Obama's Change could be more than coined phrase.

[illinoisprogressive]

The Rocky Mountain news has a series this week on the elections. yesterday they profiled Hillary and today it's Obama.
It is a fairly long piece but, very entertaining to read. I posted one section where the journalist is in Hyde Park in chicago, Obama's neighborhood and put a few sections that gave some flavor of the article and of Obama and where he lives.
It's quite enjoyable and follow the link to read the full article.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5684916,00.html


He's cool. I mean, he's really cool."

Barber Abdul Karim talking about Obama

These are the last days of the Hyde Park Salon and Barber Shop at its 53rd Street location, where Obama gets his hair cut. It has seven chairs and maybe 17 discussions going at once. Like the black church, the neighborhood black barbershop is a community center. It's a cliché - you've seen the movie - but it also happens to be true.

.snip -

The Hyde Park Salon is in the middle of Hyde Park, an integrated neighborhood in South Chicago. It's home to the elite University of Chicago and to Frank Lloyd Wright houses and to Obama's own handsome house, with the friendly Secret Service in the driveway, and the portion of his yard that the squeaky-clean Obama bought from his neighbor, who just happened to be indicted for influence peddling. Even Obama admitted it was a "boneheaded" move.

It's a neighborhood, too, with subsidized housing as well as neighborhood shops that can only be described as "eclectic." And it's packed with young people. There are murals on the underpass and four-panel Obama posters - an Obama for all seasons? - on the sides of buildings. This is where Obama chose to live.

I walk into the barbershop to ask about Obama and the election and Hyde Park.

First come the complaints. Abdul Karim, wearing his Muslim skullcap, is cutting the hair of a young entrepreneur who is opening a gourmet popcorn business and is excited to learn that Obama gets his hair cut here.

"All we've had," Karim says, "is a few fundraisers and a few debates. There hasn't been any substance that I've seen."

I ask him if that means he's undecided in the primary race - and he laughs.

"Not me. I've been either at this chair or at the one next to it for years. Obama's been sitting in that chair (points to one next to him) for years.

"I'm a shoo-in. I've played basketball with the man. I know him. He owns my vote."

snip -

"I tell you what concerns me," he says. "We have a candidate who is strong by himself. We have a candidate who is strong by herself. If you were to put Mrs. Clinton and Obama together - now, that's a team. But it appears to me that neither one is willing to take the back seat to the other. That's a concern."

One man agrees. Another says Obama should be his own man.

Karim says, "It's like two players on a court and one has the ball, and he's not willing to throw the ball to the other side of the court. You know that player. You played with him. He won't throw the ball to nobody."

Abdul Rahman is cutting Eric Wilkinson's hair in the chair next to Karim's. He says the time is right in multicultural America for a multicultural candidate.

"The places he's lived. Where he grew up. That he came to live in this neighborhood. He cares about people not just in his own community. He's definitely someone who's going to care about the whole of America.

"Some black people may not like it. Some black people say that he's not black enough. But he came from Harvard to work in this community. This is where he lives. Go walk outside - there's everything here. You've got Asian people who own the business next door. Black people own the business across the street. Hispanics own the business down the street. There are white businesses here . . . "

Wilkinson, from his seat, chimes in. He's lived in the neighborhood for 41 years.

"This is the best neighborhood in the world. It's not like any place in the country. Like he said, just walk out in the street and you'll see . . . This is what America should be like. Right here."

I ask why it works here in Hyde Park, and Abdul Rahman says, "Because the people who live here want it to work."

The talk continues, and Karim gets to something that he admits is bothering him about Obama. "You know," he says, "he's changed a little bit. I'll be honest with you. He's not as vocal. He's not as natural as he used to be. There's two Baracks now.

"There's the Barack who comes in on a Sunday when we're all busy and he can't be himself. He has to be the politician, shake all the hands. And then there's the Barack who comes in here late on Saturday, nobody here. That's the guy we always knew. Talk a little basketball, talk about the Bulls, the fight that was on last night. You know what I'm saying? I know that Barack. I don't necessarily know the other one.

"We're hopefully optimistic," says Abdul Rahman. "But it just takes one man. We talk about that all the time in the barbershop. All it takes is one bad guy - and that's it."

He stops for a minutes, a razor in his hand.

"This is about the dream. That's why he's doing it. I know he's a politician and he wants to be president. But for someone of his racial background to even run for president, that allows kids to dream. I've already seen that. Even if he doesn't win. Even for people who have a different point of view, it gives them an idea that the world can change."

•

[DeepModem Mom]

1. A wonderful piece! nt