Sunday, January 6, 2008

"Renegade" had better be careful -- some hate hope

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to me is a truly incredible character. He exudes the kind of confidence we haven't seen since the early 1960's; and he also has youth on his side, being born at that cusp where the Baby Boom ended and my generation -- Generation X -- began. His meteoric rise up the Democratic ranks from just four years ago, when he gave his famous "Audacity of Hope" address to the Democrats, is nothing less than amazing.

There's little doubt in my mind that the Democratic ticket for 2008 will be John Edwards and Barack Obama. In which order is the question, although it does look like after the twosome tag-teamed and suckerpunched Hillary Clinton last night, Obama has the greater momentum and Clinton will be shunted aside.

And yet, there's the fear of, is this 1968 all over again? Remember that year -- the murders of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy and the Chicago riots, which allowed the inept Hubie Humphrey to get the Dem nom? Nixon pounced and won, which would not have happened if Kennedy had been his opponent.

Simple fact is, America has been operating in a cycle of fear for six and a half years. The Roves and the Bushies, and yes even Bill O'Reilly, want that to continue for another four decades. I'm not saying they're planning an attack on the Senator. But he is a threat to the military industrial complex that Eisenhower rightfullly condemned as he left office way back in 1960. I will not be surprised in the least if, God forbid, there's an attempt on Obama's life in the next few weeks. After all, hope always beats out fear in the long run as long as there's a glimmer of hope left -- and the opponents of change want to do anything to extinguish even that tiny glimmer.

Yes, the Secret Service has given protection to the leading candidates, including Obama (who apparently has the appropriate code name "Renegade.") But no amount of protection stopped the attempts on Ford or Reagan, or Bush I years after he left office. My advise to the Senator: Hire a few private security guards, just in case. You can't trust the government you're a part of and now want to lead for anything.

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