"If you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I’m ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you. Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth."
Barack Obama announcing his candidacy for president
February 10, 2007
Dear Barack,
In response to your request for my support, let me join you by first giving you some warnings that I hope you will keep in mind as you begin your improbable quest:
1. Personal security
When people start talking about making drastic changes to existing systems, certain other people start cleaning their guns. Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, John F. and Robert Kennedy were all strong advocates of societal change and all of them were shot.
Please consider the importance of your personal security as you travel around the country during your campaign. If you don’t worry very much about this possible threat, please hire someone who will.
[note: May 3, 2007: "The Secret Service said Thursday that Democratic Sen. Barack Obama was being placed under its protection, the earliest ever for a presidential candidate…" (AP)
Oct 18, 2007: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T41B5KtpjM" target="_blank">TAVIS SMILEY | Guest Sen. Barack Obama | Safety | PBS</a>]
2. Prepare for Hilary
She will attack you during this campaign, although she hasn’t decided yet on how. It will not be as direct as a gunshot, but it will have the same intention: to take you out for good.
You are smart enough to have already considered the possible political vulnerabilities including your past drug use, your relatively short time in the political world of Washington which is already being used to call your leadership abilities into question, but Hilary will be looking for something else.
Beat her to it.
3. Revise your position on Iraq
The problems of Iraq will be the legacy of another president, but the good-faith effort to save that country and help stabilize the region is the responsibility of all who follow him – a more apparent "inconvenient truth" than global warming.
Your mission: Develop a position that includes keeping troops in Iraq at some level to maintain the effort to stabilize Bagdad, as daunting as this peace-keeping task may seem. You need to deflect criticism of your current position which could be twisted into the simplified "cut and run" cliche that horrifies many American voters.
You can persuade these voters if you can find a new way to define "success" in Iraq that understands the reality of the situation there but also keeps troop withdrawal as the ultimate goal.
[Note: Sep 12, 2007:
"The problems in Iraq are bigger than one man," Obama said.
Obama was speaking after the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, told the U.S. Congress this week that he recommended gradually withdrawing up to 30,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by next summer, a proposal President George W. Bush is expected to endorse.
Obama said he would call for a new constitutional convention in Iraq, convened with the United Nations, which would not adjourn until Iraq’s leaders reach a new agreement on political reconciliation. (AP)]
These warnings are only a reflection of my fears that you might lose an election in a country that elected George W. Bush, not once but twice. I can only provide my humble support and hope that a majority of voters will join you on your improbable quest, as I will.
For now, I need to get the phone…I think I hear destiny calling, and she never leaves a voicemail…
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