The Obama Virus

I had a similar experience watching this video. The energy that surrounded it (Will.i.am put it together in an incredibly short period of time) was indeed the kind of active engagement that the Obama campaign is advocating and professing to be able to generate.

But.

I don't mean to downplay the importance of rhetoric and an appeal to the emotions, but at this time in history it is especially difficult for me to rally around a sentiment. George Bush catapulted into and stayed in the White House in large part because a great many people in the country "felt" he was a good man that reflected their values. I'm concerned that Obama's wave of popular support is merely the other side of the same coin. I've become an Obama supporter, but I've also found myself questioning my own motives in doing so.

The night of the Iowa primaries I had an incredibly vivid dream of a fictional (perhaps fantasy) Obama growing up in Chicago. The portrait I created was a young man who knew he had a great destiny and yet was humble, whose friends, both black and white, gathered with him, all aligned by the belief that they were enlightened enough to know that their race was not what bound their friendships, their values, their sense of purpose. I was one of these friends, and as we crouched together on a stoop on a city street, we all knew that it was Obama that would be speaking for us, representing us, eventually leading us. It was a beautiful experience, sitting there with this person, who was a peer and a friend, who we somehow knew would, because of his nobility and decency, keep our ideals alive in his ascent. There was much more to the dream, but that was the salient moment that stands out as some kind of pivot point within the dream.

I couldn't get it out of my mind after that. In fact, I had another dream about him the following night and though the details are fuzzy, it had a similar flavor and theme. My girlfriend joked that I was falling in love with him. What the hell was going on?

Was I under the spell of extraordinary marketing? Or was my unconscious compiling data on an intuitive level that fully coalesced while asleep? What does one do with such an experience and how does one weigh it against other considerations?

I hope I did not decide to support him because of this dream, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't a turning point. And yet, when I watch this video, I find myself getting annoyed, thinking, "Wishing is not enough. Hoping is not enough. Why isn't this support coming from his ideas, his platform, his credentials? Sing all you want. Are we going to sing social justice into existence? Or healthcare?"

On a certain level, I don't want to give Obama the credit that he really is committed to changing the way government works, that his priorities are more about individual rights than maintaining the status quo. It's inane, but it might be as simple as not wanting to get burned. He is a politician, lest we (I) forget and it strikes me as a colossally bad idea to think of him as above the fray.

I think the only conclusion that I can come to about all this is that these dreams, these fantasies, these feelings that arise around Obama are really much more about us than they are about him. If we are conscious of these affective processes, we can acknowledge them for what they are and proceed with and beyond them, which for me means to acknowledge my hunger for more than dreams and hopes, for specifics, for plans, for ideas, for the lumber for the house that I've been inspired to help build.

Maybe I have the advantage of distance, being up in Canada. But there's something interesting about Obama, especially when and if one cares to look at Canadian politics and politicians.

At least Barack Obama has some color, some verve, some zest. By comparison Canadian politicians are about as stale, grey, mumbling and plodding as they come. With Obama at least you get a little Ceasar (no pun intended) Salad with your meal, some orange juice, some kind of zing.

Canadian politics is like being offered oatmeal, half a boiled potato, a huge, bloody slab of beef and a rusty cup of stagnant water.

And then being told that's the most nutritous meal taxpayers money has bought you.

Canada as a nation, as political body, makes itself out to be some kind of forward thinking avant-guard, "stand on guard for thee", upstanding citizen. Meanwhile in many provinces and in many ways things are right fooked.

The scary thing is that Canada, in the guise of the province of Alberta, is "managing" one of the biggest, nastiest, most destructive oil and gas industries on the planet. This is what's running the country and the political stance on this, it's fervor for oil, means everything else (environment, health care, infrastructure etc) is crumbling. Fast.

Bush, Cheney and crew loved this Canadian oil reserve, this "hidden stash". A 2003 New York Times article asked "Will Calgary Be the Next Kuwait?".

Ya catch my drift?

Obama doesn't come across as an oil baron. Plans and promises like the rest of 'em, sure. But his agenda feels to me more practical.

Anyway, I'm not so sure about the Mushy Peas' contribution to Obama's vibe, other than the fact it gets those pop drinkin', bubblegum chewin', snickers eatin' kids to turn their attention to the political process.

But yes; he's not a Bush, he's not a Clinton. It's not a repetition. If anything, it feels to me a sign of a fresh cycle. Not simply to do with presidential or political things, but something wider.

Politics and Bullsh*t aside, Barack Hussein Obama seems strangely surreal.

Dreamhump: Canada aint no utopia either. As I mentioned above, the political situation here is pretty darn grim.

A "person of political power" has repeatedly mentioned that he is "not going to touch the brakes" where it concerns the economy of oil and gas up here. He's got the pedal to the floor, staring at the rear-view mirror and apparently doesn't see or care that a serious brick wall is up ahead.

That sums up Canadian politics.

Yes, it's annoying. Especially as part of it is due to unscrupulous Canadian political antics.

There are accusations that the Canadian government leaked a memo concerning Obama advisor Austan Goolsbee's comments about NAFTA and free trade.

article here  and here 

"Goolsbee said his comments were misinterpreted, and Obama denied offering the Canadians any such ideas. "Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything," Obama told reporters Monday in Carrollton, Texas"

Personally I don't buy the accusations.

My feeling is it's another one of those twisted "Roveian" moves and outright lies descibed by Lessig in his presentation linked above.

Obama's got some wind at his back, so out come more low blows and false accusations.

"The affair has been dubbed NAFTA-gate by Ms. Clinton's campaign..."

What an obvious, overblown way to stir up hype and dirt.

"Mr. de Mora described Mr. Goolsbee as indicating that the anti-NAFTA rhetoric "should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans." Mr. Goolsbee said he never said that, noting the memo was in Mr. de Mora's words."

"Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has disputed the suggestion that his government was trying to complicate Obama's chances or favor Republican Sen. John McCain, who strongly supports NAFTA."

This is the only political article I've ever read that has made me laugh out loud! KUDOS! American politics is BEYOND hopeless.

There are alien civilizations- both good and bad- that have imprinted their will on this planet in ways that are materially manifesting, including how the Illuminati got bribed by the bad aliens who want to use humanity as their own personal resource. Guess what the American government got out of it??? Money and Power!!! Who knows what the bad aliens wanted? Dead bodies on the battlefield? Entry to planet Earth in a way where they had ties and connections to beings (the government) who have bodies and therefore can enact more change on this planet than purely 5th dimensional beings without bodies?

Because the economy is dependent on militarism, the only hope we have for anti-militarism is if the American economy completely crashes, which I think we should all look at as a blessing in disquise when it happens which it already slowly is. An internal sense of abundance for the things that really matter in life stand us in good stead as peak oil looms and the economy plummets. This year in the Mayan calendar is about deprogramming the mechanistic sense of lack that has haunted humanoids. Be the abundance of the universe without resorting to the identification of money as abundance.

We need to form our own government or maybe a gooberment! Forward-thinking Anarchists and Socialists and maybe even Libertarians will  self-organize in ways that are more in line with the energy of the group, granted there's an overall structure or anti-structure that somehow leaves room for all possibilities.

I personally pledge allegiance to the Galactic Council that anti-authoritatively governs all doings in the universe and includes all benevolant aliens races: Pleidians, Sirians, Arcturians, included. But you know, that's 'cause I'm Sirian and only 16% humanoid. Damn those hybrids!