Twenty years ago, as I stood in the bitter cold in a parking lot in Sioux City, Iowa, I saw a sight I thought I’d never see. A crowd of white meat-packers, big beefy men and their wives and children, shuffled their feet in quiet anticipation. They shielded their eyes against the low winter sun, stamping their feet for warmth on the frozen ground. They were waiting to hear my boss, the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.
No one knew what to expect from this unlikely meeting of the Southern-born civil rights veteran and these heartland folk who had been on strike for months and were now down to their last savings. As Jackson began to speak, I could see heads nodding as he told them that their sacrifice was redemptive, and that they were not alone in their fight for fair wages and safe working conditions. He took their strike and cast it against the larger economic violence that came out of President Reagan’s union-busting practices, and the failures of a trickle-down economy that brought wealth to the rich and poverty to the working poor. As Jackson spoke, he ignited a sense of pride and dignity in these men and women. He brought them to their feet with tears in their eyes with the cry, “Keep hope alive!”
Now, Senator Barack Obama is standing with the workers, farmers, students, elderly and others in Iowa, preaching a similar message of hope and offering a new way forward for our country. Just as Jackson offered a break from Reaganomics and repression, Obama would take us away from the destruction of Bush’s war policies and restore our democracy. Just as Jackson offered a message of hope across racial and class divides, Obama is building a bridge across generations and constituencies.
Obama is the new messenger of hope, justice and equality. His call for ordinary people to take back their government from the lobbyists and big business clients, who have reaped mega-profits through backroom deals, is exactly what we need at this critical moment when economic inequality is at an all-time high. His pledge to engage directly with foreign leaders who oppose us and with allies who should be our partners in solving intractable conflicts is exactly what we need. We need to build bridges and tear down walls.
This moment in United States history poses a turning point that can set the course for decades. The crises posed by global warming, a protracted struggle against Islamic extremists, the deepening inequality in our country, our deteriorating infrastructure and declining educational system, and our tarnished international reputation cry out for new answers and new approaches. Obama is the best person to meet the challenges of this historical moment. He has shown a deep grasp of issues and, more importantly, exhibited the ability to listen to other points of view and find ways to build alliances across historic barriers.
Obama is the man with the vision, clarity and ability to meet the challenges of our times. He is the man, and this is the moment — for change, for hope, for a better America.
Eddie Wong is a member of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Leadership Council for Senator Obama. He was the national field director of the 1988 Jesse Jackson for President campaign. He is a media and political consultant based in Oakland, Calif.
OBAMA is a person of integrity, compassion, vision, and also smart. I like his wife, Michelle. It is time for OBAMA to be President. Maybe then, I can be proud to be an American.
“the deepening inequality in our country, our deteriorating infrastructure and declining educational system”
Can you name a country where people are more “equal” than in the US ?? Don’t forget, this is the only country in the world where an adulterous, racist, crook like Jessie Jackson could run his shake downs via his Wall Street Project “charity” . You’ve got to be kidding. …
Wasn’t he the other guy who’s main experience before public office was as a community organizers? Deepening inequality? Compared to the 1950s? 1960s? The average African American is about as economically advanced as Asians in developed nations such as Korea or Taiwan and lives in a bigger house and drives a car. The average Asian American makes more money and is better educated than the average EuroAmerican. Obama’s party is the one deeply entrenched in race and gender politics and government policy that treats people differently on the basis of what they are, not who they are. McCain is the one who has enough integrity to tell you exactly about his history and what he stands for. Obama doesn’t even have enough integrity to acknowledge the faith that his fathers gave him when he was born and enrolled him in school. He once was supported by Arabs who thought they were symphathic until he realized the Jews had more money and influence. He said he could never denounce his pastor – and then did. And that he was for federal campaign funding and then didn’t. He said that he didn’t want his daughters punished with a baby if they made a mistake — but try asking him if he’d tell their daughters to have an abortion if they found out they were carrying unborn children. Read Obama’s book – he doesn’t really identify with anybody he grew up with, not the crazy black liberation activists, not his goofy black liberation minister, not his white mother, grandfather, grandmother, or the “bitter drunk” of a father he barely knew, or the drug using high school classmates, marxist professors, or ex-terrorist professor friends. He has no deep roots in anything, his christianity is a joke. McCain is rooted in the bedrock of service to America.
My case rests.