Clergy for Obama

Yo my peeps. I wrote this for the "Clergy for Obama" site. It's a tad bit over-the-top Christian for my personal liking, but hey: desperate times call for desperate measures. Tell me your thoughts!!!


It's hard these days not to talk about Barack Obama as a messianic figure. It's hard not to cast this election season as an apocalypse of sorts. It's hard not to paint political parties as righteous and evil. It's hard to keep politics and religion in their respective corners. The last 8 years have brought mass deception, war, flooded cities, a devastated economy, renewed racism, alienation from once-upon-a-time allies, etc etc etc. The list is too long to recount. Our Bible, the hebrew scriptures and second testament, document times just like these. One looks into the prophecies of old, Isaiah and Ezekiel in particular, finding contemporary parallels to the "valley of dry bones" and the promised "new thing."

We want the death and destruction to end. We want true repentance in this land: a turning around from policies of narrow-mindedness and greed to acts of restoration and promise. We want to believe in the goodness of our leaders, our communities, our nation. So we survey the options, and for some of us, it's abundantly clear which presidential candidate evokes dry bones imagery and which one represents the remnant of life breaking through deadwood. We have seen hard times. It's easy to think Barack Obama is the answer.

But Barack Obama is not G*d. He does not have the power of G*d, the goodness of G*d, the foresight and insight of G*d or the ever-living, ever-loving heart of G*d. As a clergy person, it is always my responsibility to keep Ultimate Reality in mind. I must admit: Barack Obama isn't it. He is not our savior. If he gets elected and does the best of work yet to be done in the US Oval Office, he will remain just a man and he will return to dust. The hopes and struggles of this universe did not begin with Barack Obama, they do not exist for Barack Obama, and they will surely outlive his precious, yet numbered days. It's hard to keep Barack Obama's humanness in mind when he is speaking. With a preacher's presence, a lawyer's grit, a community organizer's enthusiasm--he sounds like angels singing compared to the cacophonous cords of Bush's Washington. But let us not be fooled: the gifts of G*d for the people of G*d always come from more than one direction, usually spring up in places where no one is looking, and generally come from ordinary commoners, not Harvard graduates with political charisma.

And that is exactly why I am voting for Barack Obama. Because he gets that. He gets that it's not about him. When asked by Oprah Winfrey "Are you the one we've been waiting for?" Barack responded by saying "I'm one of the ones we've been waiting for." He gets that if change happens it's because everyone gets on board. His campaigning style embodies inclusivity: he wants each one to give as much as they can. Green people sign up. Constitutional loyalists get on board. Artists are involved. Musicians are involved. Activists are involved. Young people abound. Techno types blog and share articles on Facebook. Black, brown, white, poor, rich, queer, Muslim, Catholic, atheist--they get together to make phone calls, to sign up voters, to host campaign parties. People care about what's happening. It is an exciting movement to behold!

A good society is an involved society. A good society is a motivated society. A good society sweats, mourns and celebrates together. Obama's leadership encourages such involvement, motivation and togetherness. That is why this clergy woman will vote Obama & Biden in November. Not because Obama will save us, but because he knows The People can.