I remember being a kid sitting in my cousin's Vineyard Town home in Kingston, Jamaica, as Tyrone Downie-- a friend of his at the time-- talked about the tour he had just come off of with Bob Marley in Europe. (Downie was the keyboard player for the Wailers for a long time) He was going on and on about how they played to a packed house in Germany and the Germans were rocking and vibing to every song; even though he knew that they didn't understand a word of the songs that they were singing or what the songs really meant. ("Chase Dem Crazy Bald Heads Out Of Town" wasn't meant to be a flattering song to white Europeans)
Later on in my young life as I listened to Fidel Castro give a speech, I could relate to those Germans, because although I didn't understand a lick of Spanish, I found myself cheering with the crowd whose grasp of the Spanish language was no better than mine. And so it is when you have skills as an orator or an artist, you can touch people's souls in spite of language and cultural barriers.
Fast forward over thirty years from that day at my cousin's home and I am watching his O ness give his town hall meeting in Strassbourg, France. I found my mind going back to that day and what Downie said about Bob and the Wailers and how they moved the crowds in Europe. Obama was moving the crowds in Europe and I am quite sure that like the Germans listening to Bob, most of the folks in Strassbourg, France weren't too proficient in the English language. Obama, like Castro and Marley has talent and charisma, and those two things can take you a very long way in life. If you have a message and an agenda those skills can help you convince others to go along with the program, and that is important to a politician, believe me. If you have talent and charisma that can also take you very far as an artist, and people will buy your records and pay to watch you in person no matter what.
Say what you want about his O ness and his politics, you have to admit the the man has some skills. Rethugs will nit pick and cry that he can't do any of his great oration without his trusted teleprompter, but Stevie Wonder and Governor Paterson can both see that it's all just sour grapes on their part.
So now rethugs have to ask themselves: Who will be our rock star? Who do we have with similar skills? Well, let me answer that for you: No one! In fact, you don't even have anyone that can come close. MC MacDaddy Steele? Not! Newt? The thrice married religion switching ,fraud? Not! Slum...(whoops I promised I wouldn't call him that).. Bobby Jindal? He blew his chance on the national stage. Sarah Palin? They really tried with her, but she wasn't ready for prime time and neither was her family. Eric Cantor? Please! In fact, rethugs are so desperate for a star that they created one who wasn't even a politician. But someone ought to tell the rethugs about packaging. I mean really folks; does "Joe the Plumber" really have a face that you want representing your party? Seriously, unless you are going after that all important skinhead vote, you might want to get him off the national stage. Then of course there is Rush, Sean, and Glen. It's not so easy to get them out of the spotlight since they are forever seeking it, but you might want to distance yourself from them as well, because as their envy for the really talented Obama gets greener, they are truly becoming unhinged. If I am going to be truly honest with you, I think quite a few people are becoming unhinged in A-murder-ca (That's my new name for A-merry-ca) these days. I wonder why? I bet if they had some talent and some real skills they wouldn't be so likely to be unhinged,but frustration can cause you to do some seriously crazy things.
“'I want anyone who believes in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness to succeed, and I want any force, any person, any element of an overarching big government that would stop your success – I want that organization, that element or that person to fail,' Limbaugh told the cheering CPAC crowd. "
Of course, frustration can cause you to say some seriously crazy things as well.
