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LIVING FOR CHANGE

DON’T LEAVE IT ALL TO OBAMA

By Grace Lee Boggs

Michigan Citizen, May 18-24, 2008

I am delighted and encouraged by Obama’s double digit victory in North Carolina and his “too close to call” loss in Indiana.

Despite the media-driven (divide and rule) distraction of Jeremiah Wright, despite Hillary Clinton’s claim that Obama cannot win the support of “hard-working, white workers, ”and despite Bill Clinton’s barnstorming of predominantly white N. C. communities on the eve of Super-Tuesday, Obama was supported by 875,000 voters in North Carolina and by 632,000 in Indiana.

It is true that racial divisions were dramatic in the N. C primary. Clinton won 60% of white voters while Obama won 90% of blacks. However, Obama still won 37-40% of whites ---which included a lot of white workers, especially those making under $50,000 a year.

Nationally as of Super-Tuesday, 13,335,159 Americans have voted for Obama, compared to Clinton’s 12,629,468

Obama’s victory in N.C. and near-victory in Indiana were especially significant because in the few weeks before Super-Tuesday the difference between the two candidates became so stark.

Especially in her support of the gas tax holiday, Clinton, with her back to the wall, began pandering to the individual and economic self-interest of white voters, casting them as victims and herself as St. George, the dragon-slayer.

By contrast, in huge rallies or on front porches, Obama continued to address each individual as someone who was not just reacting but capable of reflecting about the state of our country and the world, and living up to the responsibilities of citizenship.

As a result, this election season is providing everyone committed to changing this country with unprecedented opportunities to participate in ongoing conversations with neighbors, co-workers, fellow worshippers, about the responsibilities of citizenship -- conversations that can begin to reverse the dumbing down of all Americans (including ourselves) which has been taking place in the last few decades.

We can’t leave it all to Obama

The interconnected crises we face in this period require changes in ourselves and in our institutions more complex and more protracted than any that human beings have ever faced.

For example, just as we can’t solve soaring gas prices by a gas-tax holiday, we can’t solve the mounting hunger crisis by just sending aid to Third World countries. As Jesse Jackson explained recently, “If we flood areas with free food aid, it will lower prices in the region and drive local farmers out of business. We need, even in emergency aid, to be seeking to purchase as much food as possible from farmers in the region, providing an incentive for farming. We need development plans that emphasize local food production and distribution, the food equivalent of decentralized energy independence.” (Common Dreams, May 6)

As I said in my speech at Cooper Union in March, “We have to help the American people find the moral strength to recognize that, although no amount of money can compensate for the million deaths and indescribable suffering that our criminal invasion and occupation have caused the Iraqi people, we, the American people, have a responsibility to make the material sacrifices that will enable them to begin rebuilding their infrastructure. We have to help the American people grow their souls enough to recognize that since we have been consuming 25% of the planet’s resources, even though we are only 4% of the world’s population, we are the ones who must take the first big steps to reduce greenhouse emissions. We are the ones who must begin to live more simply so that others can simply live.” (The Next American Revolution, Michigan Citizen, March 23-29, 2008)

We have a long way to go. A recent GlobeScan survey showed consumers in Brazil, Mexico, China and other countries in Asia and Latin America are more worried about harming the environment than those in developed countries. They also live in smaller houses, are more likely to consume locally produced food and more likely to get to work by foot, bike or public transportation.