End of an Era?
Tomorrow is the big day, the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Many, if not everyone, is calling it an Historical Event, and the viewing public is expected to be huge, if not downright Gigantic. And that is all well and good, but you know, I have a different perspective on his inauguration.
It is a change from Bullying to Reason.
Perhaps one of the biggest changes to come, isn’t that a Black Man got elected, but that a man who didn’t resort to negative advertising, to attack ads, got elected. And let’s be honest here, that was one tough job to accomplish, perhaps more than being Black. Given that his major contender was Hilary Clinton, the Democratic version of a pit bull, and then Sarah Palin for the Republicans, you gotta admire a guy who stuck to his plan to fight as clean a campaign as possible.
Yes there were some sniping, some good digs too, but in all honesty, it was a lot cleaner on his side of the fence, than on his opponents, and that is a major victory, today.
It just seems that since Reagan left, the attack politics became the byword, no matter which side of the fence you were on, politically speaking. Clinton in his attacks on Dole were relentless, and during his entire eight years, he practiced what he preached. ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK.
George W. Bush was even better at it than the Clinton’s were, and he too got eight years to hone his skills, and yet in the end, they both wound up losing. Thanks to Barack Obama who is a skilled politician, and certainly not the lightweight or inexperienced campaigner that the Republicans and the Clinton’s thought he was. He pulled off an upset, not because of the color of his skin, but because of the words he spoke, because of the campaign he ran.
He was about change, not just some fancy slogan to ignite people, but he proved it with the style of ads he ran, by the way he addressed the issues, when those around were trying to knock him down. Even the whole religious issue was handled from a more philosophical point than of attack or defense. That is what excited people, and it made them forget that the color of his skin was different.
And that is the change he has brought, to the world as well as the USA.
