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Edited on Sun Aug-31-08 03:37 PM by Wetzelbill
It took Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier in baseball. Somebody who could hold their temper and go out and prove all the doubters wrong. He was the right man at the right time. Amazing that it turned out that way. Few people carry that innate gift inside of them. Knowing how to quell anger, and fight the battle the way it should be fought.
Barack Obama is like that. He's cool under fire. Insults roll off of him. If it were me, or probably any of us, I would have flipped out and went screaming into a camera or a microphone that I wasn't a Muslim, that I didn't support terrorism because I have a different name, that I wasn't some kind of whacko who hated America. It was hilarious when I heard that Ben Stein said Obama was an angry black man. Obama is the opposite of angry. He never raises his voice in anger. He never even seems irritated at this stuff. It's precisely that he ISN'T angry that makes him perfect for breaking this color barrier too. If Obama suffered a McCain like gaffe or angry meltdown it would be over. But he just isn't like that, I don't even worry about him getting mad and making a mistake. He just doesn't do it.
By now, I don't even question his judgment. He knows what he has to do. He knows when to lay low and when to strike back. And when he strikes back, he doesn't hit back in a normal way. He gives it a new meaning. I know if anybody questioned my patriotism and said I'd rather lose a war to win an election, I'd be angry, I'd fire back guns blazing and be mean and harsh. What if Obama did that? Even if he was right, even if he had his facts straight, it would make him look bad. It would play into all the stereotypes. They would have prodded the angry black man until he supposedly showed his true colors. But no, not Obama. He lets McCain do his thing, lets him fling childish insults. And then in a speech with over 38 million people watching, he turns it around. Calls McCain a hero, says that he believes McCain makes his decisions not on politics, but because he loves his country. He says that we shouldn't have to demonize the other side just because we have honest disagreements and then he says that we all put our country first. Instead of firing back and calling McCain a liar and going off all half-cocked and crazy, he totally changed the perspective of McCain's line of attack and dropped it on it's head.
Brilliant.
And Obama writes his speeches. You can tell how thoughtful he is in his words. How careful he is. He knows because of who he is, and that he's on the cusp of doing something no other minority has done in American history, that he has to do it in a different manner. That he will be held to another standard. So he keeps his cool. He continues on, and he continues to execute every move masterfully.
Like when he picked Joe Biden as his running mate. On paper, I didn't see it. I thought Biden was a solid pick, but I always thought he'd make a good Secretary of State or something. But the first time I saw them together after the announcement was made, it was like magic. Like their sum equaled more than their own separate parts. And Joe Biden seems like a new man. I've never seen him like this. So happy. So in his element. That Obama had the foresight to pick him was amazing. That he was secure in himself to pick a man so experienced and accomplished speaks volumes as well.
I used to question Obama. Now, I just sit back and enjoy the ride. He has something special in him. His intuition is uncanny. So this week, and in the next few months, you'll see the other side ratchet up all the hate and fear they can muster. They'll say Barack Obama is this and he's that and we'll all hear it and be appalled and offended. After all, how can they say these things? It's awful.
But I know two things. Through it all, Barack Obama will be as cool as ever.
And when the time is right, he'll effectively counterpunch. He'll continue to do it time and time again.
Until finally in November, he scores a knockout blow.
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