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Dreaming of Obama

by Michael R. Burch

Last night I had a wonderfully encouraging dream.

In my dream, I was watching a competition between various American presidents. They were trying to navigate a very difficult obstacle course, and many of them struggled mightily. But then Barack Obama took his turn and performed like a virtuoso. He was something to behold: it was if he was rappelling upward. I was very, very impressed.

I certainly hope my dream comes true and that President Barack Hussein Obama proves to be one of our greatest presidents.

Oh, what the hell . . . I'll go out on a limb and predict that he'll be our greatest president, period. After all, what good are good dreams, if we can't put our faith, hope and trust in them?

Perhaps the "smartest man in the room" may have figured out small things that can make big differences, such as standing firm on the point that Israel building new settlements in Occupied Palestine is a major impediment to regional peace, and thus to world peace. Hopefully such small changes may produce big dividends in the near future. If the government of Israel heeds the wisdom of Barak Obama, we may be closer to world peace than we realize.

And it would be absolutely wonderful for race relations in the United States (and the world) if Barack Obama laid forever to rest the myth of "white Christian heterosexual male superiority." I was born and raised in the Deep South; as a boy I saw the condescending way blacks were treated by "uppity whites" who didn't consider themselves to be racists, just inherently "better." Today things are much improved, and keep improving with each new generation. I'm glad to live in a multi-racial, multi-cultural neighborhood on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee. I believe that we have "come a long way, baby" in a relatively short period of time. But here's hoping that Barack Obama will eclipse all the presidents before him, earn a spot on Mount Rushmore, and help deal a final death blow to the twin ogres of racism and intolerance. If he does, you "heard it here" first.

Oh, and by the way, I'm not not naturally a liberal. I was a Reagan Republican who came to believe that the Republican party lost its sense of direction and its "marbles." Ronald Reagan was no Chicken Little. He didn't run around screaming, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" While I still admire Reagan for his sunny optimism and resolve (attributes sorely lacking in the current crop of Republican "leaders"), today I'm more inclined to think like and follow the great liberal reformers: the Hebrew prophets, Buddha, Jesus, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Florence Nightingale, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., JFK, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, et al.

I hope, trust and believe that one day the world will include Barack Hussein Obama in that august company.

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