Change You Can Believe In...Or Can You?

Big Homie is all about change.

Changing the Washington culture. Changing the way America does business. Changing the way we handle ourselves overseas. The "C" word is Barack Obama's favorite and he wields it like an Uzi, its powerful rounds have cut down all of his enemies so far.

But, what I've noticed is that now that the shock of watching the Clintons and their surrogates slice up their black card has dissipated, folks are starting to wonder exactly how much change Obama is going to bring. With his recent disappearing act on FISA and his comments on Father's Day, folks are asking if Obama's change message was just more of the same old political bullshit.

I'm going to have to say yes. And then I'll say no.

For everybody all disappointed and whatnot, y'all really need to get a grip. If you thought Obama was going to get the Democratic nomination and start challenging the basic tenets of America, well y'all need to put the bong down and take a walk.

I'm not siding with Obama on all of his recent decisions, but the anger some folks have felt at those decisions has been fairly amusing. I've always said that anger is a byproduct of either fear or surprise. However, anybody who has paid attention to Obama's meteoric rise really shouldn't be feeling either of those emotions.

See, from the beginning, Obama has been talking about incremental change, not fundamental change. How many times has he made it clear that he thinks this is the greatest country in the world? It's pretty clear that he believes that America took a wrong turn on its journey; he's not one of those folks who believes the whole trip was a bad idea.

I'm not insinuating that Obama's message of change has been insincere; I feel he truly believes that change is needed for this country to progress. Yet, I think he's talking about the kind of change a woman makes when she goes from a brunette to a red head, not Britney Spears rocking a baldy change. Obama grew up in a home where the core greatness of America was emphasized and praised. Unlike a lot of black babies, Obama's breast milk wasn't infused with righteous anger and justified disillusionment. It was just funny-tasting milk. (Yeah, I know what it tastes like.)

So, I understand where he is coming from, and I appreciate his mindset. Plus, I think that Obama understands that with his black skin and funny name he already has used up most of his "change" quota with many white people. I think he knows that his margin of error is much smaller than a white politician, which means he cannot afford to get labeled as some crackpot if he still wants to be effective in November.

In some ways he is behaving like a typical politician, and as I have said many times, we must never forget that Barack Hussein Obama is first and foremost a politician. However, I believe you can be a politician and still be effective when it comes to improving the lives of most of your constituents. Shit, if Bill Clinton could balance the country's budget while getting some brain in the Oval Office and shipping all the niggers off to jail, I can only imagine what a focused intelligent fellow like Barry could do.

What I see as Obama's biggest hurdle is the feelings of people who bought into his change message and ran with it like they were Barry Sanders.

These folks, whose pain I can feel, seem to believe that given how often Obama mentioned change during his campaign he should be willing to stand firm on issues that represent a wholesale departure from politics as usual. It's an understandable position, but one I don't ever expect most politicians to support because many Americans don't like that much change.

Anyway, I just found it interesting how differently so many of us view the idea of change, and how we all have different standards for what is a serious level of change. Given the horrible presidency of George W. Bush it made sense for Obama to link his candidacy to the "change" mantra, in fact, it was masterful.

Now he just has to deal with the fallout from the political Pandora's Box he opened.