Maiden Voyage

I feel it appropriate that for my the maiden voyage of this blog to clarify its purpose: I decided to make a blog to help filter out a great deal of my wandering thoughts. I usually am pondering three things at once so with a blog those proud few who do read it can understand why I act the way I do and what I'm babbling about most of the time. Ideally this will be a forum for profound political and social thought. I do plan on writing about my political views, my musings on society and people, and anything else I deem noteworthy. Nothing I write here is meant to persuade or offend. My posts and the responses are all meant to be comparisons of ideas, nothing else. Hopefully my thoughts will entertain you few honorable souls who are so bored you say "lets see what Daniel is thinking"; most likely you'll get bored and this blog will fade away but who knows?

This is the topic of my first inkling:

Barack Obama

I am a staunch democrat. I uphold democratic ideals and actively vote. 2008 will be my first presidential election and I'm pretty sure I will vote for Obama. I'll admit that initially I felt obligated because not only is he from my neighborhood but for a number of years (his years of anonymity) my parents were close friends with him and his wife. We had the Obamas over for dinner once or twice. I bet many in Hyde Park secretly feel the same way.
I decided to question my presidential choice like I do every other belief and actually concluded that Obama is still the man! Hilary has a great deal of strengths that's true. She's a woman in a field dominated by men, she's experienced, savvy, smart, familiar. She's not appealing though. There's something about her that's very rough, also very safe. I link these two adjectives together when I see her: safely rough. Her experience is from a different time though. A time of economic prosperity and comparative peace. She represents all the democratic ideals too. The problem with her is the solution that Obama carries. Obama is cautious. He never jumps into anything rashly. He demonstrated caution and thoughtful reflection when the nation urged him to run for president. Others would have gotten drunk off of the praise. He is very cautious in the policies he supports. Obama recognizes that he's got a clean slate right now and that's a very rare thing in politics. Most politicians, even the best, have a little dirt, a few skeletons. Obama, not so much. Basically, his ignorance is his strength. He's a politician with fresh ideas and a cautious approach. It has been eight years since we saw such a figure. Our Commander-in-Chief should always be such a person. I think that Obama will retain an open mind and always choose discussion, persuasion, and inclusion over force.
Lately he's received his first negative media attention. Is he black? He says he is. He looks black. He has always presented himself as black. He has always felt african-american. I say he is black. Genetically he's as black as I am. I consider myself biracial by the same method he considers himself black. He asked who he was, who he related to, where and how he felt comfortable. Obama chose to associate with african-americans. When asked race he checks black. With this comes both blessings and curses. He has a culture he can fight for and relate to. He also must consider how much harder it is to get a cab in New York because he's black. He has never called himself black to gain votes and if he were to suddenly change his racial association he would receive more criticism. Not that it matters but this blog endorses Obama.

Daniel