There are two things in Iowa — corn and white people. Last Sunday, there were three — corn, white people and Barack Obama.
As I was laying on the couch channel-surfing for anything that wasn’t football after the Panthers’ devastating loss, I came across an exciting event on C-SPAN that made me realize something — America will have a black president in my lifetime.
No, this man will not be “The Reverend” Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton (what churches are these guys reverends of anyway?), but an inspiring Democratic senator from Illinois named Barack Obama.
On Sunday, Obama spoke in Indianola, Iowa, at a rally for Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. He gave a passionate speech about his vision for the country and his goals for the future. He is the first politician in a while that seems to genuinely care about the future of the country and is not in politics for a career, but to make a difference.
Hundreds were in attendance that day for the rally and afterward, Obama spent almost an hour talking to each and every person present. He shook hands, posed for pictures and signed autographs. As he made his way through the crowd, a cameraman was following him so you could hear the conversations he was having with people.
Most people thanked him for coming and said that they believed in him, but what stood out the most was that at least 20 people at the rally urged him to run for president. In response, Obama just said, “Thank you. You’re too kind.”
The fact that so many people at this rally urged him to run for president speaks volumes about his broad appeal, given that the rally was in Iowa, the seemingly whitest state in the union, not his home state of Illinois.
Obama first came into the national spotlight when he gave the opening speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. That November, he won election to the Illinois state senate by winning a stunning 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory ever in an Illinois senate race.
The results of that election show that our society as a whole is evolving to the point where we are finally moving past our racial issues of the past and starting to think of ourselves as Americans and not as members of a certain race. The sad thing is that not everyone in the country is ready for a black president. But I believe this prejudice stems from a fear deep in the minds of some white people.
I think that deep down, some white people believe that if we ever had a black president, that they would use their power to seek revenge on white people for our past mistakes. This idea is ridiculous, but I can’t think of any other reason why anyone would be truly against having a black president.
Obama is currently the only black serving in the Senate and is only the third African-American ever to serve in the Senate.
Obama would make an excellent president not just because of his cool name (remember Baracca in Mortal Kombat?), but because he actually does things that help people and make a difference in the community.
While working as a community organizer in the Chicago housing projects, Obama organized a voter registration campaign registering over 100,000 voters, helping to elect President Bill Clinton and Senator Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.
During his tenure in the Illinois state senate, Obama created an “earned income credit,” which has provided over $100 million in tax cuts to lower-income families in Illinois. He also sponsored legislation that insures residents who cannot afford health insurance, supported gay and lesbian advocacy groups and helped pass legislation to increase funding for AIDS treatment and prevention programs.
He also sponsored legislation mandating that insurance companies cover routine mammograms.
Obama is clearly a man of action.
Senator Obama’s current term does not end until 2010, however I expect him to serve a second term in the Senate, making him available to run for president in 2016.
You heard it here first, folks — Barack Obama will be the first black president of the United States.
E-mail Todd at [email protected].
