So this morning the headlines on the new were again about the Reverend, his mouth and Obama. Reverend Wright is now defending himself against the character destroying way he has been represented to the world. Who could really blame him?

Seriously, this story has gotten so old and blown out of context that it sickens me. As I sat there watching, eating my cereal with the kids, I was dumbfounded by the fact that this was once again a headline. The speculation now is whether or not it will hurt Obama’s campaign.

First of all, I want to say that these “clips” of Reverend Wright’s sermon are mis-representing him and are not simply taken out of context because the context has been conveniently removed from them entirely. I had the opportunity not long ago to hear the entire sermon on Michael Baisden’s radio show and as an educated, mature adult who has had the benefit of sitting in a fiery southern congregation, heard his message loud and clear…

The United States can not police the world, impose it’s beliefs on other cultures and not expect some to disagree and become enraged or even lash out at being bullied into serving the desires of another culture. This is not to condone the behavior of the extremists, but to understand the root of where it is coming from is important. The other message in the sermon was that of spending more attention within our own borders fixing our own issues making American a stronger “Leader” in the world, rather than ignoring them and still imposing our self-righteous beliefs on others.

Now, instead what is happening is that the “Media-Clip” mentality has taken hold because some are not willing to dig deeper to fully understand the issue at hand. Reverend Wright’s attention getting comments to his own congregation, simply to convey a moral message to his followers has been conveniently picked up, in pieces, and used to soil the otherwise respectable character of both the Reverend and Obama, all for the sake of politics.

Then, my Mother says to me “I bet this will hurt Obama.” I was dumbfounded that she would fall for it all. Here is a man who is doing nothing other than defending his own character and love for this country and God, politics be damned. To Obama the pain has been felt in the number of people willing to vote for him. To the Reverend it has meant damage to his livelihood. Since this has all taken place, the Reverend’s speaking engagements to congregations across the country have been canceled. This is the soul of a man devoted to spreading the gospel. Is that fair?

At the end of the day, we as individuals need to ask ourselves if we are so shallow to accept the world of any third party in politics or the media in dictating to us what we should believe or who we should believe in. For me that answer is no. I have done my research, I have seen the various YouTube clips of not just Obama or Reverend Wright, but also those of Mrs. Clinton and the pundits surrounding her who have similar affiliations to outspoken groups who have taken the United States to verbal task. But why were those never issues raised on the national media? It is all about Power and Money people.

We need to stop being sheep and lead by the tail into believing what others want us to believe. Mrs. Clinton’s comment in the Reverend Wright issue were “You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your pastor.” Well for me, Mrs. Clinton you can’t choose your family, but you CAN choose your Presidential candidate. For me, it isn’t you.

I am one for real change, not that which comes from blowing smoke up my ass, or conveniently serves the flavor of the moment. The legacies of Bush and Clinton have gotten us no further down the road of becoming a new nation for the new century ahead. I want a fresh view of the future. I am not gullible enough to think that it will be nirvana or a perfect solution to have someone new in the white house. Mistakes will be made regardless of who is in the office. What I want is someone who doesn’t just hear, but “Listens” to the people who put him/her in office.

An individual from the people who is working “for” the people.

As for the rest of us, we need to wake up. My new mantra evokes a simple phrase from the 80′s that was intended to get people to rise from slumber and begin to see the world in a new way… with open eyes. So with that, I ask that regardless of who you vote for or what party you are with, dig deeper, go beneath the surface to learn, demand answers, become educated about your choices and more importantly…..

DON’T SLEEP!

So much is being made about the Democratic Presidential Primaries this year. “First Black President,” “First Woman President” that we tend to forget about what is really at stake. That is the Presidential Race itself for all the marbles. Remember, McCain is a lock in the Republican space.

So that leaves us with the never ending dog-fight on the Democratic side. But what happens when it is McCain & V.P. Candidate ‘X’ going against either Hillary or Obama and their V.P. Candidate ‘X’? They have both pretty much made it clear that they are not going to settle for being the other’s V.P. Candidate……

My strategic mind says they better get their heads out and start thinking about it, because there is much room for McCain and the Republicans to turn this whole Circus on it’s head.

Now everyone has thrown around the Condolesa Rice theory. Sure a Black Woman teamed with McCain seems like the logical choice to take on the whole “Woman” or “Black” presence in the race to November. But all indications at this point and in my mind say that this wouldn’t be enough to stem the wave of Democratic force for change. No, you would need someone who people respect and admire for their stance on the War to counter the McCain-Bush imagery. There is such an individual, none other than……

General Colin Powell

The one man who, on the outside at least, seemed to constantly be pushing against the War in Iraq or at least advising serious caution. The Anti-Rumsfeld. Here you have a “Black” man, well respected, combat tested who is not “Pro-War” and people across the spectrum of colors like him.

This would put a serious wrench in the Democratic plan to take over the world. People may not like McCain’s policies today, but with someone like Powell behind him 2008 or 2012 don’t look so bad for the Republicans from a strategic point of view. With some minor tweaking a McCain/Powell ticket would look very digestible for those “On the Fence” moderate republicans who find themselves in a conundrum.

This is just my random thinking about the upcoming post Democratic Primary mess. If they don’t get their heads out now, and something like this is pulled off. I will make the race to January ’09 a very interesting battle.