Envisioning the world as it could be

By Weekly Archive On Aug 21, 2007

Envisioning
the world as it could be…

By
Alvaro F. Fernandez
alfernandez@the-beach.net

Barack
Obama is too young. He is too black. His name sounds like Osama.

His
inexperience has shown in the debates — Hillary has schooled him.

Obama,
others say, is not ready to be president of the United States. Is
anybody ever ready to be president? There’s another factor: It will
be 2009, when most of the new president’s time will be spent
cleaning up the mess left behind by the other guy…

Does
anyone really want to be president of this country when George W.
Bush leaves?

Barack
Obama will be in Miami this Saturday (August 25). He will be
addressing a group of 2,000-plus persons at Miami Dade Auditorium.
During his speech he will touch a subject most every other candidate
refuses to even get close to. He will state that the current Cuba
policy highlighted by family separation, and made even more stringent
by the Bush Administration in June 2004, is wrong.

In
my opinion, it is a good and gutsy political move by Senator Obama.
And in Miami, it may set him apart from the other candidates opening
the door to Cuban American voters disheartened by Bush Cuba travel
policies. It may encourage Cubans, now U.S. citizens living in Miami,
who arrived after 1990 and who have not registered to vote to do so.
Even when registered, many have never voted.

Sure,
it’s a bold political move. Hopefully it pays off for him.

But
it’s much more. It’s also the right and moral thing to do.

I
am flabbergasted that more people do not hold the candidates to the
test by asking a simple question: Are you for division of families as
U.S. policy?

I
cannot understand how anyone can vote for a candidate who favors
this.

It’s
one of the many reasons I like Barack Obama. And let me emphasize
that I am not saying I will be voting for Barack Obama. I have yet to
decide who I will
vote for… And there’s still the question of Al Gore I wrote about
earlier this month.

But
the fact that Obama has made and faced his mistakes along the way,
and has shown the courage to go against the grain as in the Cuba
issue, only makes him a more attractive candidate in my eyes. Surely,
Hillary Clinton has had almost all perfect answers during the debates
— that bothers me. It shows she learns quickly — everything her
handlers are feeding her. I would really like to know, at least once,
what she
really feels.

I
also like Obama’s mistakes because it demonstrates this guy is
willing to take chances. He looks like the type who will take a leap
forward and try to envision the world as it could be.

I
plan to go listen to Obama on Saturday. Here’s hoping the young guy
with the winning smile who’s too black, too young and inexperienced
wows me. I’ll let you know next week.