Obama Calls for a National Rebirth

The youth in Atlanta are eager and energized about embracing new traditions, thoughts, and ways. They are prophetic, but willing to wait for a new economic harvest.

The planting season has not begun, but there’s a whole lot of sowing going on with “The New Birth of Freedom.”

Like some organic farmers, a new path is being cleared and new pesticide and chemical-free seeds grown with hopes of a unified and plentiful future harvest are expected to be planted Tuesday with Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.

Preparation includes using the brown mulch (older sturdy and woody materials) and the green (fertilizer) for composting with new reflections and renewal. With a new well of water and a breath of fresh air, Americans hope Obama’s team of some new, educated and inspired people will help us reap a different but rich crop to lead and feed not only Americans internally and externally, but to share new matter with the world. Some local and national leaders are now more optimistic about leading with the sustenance charge, “Go, Green” in more ways than one, both eco-friendly and financially.

The upcoming presidential inauguration of the nation’s 44th president is one not free of sparks, but full of “firsts” with the leader consistently leaving and creating legacies with youths and others as he tills for a new marketplace and stimulus while the nation is in a financial crisis.  (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, Obama’s plan for jobs and economic recovery has been met with opposition in Congress, particularly with its price tag of $775 billion.)

Martez Jackson, 16 said, “I would have voted for Obama because I think he can change the world.”

President Elect Obama paid honor recently to his hero by visiting the Lincoln Memorial with his family.  Abraham Lincoln overcame poverty and began his political career as a lawyer and inspirational speaker in Illinois before becoming the 16th President and leader of the Northern States. An avid eater of root vegetables, Lincoln became president during a very turbulent period, 1861 – 1865, of United States history. Obama’s upcoming plans include riding a train along parts of the same path Lincoln, an abolitionist, traveled from Philadelphia to Washington prior to assuming the Presidency and having to lead the country, split over slavery, during the Civil War. 

Obama has mentioned Lincoln, a Republican, in his memoirs and has been inspired by his popular speeches including the Gettysburg Address. (Obama’s tribute to Lincoln includes being sworn in with the same Bible). Inaugural week festivities highlight Lincoln’s accomplishments including his dreams of freedom for every citizen. Obama assumes the nation’s top office during political, social and economic upheaval, but he hopes for a unifying transition from the Republican George W. Bush administration.  

Despite the turbulence, the nation’s new president, Obama is armed with new packets of inspired American and African youth due to his birth and roots, national leaders here and foreign leaders elsewhere. Some surveys indicate there’s a new energy of cooperation without combustion that can be felt in the air. 

Change is going to come, some exclaim! 

Obama’s intellect, youthfulness and ability to overcome his past including social and cultural barriers have propelled this first-term United States senator to success.  The general public has voted and Obama is posed to lead as the inexperienced rainmaker. Yes, he has battled controversy in Chicago with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor and there was hot water surrounding his former United States Senate seat with his replacement, Roland Burris, 71, the former Illinois state attorney general.  There are allegations looming that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to sell Obama’s United States Senate seat and now there are pending impeachment proceedings of the Illinois governor.  Also, some gay activists were initially displeased with Obama’s selection of megachurch pastor, the Rev. Rick Warren, author of “Purpose Driven Life” as part of the Inauguration Day activities but openly gay Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson was extended an inaugural pulpit. 

And the boy-child turned man shall continue to mediate and lead them.  Like the planter who grows with “Great Expectations,” Obama is as hopeful as author Charles Dickens.  He seemed to have embraced his philosophy of fighting against injustice, feeding the poor and helping the oppressed. Obama is a risk taker, courageous and undaunted by his failures, but prepared to accept success.

Teens in the Atlanta metropolitan area at Tri-Cities High School in East Point, GA have spoken reassuredly about his election and presidential inauguration. Unable to vote, their collective voices have taken the mysticism out of the election and they have given Obama their stamp of approval.

Dru Simpson, 14, said, “Yes, I would’ve voted for Obama if I was 18. The reason, I would have voted for him is because I think (he) would make a big change in America.” His skin color is just a plus to the fact that he is a good man.”

Megan Oykahire, 15, echoed Simpson’s sentiment. “Yes, I would have voted for Obama if I were 18. I would have voted for him, not only for his skin color but his political outtakes on the country. (Obama) being Black just adds to the awe he’s filled me with. He is the first African- American president this country has had; his color and race is not the only thing worth while about him.”

The country’s fiscal state of affairs is important to teens, too.  According to Carl Choice, 17, “The reason I would have voted for him is because I can see that he’s going to make a change for the United States and its economy.”

Can we keep hope alive with a different color rainbow for future generations? 

This is the birth month for healthy financial, spiritual and political resolutions in 2009.  According to Jill Rowland of Nature’s Corner Market in Marietta, GA, Instead of “going on a (new) diet”…there should be a “conscious effort to change purchasing and lifestyle habits with the focus on being healthy, and loading up on nutrient dense foods.  The weight loss is an added benefit.”

Making an adjustment physically and spiritually including having a new President Elect can be alarming and daunting to some. Some senior citizens have compared the present state of economic affairs to the Great Depression. But some leaders hope there will be more energy and a slow but progressive and durable journey towards restructuring a better economy for all Americans and the world.