Barack Obama: The Audacity of HOPE

My Latino vote

 

A believer – Like You and Me

 

As I read “The Audacity of Hope – Thoughts on reclaiming the American Dream”, though I recognize I am not as savvy in politics as my swagger likes to believe, I happily understand better why Barack Obama is where he is at; waking up in the mornings with the World reflected on his morning coffee (or Tea), meditating on how his decisions will create his day ahead, moment by moment, while affecting everybody around him with the choices He makes. He is simply, like you and me.

Like You and Me, He is aware of the challenges of his chore ahead, aware of the people that depend on him, aware of the opportunities at hand, and aware of his power. Power means different things to different people, and I believe He understands that, too. 

As a latino, I gave my money to support Obama’s campaign for President of the United Sates, because I love America as much as He does and I share his intentions to make our world a better world, one day at a time; I support Barack Obama not because he is black, not because he is handsome, not because he is democrat. As a latino, I remember Obama Barack voted in favor of what I believe to be extreme security regulations to close the borders to latino Inmigrants; still I believe He is capable of taking extreme decisions to accomplish freedom and equality for all. As a latino, I remember He supports helping those who already live illegally in this country so the process to become a citizen manifests effectively the effort to do so. As a mexican, I know He supports our fight against arms traffic and also will do everything he can to inspire people in America enough to lower the consumption of the drugs that go across my country. As a latino, I give Obama Barack my support because He is a believer. Reading his book I can relate to his clarity and reading his words I believe He knows that He who meditates understands clearly that intentions,  thoughts, e v e r y t h i n g we say are the first step towards manifesting our reality. 

“The Audacity of Hope”, is Barack Obama’s call for a new kind of politics- a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in his vision of America’s place in the world, refreshingly candid about his family life and his time in the Senate, Obama here sets out his political convictions and inspires us to trust in the dogged optimism that has long defined us and that is our best hope going forward.

As I read his book about his visions of the world, I feel reassured by his leadership qualities and have no doubt in my latino mind that He represents us all with the power of the believer; we see it in his smile and we hear it in his words, he believes in us as a human race. He believes We can be the change we want to see in the world. He clearly states it in the title, He believes Hope has the audacity to make our world better.

Writing about one of his experiences during his campaign efforts to clime up the latter of politics Barack Obama describes his feeling when he lost his first challenge to win a congressional seat in 2000 election cycle, as his awakening to the fact that “life is not obliged to work out as you’d planned”  here I can recognize  common ground when it comes to not getting what you desire as you expected it to happen. He writes: “Denial, Anger, barganing, despair – I’m not sure I went through all the stages prescribed by the expert. At some point though, I arrived at acceptance- of my limits, and, in a way, my mortality. I refocused on my work in the state senate and took satisfaction from the reforms and initiatives that my position afforded. I spent more time at home, and watched my daughters grow, and properly cherished my wife, and thought about my long-term financial obligations. I exercised, and read novels, and came to appreciate how the earth rotated around the sun and the seasons came and went without any particular exertions on my part.”

“My heart is filled with love for this country” is his closing phrase.

As a latino, I support Barack Obama because within his objetive view of the duties of life He is not afraid to talk about Love. I love America as much as He does and I believe in the power of unity between people to achieve anything possible, and in the lessons our differences give us every day. What I admire most about Obama Barack is his natural or learned talent to see himself in the shoes of others – a practice that all spiritual disciplines recommend in order to keep the peace and evolve as a spiritual being. As he writes: “No one is exempt from the call to find common ground.”

My latino advice? When it comes to form your opinion, the opinion that will motivate your actions in the world,  listen wisely to the “interpreters” of his words (news people, analysts, politicians, neighbors, family and friends) when it comes to values, beliefs and power, always go to the source. Inform yourself about reality, then based on your own experience of it, make enlightened decisions to support Peace, Love, Respect and Understanding among humans.

As I read The Audacity of Hope, Obama’s #1 National Best Seller as recorded by The New York Times, I get to know him – and his intentions as a world leader – better – then my support is not only a reflection of my own hope (which is powerful enough) but an inspirational path to actively support positive change and follow through with my actions using my own Power to be the change I want to see in the world. Whether  pro-Barack or against-Barack, white, black, latino or martian, understand that Power should never be absolute to only one person. Barack Obama I believe knows this as well and He is asking for our power to join his to make a better world… What is the most powerful tool we can use to help him succeed manifesting positive change in America and the World? As I read his book I understand the answer to this question: HOPE – a universal value. Any Latino has heard from ancestors that “La Esperanza nunca muere” (Hope never dies).

As a latino, faith is behind all I do; as a latino , I choose to be a believer ~ like Barack Obama.

I voted for Obama not because he is black, or in spite of it, but because he ran a great campaign, is an eloquent speaker, an intelligent man, and a pragmatist who I hope and believe will do whatever he can to bring positive change to America. The fact that he puts a minority face in the White House is just a bonus.- A latino voter.