Dawn of something very different than has been witnessed in the history of man. This is an exciting time to be alive. With great respect we thank you, Senator Obama.
See Also: The Prophecy of Barack Obama
Comment by Mrs. Tone on 22 October 2008:
Dear Mr. Ohg Rea Tone,
I really enjoy reading your daily posts. You have such a way with words!!!!
Mrs. Tone
Comment by Ty on 22 October 2008:
I think this guy is either trying to make me cry or its really dusty in here and my allergies are acting up.
Good article. 😀
Comment by Horacio on 22 October 2008:
Greetings,
Thank you so much for posting this. Awesome. Prescient.
Cheers!
H.
Comment by Tess on 29 October 2008:
This is one the most thought-full essays I’ve read a long time. The imagery is flawless and evocative. The prose is lyrical in its common touch. I especially loved these lines and the connectivity of eras:
Modern America began as a step child of Europe. Cast into the frontier of hardship, surrounded by the bounty awarded to hard work, determination, resilience, and education.
We see those traits in your character Senator Obama. Senator Obama, we see you charge up San Juan hill, shouting to your fellow Americans, follow me – for victory is at hand. Your courage inspires us – inspires the world. The hill is daunting, and we cannot go without you – but you seem to have the humility of realizing that you cannot go without us.
Thank you for this wonderful essay.
Comment by Michael G Smalley on 29 October 2008:
So, here we are, a week away from a Presidential election, and the email forwards are getting more and more frenzied. “Obama is a Muslim”. “Obama ‘s birth certificate forged”,. “Obamas ties to terrorists”. And the list goes on…
And I’m sitting here thinking, We The People have the power of the internet, in OUR OWN HANDS, and have willfully turned that power into our own rendition of THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER.
Virtually ALL of the recent forwards that I’ve received, concerning BOTH sides of the political aisle, are so blatantly biased by their senders’ beliefs. I’ve spent countless hours on factcheck.org, and truthorfiction.com, looking for the facts about both candidates.Especially near to my heart are the stories that say, “Its all on the internet, if you don’t believe me, look it up for yourself.” I can only assume that no one bothers to take that advice, because I can clearly see that by the time it reached my desk, it has been through 20 or 30 other people’s desks, not one of whom actually checked the facts!
What really ticks me off is that, we know that depending on which “news” outlet we tune into, we’re going to hear their own slant. Rush is always going to push the Ultra-Conservative viewpoint, weeding out any caller who would DARE contradict his views, and CNN is always going to tell us how poorly the Republican candidate performed in the debate, regardless of whether he did well or not. That both of these news outlet do this is a given, has always been that way, and depending on whomever owns the airwaves at any given time, the hired “Talking Heads” will always represent their views.
What KILLS me is that WE, the common folks, have this huge power to do the right thing, right at our fingertips. We have the power to check things out, before we forward them, but we seldom do. We have the power to TURN OFF our televisions, and report the news amongst ourselves. The real news, not the half truths and/or outright fabrications.
I watch where my son gets his news. At the age of 23 , he relies on either digg.com or reddit.com. I’ve seen first hand, when the tsunami hit the Pacific Islands, it was digg that was reporting it A FULL 12 hours before the National networks carried it. Now that’s the power of the internet. No bull either. Just the news, as it happened, as seen through the eyes of a sole blogger, with a laptop at his disposal.The report SO surpassed the National News media, that for hours, after searching one TV network after another, I began to doubt the validity of the report. I now know better.
When my son sees a questionable report on television, one that doesn’t sound quite right, he looks on digg or reddit, to see what the blogging community has to say about it. What’s cool is that there is absolute genious on there, as well as flat out stoners, and yet, for the most part, they carry on civil discussions about everything from politics to computer repair. They police their own, and seldom let a half truth slip by.
I know that gone are the days of Cronkite and Reasoner, reporting the news, as it was. Raw and non opinionated. When we allowed our airwaves to be owned by a handful of influential people, we gave up our right to unbiased news reporting.
We have not, not yet anyway, given up the internet to a special few. We all own it, and we squander it’s power. The power of truth. What a wasted opportunity.
Comment by John on 30 October 2008:
His Senate staff were baffled why a constituent such as I wanted to talk with them about the issue of Medicare managed care.. Several even pointed out to me that he would not be appropriate to speak with about this because he is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I responded by saying that I thought that a US Senator, who claims to be an advocate for heatlh care, would want to know about specific incidents of wrongdoing by Bush’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I was wrong.
I guess that I should have asked how much it would cost me for the time of day.
No Obama.
No McCain
with either one
there will be pain.
Comment by Kate on 30 October 2008:
“I’ll keep my Guns, I’ll keep my Freedom, and I’ll keep my Money Thank YOU!”
……you can keep THE CHANGE NOBAMA!
MCCAIN/PALIN
2008
Comment by Cole James on 30 October 2008:
@ Michael G Smalley
I whole-heartily agree with you.
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