Marcos SacramentoI woke up this morning to NPR going on again about 'Hillary versus Obama.' Frankly, I'm beginning to get irritated by this pack mentality in political coverage.
A number of my friends dispute what I see as the greater good that Obama has already done for American politics. Since capturing the national spotlight, he has done for politics what Venus Williams has done for tennis or Tiger Woods for golf. To some Americans it may be their worst nightmare, but I envision an entire generation of students inspired to look at public service as just that: service.
The America of the 21st century is already looking a heck of a lot different than it had in the past --or is the camera merely swinging around to show a truer picture of what has long existed but been denied exposure?
I like that Obama is of multiracial heritage. It may be the one thing about him that makes Newt Gingrich's constituency and the others behind his 'Contract With America' co-conspirators gag on their own bile. Yet he represents an America that has been in the forming since the first European presence in North America.
The chief difference between the current violence in Iraq dominating the news and that which is occurring here in America has more to do with how the media covers it (or doesn't) than the numbers of casualties.
There is a clarity to his style, a lack of bombastic rhetoric, and positiveness that is very much a part of what the rest of the world admires about America. And for all the troops we send around the world, the vision of Obama could do much more to assure people of our intent and motives being mutually beneficial.
About that violence in the Middle East... as I recall, during the Cold War it was common practice for the U.S. and the Soviet Union (and later China) to woo supporters with tanks and planes, but keep a short chain on the bullets and replacement parts. So where are these insurgents and terrorist groups getting their weapons? How are they being bankrolled?
Do we really think that the Arab League is bent on engineering its own annihilation through mass slow suicide? Why isn't there more media coverage along the lines of 'follow the money'?
Hamas and Hezbollah and Al Qaida don't make their own weapons nor bullets. They aren't manufactured in Iran or North Korea. So is the West actually engineering their own destruction by continuing to make the weapons of war available?
Why do we insist on continuing to manufacture gas-guzzling SUVs, and discourage the development of alternative energy sources in the face of dwindling supplies? It was widely reported in the media how those omnipresent gift cards have become an established part of our holiday gift giving... but has anyone stopped to consider that we might want to refrain for looking for more products to create from petroleum?
On a much lighter (and more lyrical) note, I discovered the work of Brasilian singer Marcos Sacramento over the holidays. Click on the header above for an article on him, or read the excellent profile of him on Daniella Thompson's website, or click on his name to a link to his website. I couldn't find him on the database at Barnes and Noble, though, so I guess I won't be able to use the gift cards I received over the holidays to purchase his albums. Just as well, I suppose. From what I've read of his work so far, I'll get more satisfaction spending my own money on him.
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