In A Beautiful Mind, one of my all-time personal favorites, Hansen -- played by Josh Lucas -- asked John Nash "you scared?". Nash sarcastically answered: "Terrified, mortified, petrified, stupified ... by you". Well, if I can steal the genius selection of words from the legendary Ron Howard's movie, I can now say: "I am Mortified, Petrified and Electrified ... by Experiment-Obama". Here is why.
Mortified because I did not trust the American public to make the right call and elect a black man to the White House, especially after the shocking elections of 2004. Until January 4th, I was still betting that America will never elect a black or a woman to the White House. Now, I have to admit, I was fortunately wrong. Well, not just wrong, I am petrified by the landslide victory in some unimaginable states (Indiana!!!!).
After publishing my first blog "Reflections on the Elections", several comments were made that Obama will be an American president and we should not expect much from him in the middle east, or we should not get too optimistic for change and so on. While I totally agree with all of this, I believe Obama's story is about much more than that.
Obama's story is not about the first black man in the White House. It is about how you can achieve your objectives if you have clear vision, message and brilliant execution. Experiment-Obama is not about if he is good or bad, right or wrong, democratic or republican. It is about how a politically disadvantaged minority keeps fighting to earn its rights. It is about how a person with ideology and solutions to many human problems can deliver his message, convince the public and get in a position to prove this ideology in a practical experiment. And most importantly, it was all through the system.
Many Muslims, convinced by some clerics, have been abstaining from getting involved in the political life, even though we claim we have solutions to all human problems, from global warming to homosexual marriages. Experiment-Obama showed us how mistaken we are. I quote him from his victory speech "... who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." Getting involved in the democratic process -- we like it or not -- is a must.
I have two questions to our clerics who forbid that. What do you say to Marylanders who listened to you and did not vote and consequently helped Proposition 2 for increasing slot machines in Maryland pass? What do you say to Californians who did not listen to you and consequently helped Proposition 8 for banning gay marriage pass?
The African-American community has every right to celebrate after the long history of racism and political marginalization. However, all other intellectuals must view Obama's story differently. Obama is not just "yet another American president" or even "the first African-American United States President". Obama and his story is a case study. It is successful experiment.
Oh, and did I say why I am ELECTRIFIED?
Mortified because I did not trust the American public to make the right call and elect a black man to the White House, especially after the shocking elections of 2004. Until January 4th, I was still betting that America will never elect a black or a woman to the White House. Now, I have to admit, I was fortunately wrong. Well, not just wrong, I am petrified by the landslide victory in some unimaginable states (Indiana!!!!).
After publishing my first blog "Reflections on the Elections", several comments were made that Obama will be an American president and we should not expect much from him in the middle east, or we should not get too optimistic for change and so on. While I totally agree with all of this, I believe Obama's story is about much more than that.
Obama's story is not about the first black man in the White House. It is about how you can achieve your objectives if you have clear vision, message and brilliant execution. Experiment-Obama is not about if he is good or bad, right or wrong, democratic or republican. It is about how a politically disadvantaged minority keeps fighting to earn its rights. It is about how a person with ideology and solutions to many human problems can deliver his message, convince the public and get in a position to prove this ideology in a practical experiment. And most importantly, it was all through the system.
Many Muslims, convinced by some clerics, have been abstaining from getting involved in the political life, even though we claim we have solutions to all human problems, from global warming to homosexual marriages. Experiment-Obama showed us how mistaken we are. I quote him from his victory speech "... who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." Getting involved in the democratic process -- we like it or not -- is a must.
I have two questions to our clerics who forbid that. What do you say to Marylanders who listened to you and did not vote and consequently helped Proposition 2 for increasing slot machines in Maryland pass? What do you say to Californians who did not listen to you and consequently helped Proposition 8 for banning gay marriage pass?
The African-American community has every right to celebrate after the long history of racism and political marginalization. However, all other intellectuals must view Obama's story differently. Obama is not just "yet another American president" or even "the first African-American United States President". Obama and his story is a case study. It is successful experiment.
Oh, and did I say why I am ELECTRIFIED?
3 comments:
Yup... a case study.. it will be studied for quite some time in Universities and circles of knowledge.. it is a major change in American Thought Process... but lets not forget many factors helped that change to occur
ok, good that u changed that dark background
Read thsi article (in Arabic) and you will see that we (mulsims) WERE so advanced on this, but now :(
http://news.naseej.com/Detail.asp?InNewsItemID= 290431
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