OBAMA IS TURNING THIS DREAM INTO A NIGHTMARE

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE OBAMA IS TURNING THIS DREAM INTO A NIGHTMARE Eric, I found your response over the top – emotional and unrealistic. Who would respond to such a challenge, do as I say or I won't send you any money and start my own grass roots organization. Please, for the first time in our history, we have a candidate who both embraces our people and is fit to lead the entire nation in a world on the brink of collapse. Of course he's a politician. Against his own best interests, that is his chosen profession and it is one of compromise, negotiation and deft balletic performance in a 24 hour news cycle. He will make mistakes and always disappoint somebody, but is that any reason to jump ship? Before Obama, the concept of "grass roots" was not even in the national lexicon. He has already performed heroic feats by winning the nomination, energizing the electorate, expanding the map and mounting a movement that is prepared to eject the Republicans whose ideology and machinery has done so much damage worldwide. As a journalist, you have power and influence and I would hope an unconditional love for a brother who has welcomed support from those like you and me, building a movement from the bottom up. His task is to galvanize a nation sorely in need of change, and everybody having a hissy fit on the brink of history in the making, from disgruntled Hillary supporters, neglected Muslims, rampaging preachers and astute journalists needs to have the courage, the hopefulness and the faith that this magical moment is ours for the taking and this man is the vessel of dreams deferred. The transition will be painful, but that's the nature of rebirth. Take a breath and chill out. FISA ain't done yet. We'll have time over the next 8 years to hold Obama accountable, but now is the time to believe in our power to do so. Resist the urge to divide and be conquered. Most important: get that brother in the White House period. Mamie--Louise, I'm sure you know I understand the argument that you're putting forth-- I've been making it to disaffected Black people since the day Obama declared. But we're talking about the fourth amendment of the Constitution here! If this man was going to compromise for the sake of politics, surely he could have found an area of less importance than that. In addition, he has undermined the very foundation of his candidacy--change. And beyond even that, by supporting a bill that gives immunity to the communication companies and the people in the Bush administration who violated our fourth amendment rights, he's also blocking litigation that allows us to find out whose communications they monitored, the information they gathered, and for what purpose. And there are also indications that this situation goes much deeper than 9/11, since the monitoring started before 9/11. If this situation had happened during the sixties or seventies, all hell would be breaking lose. Bush, and many in his administration would have been impeached, and others would be going to jail. We're taking it far too lightly because we've become undereducated over the years, and desensitized to the loss of our constitutional rights. And the horrible part of it all is that Barack knows this. He's not a dummie--the man is a constitutional scholar! They started chipping away at the constitution when Ford pardoned Nixon. Then they went a little further and got away with it when Reagan was not impeached after Iran/contra and flooded the Black community with drugs to finance his illegal war in contravention of the Boland Amendment. Now they're refusing to address the lie that Bush told to take us into Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and allowed his cronies to ravish the treasury, and take away our right to due process. Now this brother comes along talking about change, and then supports blocking an opportunity to investigate their spying on millions of Americans. Exactly what does the brother have to do before I have permission to get pissed? There's something very esoteric and ugly about this situation, and I don't like it. Of course, I have no choice but to vote for the man, considering my alternative, but I am going to close my checkbook and hold my nose while I do it. I'm not a groupie. I support politicians, only, as long as they support my best interest--and with this issue, this very important issue, Barack didn't do that. So again, while I am going to vote for him--although while holding my nose--from this point forward, I'm going to watch him like a hawk, and scream bloody murder every time he farts in the wrong direction. If I don't, I'm no better than the hacks who are giving Bush a pass. So, over the top, I don't think so. The mere fact that we have a constitution represents a message being sent by the founding fathers from beyond the grave: "Don't trust any of 'em"--Black or White. And I'll never forget that in the future. The next superstar that gets a dime from me is gonna have to be able to tap dance. Eric Stay on top of what's going on around you. From Hip Hop to world and national news--stay informed about those things that impact both the Black community and the entire world, as interpreted by Dr. Boyce Watkins and some of the nation's top Black writers. Stay in touch with Your Black World www.yourblackworld.com/. It's our piece of the net.