pow to the pow

vote for change! it makes cents. today, i ran around brookline high telling people to vote for change while holding up a dime. i told a young student that i was voting for cynthia mckinney. she seemed hurt until i told her she was a black woman. this perked her up, and she wrote her name on her hand. walking home from work, a bus full of young students passed by. the students were yelling out the windows..."obama! vote for obama! obama 08!" a student at brookline high said that "he would take a bullet for obama." i said i hoped it would be the kind where a white flag comes out with the word "bang" on it.

obama wins

when you looked at the crowds supporting the two candidates, you couldn't help but want obama to do some serious ass kicking. it was nice to see people excited. our phone was ringing off the hook, as friends and family of tixon began to celebrate. certainly, there is a symbolism in the multiracial obama, who can directly trace his background to africa, becoming president in a country that practiced slavery, segregation, lynching, and even continues to practice disenfranchisement of many black voters. so, yes, i feel some joy about this. to see elderly black people, many of whom couldn't vote in their youth, crying and shouting, was a great thing to witness. it was nice to see young people excited, dancing into the night. and it was cool to witness the diverse coalition that rallied around obama, as compared to the fat, stupid, ignorant mass of monotonous crackers that backed mccain.

having said that, we need to keep in mind a number of things. for one, millions of people have projected their ideas onto obama. i am happy his win has made people happy, but that doesn't mean that he himself believes in, or will fight for, the kinds of things many of these voters want to see happen. none of his supporters were chanting "bomb afghanistan! and pakistan too!" though obama has repeatedly said that he is in favor of both actions. i heard no one screaming "a nuclear iran is not acceptable!" though obama said this throughout his campaign. i heard no one castigating hugo chavez, though obama often does. i didn't see throngs of people exclaiming "keep the cuban embargo in place!" despite obama saying he will do just that. i didn't see any "support israel" signs, though obama made it clear that he will blindly do so. i also didn't see any "support the bailout" banners, even though obama helped to push that legislation through the senate and congress.

furthermore, i am already tired of hearing how this proves what a great nation america is, and how this shows that anyone can make it in our society. just as integrating the army hasn't saved the millions, most of them people of color, dying under our bombs, the rise of a multiracial president won't save the millions both here and abroad suffering from systemic modes of oppression. for sure, it is good symbolism, and it does express a certain racial progressivism amongst wide sectors of the population, but it does nothing to alter the corporate and militaristic power structure, which is the source of most of our problems. the issues, as always, are the same; who bombs and who gets bombed; who owns a home and who pays rent; who eats at fancy restaurants and who starves; who has health insurance and who doesn't; who can afford college and who can't; who can afford a place to live and who can't; who survives childhood and who dies at birth; who pollutes the air and who dies from polluted air; who has a job and who doesn't; and who goes to prison and who doesn't. the rise of an individual to power doesn't eliminate these institutional structures of racial and class oppression.

of course, obama will answer to a different mass of voters than a republican would. his voters are more likely to be anti-war, pro choice, pro universal health care, pro stem cell research, etc. this, along with democratic control of the house and senate, will give him a degree of leverage to implement some reforms. on the domestic level, his presidency should be a fairly significant improvement over bush. of course, these improvements will be within pathetically circumscribed confines. so, while he will likely be better on abortion, he will almost certainly not begin to institute massive efforts to build affordable housing. while he will be better on gay rights, he will not drastically reduce the size of the military and spend that savings to create a national system of affordable public transit. surely he will act within the accepted confines of the political power structure, despite whatever the ideas are of the masses who voted for him. if it is made clear to him by an organized mass of politically aware citizens, that his reforms will have to be substantial, perhaps we could see a more progressive agenda take hold. however, such a radicalized populace does not exist in this country. as it is, he will tinker with this and reform that, which is surely better than what we have had over the last eight years, but the fundamentals of imperialism, racism, and economic exploitation will continue to exert a dominant strangle hold on u.s, and by extension, world affairs.

so, the better man won. his supporters were more diverse and progressive, and held more tolerant and civilized views on most of the issues. what impact, if any, this will have on an obama presidency remains to be seen. as it is, it is a good thing that a person of color became president. that fact inspired millions of people, and it was nice to feel their energy. also, obama did have better views than mccain, and for that alone, was the worthier of the two.

but when someone tells you they will bomb this country and that country, don't assume peace is on its way.

that's all i'm sayin.