David W. Swanson

Pastor and Author

a sign of life: obama’s nomination

As I’m sure all you well-informed folks already know, it now appears that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee in this November’s general election. Hillary Clinton has yet to officially concede but- barring another of Obama’s pastor friends saying something damaging- at this point she is only postponing the inevitable.

Obama’s nomination is a big deal. A really big deal. While there are plenty of Americans who are intrinsically aware of its magnitude, there are others of us who may be missing why this nomination matters so much. Last night an African American friend’s Facebook status read, In my lifetime, I’d never thought I’d see this … Barack Obama is the democratic nominee for president of the United States of America. A column in this morning’s Washington Post begins, Black president. Two words profound and yet contradictory. Once thought of as an oxymoron, impossible to be placed together in the same sentence, context, country — unless followed by a question mark. Black president? This century?

Those of us who are white may see yesterday’s news as important for the upcoming election: we now know who the candidates are. We may also realize the historic nature of this nomination: a black man is the Democratic nominee. What we may miss is the deeply personal nature of Obama’s nomination for so many Americans. Terrance Samuel of The Root put it this way,

As historic as this is for many Americans, for a lot of black people, there is a surreal, unreal quality to the whole affair; it is a disbelief wrapped in amazement wrapped in euphoria. One black woman I know in Massachusetts got a call from her mother in California. “She was crying,” my friend reported. It’s a fair bet, she was not alone.

I point this out not to make a political stand but to point to a sign of life. On many levels justice and hope was realized yesterday in ways that may take a while to sink in. Tomorrow (or perhaps even today) the political mud-slinging will begin, but today my prayers are ones of thanksgiving.

David Swanson

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6 responses to “a sign of life: obama’s nomination”

  1. gimini210 Avatar
    gimini210

    I wish he were Colen Powell, I could vote for Mr Powell as I think he is a honest man with morals. I am sorry but with Obamas’ ties to Trinity, Odinga, Ayries, and verious others I do not trust him. I wish it could be diffrent but it isn’t. And his changes have to be paid for by some one, prescription drugs, medical, free college, etc. they are not free. It will be the working class that pays. More taxes on big business means more leave this country for another so less jobs. Sad but true. And look what congress has done for us so far. We are sinking and it is congress doing it not Bush. It is congress that makes the budget, spends the money, passes the laws, declares war, and passes the bills so who do you think has done this to us?

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  2. David Avatar
    David

    Gimini210- I appreciate your political position, however the post was about the reality of a black man being nominated. Your concerns and opinions about Obama’s politics are certainly legitimate. For now I hope folks can appreciate the significance of the fact that we are even debating whether or not we would vote for him or McCain in the general election.

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  3. Leigh Avatar
    Leigh

    I, for one, am thrilled! I’ve been following Obama’s career since the primaries in 2004. Here we go!

    Reply
  4. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Even if it was Clinton who was nominated it would have been a breakthrough…a sign of life. There haven’t been a lot of female presidential candidates. While women’s plight in this country has not been as bad as slavery, keep in mind that black men could vote long before any woman. And yes, I am aware that women, when finally given the vote, were not murdered (to my knowledge) to keep them from voting. Black men were.

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  5. David Avatar
    David

    You make a good point Keith… it would have also been a sign of life had HRC won the nomination. You also make a good point about the ongoing racism that makes yesterday’s events so significant.

    Reply
  6. Larry Eisner Avatar
    Larry Eisner

    I’ll tell you when I see a sign of life that will matter to me… (and I hope I live to see it). When nobody remarks about the next black man or woman or hispanic or asian or little person, or whatever… president. When It’s just so common that we don’t pay attention anymore to anything but the stances, the dialogue, the issues, and the people, rather than their color, sex, way they wear their hair, whether they have any at all, or how tall, or whatever…

    Man, that will be a good day.

    I just remember, as a kid, hearing people say “You can be anything you want. You can even be President of the United States!”

    How many people did that offend? How many people thought “Oh yeah? Really? Me? Yeah, let’s all raise our salute to President Dominguez?” or “President Ng?” or whatever… I mean, it’s sad. I just can’t wait until we actually achieve our intended goal (whether it was meant or not at the time is pointless) set forth by the forefathers when they declared America to be a place of freedom where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was to be a given. I can’t wait until some native-born citizen of whatever heritage steps up to office and realizes the end of their pursuits… when they reach that pinnacle and make true the statement that Americans can be whatever they want to grow up to be. Man, I really can’t wait for that day.

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