Comments on: Why I Support Barack Obama

By: AlienShack.com

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By: The Bag of Health and Politics

The Bag of Health and Politics — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:33:00 +0000

I read Dreams From My Father recently as well. I agree it’s a fantastic book. Two things I want to mention: one he wrote that himself, before he had legions of ghost writers at his side, and he is a fantastic writer.

Two: I identified with large portions of the book because my father was gone for most of my childhood. Granted, this may be a problem that disproportionately effects blacks, but many others–especially in the 80s when divorce rates peaked–had that experience as well. That entire theme of the book is incredible, and I think it’s why many younger people–who experienced that first hand–are attracted to his candidacy.

I have endorsed Bill Richardson. But Barack Obama is my second choice. I think he has shown good judgment and a solid ability to lead. The most important thing he could do is win, and if he does he’ll stop the cancer of cynicism that has grown on this country for a generation. Things are a mess; it’s going to take more than 8 years to clean it up; but if we want to get started, the first thing we have to do is defeat cynicism. A President Obama–because of the kind of campaign he is running–would do that.

I too fear for his safety, but he does have Secret Service Protection, so I am hopeful that he will be safe. I hope he wins the caucuses, and if not Richardson, I hope he wins the nomination…

By: rikyrah

rikyrah — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:53:00 +0000

Jack, thanks so much for this post. I'm glad you brought up other issues.

dnA, the entire ex-offender, drug-sentencing issue is truly at the heart of Blacks & the Just-Us System. And, the truth is, nobody comes down on the side of the community more than Obama in this case.

TBQ has already said that she's going to get elected by sending yet ANOTHER generation of Young Black Men to the Prison Industrial Complex. If ANY Republican had said that, ' the usual suspects' would be clamoring everywhere, but they've kept their mouths shut, and doing so, lost a great deal of esteem in my eyes. You can't utter ANYTHING about Black folks and the Criminal Justice System without bringing up drug laws, sentencing, and how it's sent TWO generations of Young Black Men to the Prison Industrial Complex. Standing with someone who has said that they're going to keep on doing that?

Hell no.

By: Rich in Medina

Rich in Medina — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:26:00 +0000

What happened to point number two?

By: dnA

dnA — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:38:00 +0000

Two Things:

1. If Matt Stoller bothered to check out any of the campaigns beyond reading other blogs, he'd know that Obama emphasizes transitional employment for ex-offenders...something that John Edwards doesn't. This was one of the big issues for me in deciding Edwards sincerity on the issue; there is no way to attack poverty without dealing with the fact that 2/3 of the people who get out of prison go back in within three years.

That "son of a millworker" story is great, but what about the son of crackhead or a drug dealer? Don't these kids deserve a second, or even a first chance? The focus on charles dickens-like stereotypes of saintly poor people makes me question the sincerity of any poverty platform that doesn't also include significant reforms of our criminal justice system.

Obama has a record on that. Edwards doesn't. Clinton's husband has a record of just locking as many people up as possible and throwing away the key.

If you care about poverty or criminal justice, who else would you choose from among the front runners?