It'll Take More Than a T-Shirt for Obama
to Win-It's On You
By Davey D
"For the past 40 years we had heard
especially among African Americans that we shall overcome.
The problem was we never quite knew what over coming was nor did we know what overcoming looked like…No one set a
date for the overcoming or had an itinerary for the overcoming of…"
These were the opening statements put forth by Atlanta rap star Killer Mike during the artists
panel at last month's ozone awards in Houston.
He was responding to a question I had posed which was; 'What role do you and other Hip Hop artists see
yourself playing in this year's elections?'
Killer Mike added that he was encouraged to see the excitement around Obama's campaign and that for many
people, the possibility of him getting into the white house was an indication that the
'overcoming' was finally here.
We should be proud of Obama who came up from humble beginnings and like so many of us within Hip Hop and so many of our
parents who struggled, he managed to make a way out of no way. However, Killer Mike cautioned that there's much
more work to be done.
In spite of all the Pro-Obama songs and videos from everyone ranging from Nas to
Ludacris and in spite of all the Obama fashion wear which at times seems more numerous than Fubu or
Sean Jean, Barack Obama will not get into the White House unless we follow through and actually go
out and elect him.
It's Killer Mike's
words of wisdom that I cite when asked the proverbial 64 thousand dollar questions surrounding Obama..
'Do you think Barack can win?' 'What's happened to his campaign? 'Have you seen
the latest polls? Why is Obama losing?' I've been getting hit with these types of questions ever
since John McCain picked his running mate Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin .
Obama supporters have been dismayed that their guy is no longer the lead story in the news every night and even
when he is, he's somehow depicted as yesterday's news. There are many who find it hard to believe that just
three weeks ago Obama was the man of the hour, blowing up the spot when he gave his acceptance speech before a
whooping 80 thousand people at Denver's Invesco field while 38 million watched on TV.
Nowadays it's been Sarah Palin who is sparking off all the excitement and garnering favorable news coverage.
It's gotten to the point that sometimes you forget that Obama is really running against John McCain and not
her.
Maybe it's her good looks. Maybe it's because she's a mother. Maybe it's because she's from
Alaska and goes moose hunting.. Whatever the case, I knew she was gonna be a problem when I was standing on the
floor of the Republican Convention in St Paul and she came out and basically got her clown game on when talking
about Obama.
Her zingers about him needing to take his styrofoam coliseum pillars back to the elite Hollywood backlot he got
them from (referring to Obama's stage set during his acceptance speech) and him being 'nothing
but a community organizer ' was met with tremendous applause. It wasn't so much that the lines were over the
top funny. I just got the sense that the crowd felt good because she was basically sending a strong signal that was
putting this uppity elite sounding Harvard Law school graduate 'Negroe' back in his place
By Davey
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