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Prologue: Lloyd on Obama, Part One
- Syracuse University Press
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1 Prologue Lloyd on Obama, Part One These thoughts were offered by Earl, in the course of many conversations during the presidential campaign of 2008. I’ve been watching Obama. I wasn’t sure what to think at first. I had to know more. But for this man to survive what he’s survived and still be standing tall, that tells me what I need to know. He’s one tough guy. First there were the Clintons; she was the odds-on favorite to win the election. And then the folks who opposed Obama . . . they “Rev. Wrighted” him like crazy, and now he’s getting more of the same before the general election. None of it gets under his skin. My wife, Charlita, is a genuine worrier. She loves Obama, and she’s worried about how this will turn out. In our wildest imaginations, it’s still hard to believe this nation might have an African American president. But I keep telling her: For someone to send this guy to this country now, it’s got to be part of the divine order. It’s a done deal. Yes, he reminds me a little of Jackie, the way they insult him and try to get him to take the bait. They want him to lose his temper so he seems unfit for the White House. It hasn’t happened. That’s the most amazing thing, and why so many of us love this man so much. We understand. In some way, at some point, we’ve all been through the same thing. No matter what happens in November, it’s always going to be about race with a lot of people. If Obama wins, there’s going to be a lot of the ruling gentry who feel very nervous. For some, it would be a dramatic change. For others, it would be a traumatic change. But it seems to me you could dig up just about anybody and put them in the White House, and they’d be better than what we’ve had for the last eight years. 2 | Moonfixer The kids today need to know their history, because once they do they’ll understand how Obama epitomizes what it means to be a hero, just by the way he’s staying in there, never losing his dignity. There are a lot of people who won’t vote for him for scurrilous reasons, and there are too many scurrilous things being said. But I keep reminding myself that this man is one step away from the presidency. In our wildest imaginations , when we were young, we could not imagine a black man in the White House. I’d go to Washington, and I couldn’t eat at the restaurants or get a good seat at a ball game! It’s almost like this black man was heaven sent. Some people say he’s half-black, but in this country there are no half-black people. That’s the gospel. If you’re a half-black man, you’re a black man. It’s his message that allows him to go into Iowa and Missouri and Colorado and Kentucky and get people to listen in a way they never listened before. It’s been a long road, and I walked that road along with many, many others, and I can truly appreciate what Barack Obama is going through in this election. It’s frustrating, too, a little frightening, to hear some of this anger directed against him, the way people are talking at some of the rallies for Sarah Palin [the Republican candidate for vice president]. I know there are crazy people out there who can’t stand the idea of a black man in the White House. The closer we get, the more concerned I become. We’ve walked the road for a long time, and the last house on the road is the White House. It is joyful to think about, but a little frightening. Everywhere I go, I ask the kids if they’re registered to vote. Any of them who don’t register ought to be ashamed. Some say to me, “My vote won’t count.” I tell them about Gore—you can’t ever forget about Al Gore, and how a handful of votes made all the difference in 2000—but then I tell them that people died so they can have that right to vote. They were hung from trees and burned. They were...