This month marks what would have been the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 80th birthday (January 15).
Five days later, Americans will inaugurate a President who, without the influence of Dr. King's life on American society, it would have been inconceivable to imagine: an African-American. I must say in fairness to the subject that, without the colossal failure of unregulated laissez faire capitalism, I'm not sure Americans would have elected Obama; on the whole, we haven't matured quite enough to see beyond self-interest. In the absence of catastrophe, even the smarter candidate might have lost to a candidate like McCain.
This is a video prayer I put together. It is neither a celebration of the Obama Presidency (because it hasn't happened yet), nor an anthem of triumphalism. It is not meant to be, in and of itself, a political statement -- although I am aware that to some Americans any prayer for hope and change is distinctly political, especially in a world of mass-produced hopelessness and mediated stasis.
I sincerely hope for the best for the United States of America, and am buoyed by Americans' openness to change that I saw during the campaign. This is a prayer that we get the America -- the best America -- that we deserve, the America inherent in MLK's deam and Barack Obama's promise of change.
God knows we need it.
1 comment:
I'm starting to get a bit nervous. Obama is already beginning to see a bit too much like another Bill Clinton--basically a center-right politico who does not have the stomach to push a real progressive agenda. I see very little in his cabinet appointments or his policy statements so far that suggest to me that he is at all interested in taking on the corporate establishment that is the cause of most of the problems that this country is currently facing.
I certainly hope that I don't start to regret not having voted once again for Ralph Nader--someone who refuses to compromise on important issues!!!
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