Fellow Kossacks, the rest of the blogosphere, do you feel that. Do you feel the ground moving under our feet? That's change coming, if you want it.
His name is Barrack Obama.
He is an American. He is an African-American. He is young. He's a father and a husband. He is a Democrat. He doesn't attack Democrats. He runs a good hard race is what he does. Ignore the lies, the falsehoods, the misinterpretations. He's a real fighter. You don't force your way to the top of the Cook County-Chicago political machine without being a hard campaigner.
Those of you who are old enough to remember Bobby, you may recognize this feeling while watching Obama. This is a real paradigm shift -- youth movement, positive racial and class politics, the works. Jump onboard the bandwagon right now. You'll regret not helping out later if you don't start soon, like now.
Does it seem like he's doing it without our help, the blogosphere? Who gives a damn. Let's get over ourselves. We ought to give a crap less if he kisses our collective asses. It's not about us.
Is he reaching across the aisle? Yes, he is. Isn't building coalitions and garnering support what winning elections is all about? Is he doing it at the Democrats' and liberal causes' expense? No, he is not. He is a Democrat through and through. Just because he brings new people into the tent doesn't mean he betrays our causes.
What do you want? A Democrat in the White House? Well, support Obama, and we can get that.
Health care improvements? He's promised that.
End the war in Iraq? He's promised that as well, and unlike other leading candidates, he NEVER voted to give Dubya the authority to wage that war.
A return to international diplomacy over saber rattling and threats? He's promised that, too.
Is he progressive enough? I don't even know what that means anymore, but I know this man wants our help to bring about the very things we have wanted for eight long, dark, wretched years.
Really, the very act of his running is beyond radical. For over 500 years in one way or another, the world -- the WORLD -- has labored under the assumption that white makes right. Colonialism. Slavery. Genocide. Neo-colonialism. It all ends with Obama, and not with some terrible judgment or condemnation of western history. No, it ends with the recognition that we are a single, human family and that matters more than skin color or creed. Could there ever possibly be a better example of what America should be all about?
Radical? Yes, very, but not in the usual way. The man is a colleague of sorts to Chicago's Daleys and part of the Democratic Machine they've helped cultivate and Harold Washington changed for the better -- not Green, Anarchist or Socialist, but Democratic, as Democratic as it comes. But that doesn't mean he's not liberal.
It's past time for the changes Obama needs our help in bringing.