Obama

It is with great pleasure that I introduce Narv. He is a contributor to thegoodvibez blog and her is his first post.

Obama, renewed hopes

It is with great enthusiasm that the world watched last week’s inauguration closely on their screens. Whether you were a little boy in Kenya watching it in a café or a young adult watching it on your computer between classes, the popular tuned in and made sure to catch this moment of history. Flocks of people made it to Washington, braved the cold weather and congested streets to witness this exciting moment.

At the height of this event, President Barrack obama has come to represent the hopes of many, the hope s of our current generation that has witnessed a downright spiral in moral values and the hopes of generations before that helped pave the way for this truly historical moment. The civil rights movements, Martin Luther King, Mohamed Ali, and Malcolm X all helped set the precedent for this young Afro American to take up what is considered by many the highest seat of power in the world. Arguments can be made about the limited autonomy of the presidential seat and the power to bring about change. However, the sheer hustle and true brilliance of this man cannot be denied. How he got here makes for a wonderful and truly inspiring story. I recommend reading Obama’s book “the audacity of hope” for those who are curious and want to get past the first level of general knowledge about the current American president. How he got there, his stories, his challenges, his first days as a senator, the long drives across the state of Illinois and time away from family, the numerous town hall meetings, and the 12-14 hour workdays…

There seemed to be a huge level of excitement around this presidential race from the onstart from both the American people and the outside world. We are all connected after all, and American foreign policy affects people beyond the American borders. American economic policies stretch out and affect even the remotest of countries. More significantly, our world is a lot closer in this day of Globalization, online communication, poverty/hunger and ideological conflicts.

The situation was terrible and the American voters desperately needed a change and so history has it that they elected the best man for the job. That they voted for a black man was not something that many people would have thought possible in this day and age. Not long ago, whites and blacks could not ride on the same bus or eat in the same restaurant. The change has been building behind the scenes and that change has finally culminated into electing an African American as the president of the United States of America. The stats are obvious; the majority of whites is passed this thing of race and colour and is at least smart enough to recognize the real issues out there. They did not vote along color and in fact voted for what they felt was the best possible man for the position. This symbolic moment in our history has come to represent so much. It means that hard work pays off and that if an ordinary man from multi ethnic background, raised not in the riches but in the regular school and social system like most of us, can achieve this level of success so can the rest of us.

The time has come to embrace this change and use it as a platform to launch ourselves from and continue to improve our endeavors (work, family, artistic...). Because this is a blog about music and we are talking about music and change, I recommend a track by Jay-z entitled “my president is black”. Jay-Z called it “feel good music” and actually dropped the track in time before any new album. It has good lyrics that convey what this moment in history is all about. Time for change, time for new hopes, and more importantly, time to get to work!

Narv