I am using this post to clarify some perspectives delineated in the previous one. In a nutshell, I indicated that the hope of which Barack Obama consistently spoke (I called it ‘Obamian’ hope) was consonant with biblical hope, especially as the latter was enfleshed in the Christ. My point was that Obamian hope created the future, rose above the fray of the mundane and dehumanizing, and transcended racial, sexual, class, and national barriers. It seems some people have misunderstood the essential point and purpose of that reflection.
I must state here that I was not endorsing Barack Obama with respect to his quest to become the Democratic Party’s nominee and ultimately the president of the United States. In addition, I did not state that Obama was the Messiah. My point was that he was messiah-like with respect to American politics. Neither was I embracing uncritically and tacitly Obama’s stance on a number of controversial politico-economic, moral and human rights issues, such as international trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), abortion and gay marriage. Any attempt at marrying my reflection with Obama’s ideological perspectives in totality is utterly preposterous and mischievous.
In effect, I was articulating a philosophical-theological reflection on the Barack Obama phenomenon, especially with reference to hope. As an ardent student of both theology and politics, I was merely delineating a phenomenal connection I perceived between the very human and imperfect hope of Barack Obama and the very divine and perfect hope of the Bible, particularly as it is embodied by the Messiah of the New Testament. If indeed all truth is God’s truth, then truth should be embraced and reflected on irrespective of the person from whom it emanates.
By indicating that the hope of Barack Obama creates the future, I mean that it shapes a future that is bereft of the negatives and atrocities of the past and pulls it to the present. It is obvious that the hope of Obama does this in propelling his rejection of old-school, ‘gutter’ and internecine politics of the American past and seeks to bring into current reality a politics that respects the humanity, individuality, and views of others no matter how detrimental they are to one’s cause. This was demonstrated in the aftermath of the primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Obama, driven by hope, decided to not attack Senator Hilary Clinton even in the face of heated attacks on him by Clinton and her campaign. It is clear that on the basis of hope he envisions a future that is different from the past and seeks to realize it in his own political actions or inaction.
When I state that the hope of Obama rises above the fray of the mundane and dehumanizing, I mean that the hope of which he speaks does not get involved in common and animalistic behaviour. It seeks to exemplify the extraordinary and the humane in politics and ultimately in everyday life. It seems, based on current verbal emissions and behavioural depictions, that if Obama and the hope that drives him were to triumph first in the Democratic primaries, then in the presidential election in November of this year, a new day would dawn in the United States of America in terms of the infusion of extraordinary and civilized political and social attitudes, behaviours, and lifestyles in the United States and beyond. All of the preceding would have been realized by virtue of extraordinary hope.
That Obamian hope supersedes racial, social, class and national barriers is evident in its appeal to people of all races, classes, social backgrounds, and nationalities in the United States and the rest of the world. It is extremely fantastic that he, an African American, is able to connect with and obtain the votes of a significant number of white Americans. He is even getting more Latino votes as the Primary season progresses. He does this, I believe, because he is possessed by world-changing hope. Unfortunately, his Democratic opponent does not appeal to African Americans at all with less than 15 percent of the African American votes in many of the states so far. Moreover, people in the lower and middle classes, captivated and mesmerized by Obamian hope, are sacrificing to help finance the Obama campaign to the extent that it has raised more money that all the other campaigns. This evinces what I mean by Obama’s hope cutting across all barriers.
Fundamentally, whereas I disagree with Obama on a few politico-economic, ethical and human rights issues, I think the hope that he champions can make a huge difference in American politics with respect to the ever-present race question, the politics of personal attack, and the flexing of American economic and geo-political muscles in the waging of unjust and unjustified war. The United States of America has lost its standing in the world, to a significant extent, by virtue of racial discrimination and segregation, negative and dehumanizing politics, and its Republican-led wars. Obamian hope seems capable of changing the racial, political, and global outlook and orientations of the sole but declining Superpower in the world. It is indeed a time of change and newness similar to the time when the Christ came on the scene. The world waits with bated breath to see whether Obamian hope would triumph or be trampled. Biblical hope has already triumphed in Jesus Christ.
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