Who Can You Trust?

How could anyone ever put so much trust into one man? I understand wanting to stick behind the candidate of your respective party, but what party do some of these Obama supporters truly belong to? When I use the term "Obama supporters" I'm referring to those of my age group; the age group that showed up in record numbers for this year's election. But why did they show up in record numbers? I asked myself this question, being the curious person I am, and developed a hypothesis. We want to be the generation to finally put racism aside and accept a person regardless of their skin color. People of my generation do not necessarily support the Democratic party, they support Obama the man. In fact, whenever I ask an Obama supporter why they stand behind him, a majority of responses include something about his race and how it's time to elect an African American to show that we are beyond racism. Very noble. But wait a second, I ask, what about his political policies? Then a majority of the time I receive no answer (at least not a correct one). There are several online videos that began to circulate during the debate that addressed this concern. When Obama supporters on the street were asked about his policy the interviewer would substitute in McCain's policy, asking questions such as, "How do you feel about Obama wanting to keep our troops over in Iraq and continue the war on terror?" To which most would reply, "I support whatever he does."

Why put so much blind trust in a man just to make a statement that we come from an embracing generation? I had never seen anything like the atmosphere at the inauguration (at least for a President). People cheered "Obama! Obama!" at the top of their lungs, as if he were their champion. He makes promises, like all politicians, and these people eat every word he feeds them. I don't trust any politician that much. I believe they speak in riddles, are incredibly vague, and are trying to please too many people with conflicting views (which inevitably leads to someone not getting their way). Obama does not only lead the United States and the Democratic party, he also leads his own cult of Obama supporters that simply support him for what he is; the first African American president, representative of our generation's willingness to change.

It's this desire to change that bothers me, because even though we have just elected the first black President, it seems that discussions about racism are higher than ever. I feel that we are separated more now than in a long time. Moments after Obama won his election for instance, dozens of African Americans were videotaped claiming that they had finally won and this was a great victory. I thought electing Obama was supposed to strengthen the equality of men, I didn't realize it meant a loss for the whites and a win for the blacks. Even in the poem before his oath of office, while beautifully written, I still felt a sense of separation. For example, while reading "Praise Song for the Day," by Elizabeth Alexander, I originally thought she was using the term "we" to describe the United States as a whole. However, after reading over the poem several times, I found that "we" was really being used to group African Americans together. She even states "that many have died for this day, sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce," describing some of the hardship that her race had to endure for this victory. It seems as though every issue has become a race issue. While discussing politics with some, if I disagree with Obama’s plan I have been called a racist (from less intellectually sound individuals). This shouldn’t be considered a victory for minorities, but a for America as a whole.

The point is, he is our president, and yes things have changed, but he is still both a politician and a man. Both notoriously have their faults. Don’t follow him blindly just because of what you think he represents; your willingness to embrace change. That’s how Nazism was started.