From Margin to Center

That is my prediction for the 2008 presidential election. The margins will move to the center, both from the African American populations and other minorities and from the youth vote. The country will be overwhelmed by the ways in which the Obama candidacy has inspired those previously disenfranchised to come out and cast their vote.

I spoke to a friend yesterday who was predicting what, I suppose, is the opposite–that racism will drive people to the polls. Especially, in particular, those who are racist but unwilling to admit it. This point is a perfect place from which to illustrate my departure with this belief. I feel strongly that the racist drive will have less of an effect than the determination present in Obama supporters. In other words, voting for Barack Obama because of what he stands for and his leadership and yes, his African Americaness, is a stronger force than intolerance and the historically situated racism that exists in this country.

I am harried today, trying to get my littlest to school, too tired I was to write last night, and eager with anticipation to vote. But the final point I would like to make, before the throes of election results start coming in is that this entire election cycle has felt significant in a way no other has before. I know that it is easy to associate oneself with significant historical events, as when you live through them they feel so important, but this time is something special. Our country is hurting terribly, and we have a choice today. We are looking at two options–both very different. One is driven by a tortured history of redemption and the other is focused on overcoming oppression through hope. In all places we see a contrast and it is a moment we must seize to remake the fabric of what we believe it means to be American. The choice we make today will have magnified consequences, the rapidity of those effects will be apparent only after the fact. Today, I call to the margins of this country and to the margins in myself and my community to have a clear vision of where we need to go. NOW IS THE TIME. Tomorrow we will have elected Barack Obama as President of the United States and our transformation will be just beginning.

Waiting to Heal

The body politic is a stress processing machine. At the point at which the level of stress/pressure/anticipation exceeds the capacity of the body politic and the embodied individuals that enliven that mass to process this stress, that body experiences dis-ease.

In grad school I made this argument relevant to the historically situated body of Frida Kahlo. Her ailments mirrored those the revolution and development cycle wrought on the country of Mexico. during her lifetime

At the current moment I sit with a hot pad on my right shoulder. Starting Wednesday I felt a pinched nerve in my back. By Friday I was debilitated, and now I am very affected–the pain at the forefront of any action I take.

I went to see our family’s caregiver for acupuncture. He explained to me that in Chinese Medicine one segment of the body, like the leg, reflects the body as a whole. In other words, your ankle may represent your neck, or the same may be true for your elbow. You can take any part of the whole and mimick/mirror the whole with that part.

I feel as though my body is experiencing the stress of the nation. I don’t mean to equate myself with Kahlo, by claiming to have an in tune sensitivity that others lack. I think we all have this connectedness. And I wonder if you can identify the symptom, or embodied manifestation of the upcoming election in your body?

But the question then remains, how is this connectedness achieved, what is the immaterial materiality that connects the culture to the bodies within it? Michele Foucault argued for a view of politics through geological metaphors. He spoke of resistance, or dissent, subversion, maybe what used to be called revolution–as tectonic shifts. One quake, combined with others leads to a total restructuring of the ground our political system stands on. We are at such a juncture now. The same way my spine pulled deeply apart from its vertebrae ordering, so too are we nearing a massive repositioning through a painful experience of stress. The catharsis–voting–has not succeeded in containing the excess of our expectations in the past. In fact, it has proven itself to be inadequate to reflecting the embodied political will. In this election, the movement has been different, widespread, overarching. The catharsis has come through widespread activation, but there is also a tempered expectation, the loss of belief in being able to affect the outcome has induced a certain amount of paralysis.

I wonder if I will be moving my neck before Tuesday, or if my body will wait to see the outcome before it determines whether it will heal.

The Final Stretch

Last night, after a pretty full day of work I was feeling, to say the least, “overdone.” But instead of going straight to bed after getting the kids down, I had something else I really wanted to do. Because I was working at 7 pm last night during Obama’s “Infomercial” I desperately wanted to see what it was, how it was constructed, and what the effect might be. While I have not had time today to really see how the nation as a whole responded to this piece, I would like to share my humble opinion. HE TOTALLY BA-ROCKED IT YO!

I loved it, every single second of it. I felt as if all the parts were suddenly woven together and for the first time in any election I can remember, I had a strong sense of a whole vision of the candidate under consideration. While it could be argued that the vision presented was a fabrication, or construction, what overwhelmed me was that the authenticity of this person exceeds even his own construction. In other words, he doesnt’ have to create himself for public consumption, who he is already meets our expectations.

As an evidence of this I would like to highlight my favored moments of the 30 minute piece: The fact that Obama’s voice told the stories, not some unknown narrator; his ability to address the seemingly contradictory areas of oil drilling and conservation in a way that brought them together; the way he spoke of war, while still setting a standard for peace; the shot of him talking to school age children and clearly enjoying himself; the many shots of him with his family. This last point was the most humanizing of all. Seeing him with his girls and hearing about who he is as a father and husband was inspiring. I know that my husband and I were brought to tears at this segment. We have struggled as young parents to feel competent and up to the task, and it was amazing to hear that Obama too, sees the struggle, and chooses to prioritize his family. At this most base level he demonstrates he is the role model we need. He makes me want to be a better person and he makes me want to be the best mother I can be. It is this kind of motivation that our country needs right now.

I was also taken with the stories of other Americans that were told. Instead of sugar coating America or over-dramatizing our problems, we all got a taste of the reality that for many people, of diverse backgrounds, things are hard, harder than they were a while back and harder than we expect them to be. Obama presented real policy recommendations to deal with these issues, and left me feeling hope and urgency simultaneously–the ingredients for the kind of generational “stepping-up” that he also called for.

The best part of all though? He didn’t mention McCain or Palin once. There was not a negative element in the entire piece. At a time when the R rallies are dominated by vicious attacks on Obama, this was such a relief.

Back in the primary season, I wrote a post about how I really hoped Obama would not go negative. My argument was that if he is to be a truly transformational figure, he cannot go negative. Of course, the general election has called for “negativity.” But what I saw last night was truly transformational politics. It gave me faith and hope and all that I needed to know, in my heart, that I was watching the next President of the United States. I look forward to more years of his leadership, and as we enter this final stretch, I am so grateful to have held on for this ride.

Addendum: I just looked at some critiques of the infomercial–the salient point? The picture Obama espouses for solutions is not realistic. To this I say–Well, thank goodness we have a leader visionary enough to actually articulate solutions! I am interested in the politics of possibility. I am not a Pollyanna–I believe we are hitting dystopia soon. But this is the guy I would like to be the leader, precisely because his approach looks to the best of all worlds, instead of dwelling on what we are NOT capable of.

A Little Inspiration

When I was 10 my parents and I moved to London for 3 months. To pass the time in the flat alone I listened to Les Miserables over and over and over again. I actually do have the whole soundtrack still memorized. Of course, I have seen it performed live 5 times too. So, I really, really, really, liked this YouTube and I really, really, really needed it today.

Les MisBarack