This piece grew from a comment that I never posted on BooMan’s piece Obama and that Generational Thang. Generational gaps are hard to quantify, but I guess my generation is at least one removed from BooMan’s (I was born in 1978). So I am going to offer a slightly younger perspective.
First, let me say that Obama is not my #1 choice. He is probably about #3 for me right now. But I could get excited about an Obama run. Here is part of the reason I think Obama appeals to my age group, but first let me set some generational context up.
Perhaps he was just ‘filling space’, but BooMan is right to mention MTV in his piece on Obama. When I was in junior high and high school, MTV was in the midst of its evolution from canned videos of hair bands into something much more cultural and far reaching. Hip hop and rap were getting more and more air time.
Let’s take a look at the lyrics from some two of the most popular bands / artists of the hip hop revolution.
We gotta make a change…
It’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes.
Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live
and let’s change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn’t working so it’s on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.
— Tupac, Changes
I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I’m getting older y’all people get colder
Most of us only care about money makin
Selfishness got us followin the wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting their young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what the see in the cinema
Whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness and equality
Instead of spreading love, we’re spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity
That’s the reason why sometimes I’m feeling under
That’s the reason why sometimes I’m feeling down
It’s no wonder why sometimes I’m feeling under
I gotta keep my faith alive, until love is found
— Black Eyed Peas, Where Is the Love?
There is a pervasive theme throughout hip hop (and perhaps as a response to the self-destructive nature of gangsta rap, but that’s a topic for another day) of problems being solved by love, understanding, and empathy. And if you’ve ever lived in a lower-income neighborhood with mixed ethnicities, I’m sure this resonates strongly with you too.
But this is only one side of the coin. Let’s take a look at some of the other lyrics from those same two songs (and know that these are merely two of many examples).
Cops give a damn about a negro
pull the trigger kill a nigga he’s a hero
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares
one less hungry mouth on the welfare
First ship ’em dope & let ’em deal to brothers
give ’em guns step back watch ’em kill each other
<snip>
And still I see no changes can’t a brother get a little peace
It’s war on the streets & the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
so the police can bother me
— Tupac, Changes
Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin’
In the USA, the big CIA
The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK
–Black Eyed Peas, Where Is The Love?
There is also a widespread distrust (mostly of the police, but also of the government at large) that runs as a parallel and supporting theme. We don’t see government as the source of the solutions to problems. We see the way that government functions as a rigged game. And it is. Solutions need to come from the people.
What does this have to do with Obama? I hope that Real History Lisa (of whom I am a big fan!) won’t mind me borrowing from one of her comments:
Those of us who have been involved heavily in politics know that when someone seems too good to be true, they usually are.
<snip>
I’m still waiting for some leadership from him, on ANY point, and I’ve yet to see it.
Where her cynicism (maybe too strong a word, and I don’t want to put words in her mouth) is based on past experiences of having her hopes crushed, we place our cynicism in the system itself. And we don’t expect a leader to come around who is going to really have our best interests in mind and be able to dictate that from on high.
A few months ago, I read Paul Wellstone‘s autobiography. One of the themes in his book that struck a chord with me is how much he talks about needing to build a groundswell of public support in order to get anything of substance done in government.
This is where Obama comes in. In Obama, I see someone who may not be the strongest leader from a managerial or policy standpoint. But damn, the man gets people excited. People I’ve never heard talk politics were speaking to me in awed tones after his speech at the national convention. He is not politics as usual to us. He offers a real hope for change.
If the people lead, the leaders will follow. In Obama, I see someone who could facilitate the restoration of the leadership to the public.
And that’s why I like him.
