Grace Lee Boggs on Obama, Independents are not the only ones impressed by him

[Royal Oak Rog]

Jack Lessenbary editorial on how "Obama might be all that"!

Hardened cynics are hanging on his speeches. Millions are sending him small contributions. Grace Lee Boggs, who has been casting a mostly cynical eye toward all politicians since the 1930s, says she "can't get enough of Obama's calling upon Americans of all ages, all walks of life ... to stop thinking like victims and start believing that we have the power within ourselves to create the world anew."

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12518

[DJ13]

1. K&R

!

[housewolf]

2. She's got it!

That's exactly it! THAT's why folks are flocking to Obama, especially young folks.

[Skidmore]

6. Yup. The Clintons are political Luddites, stuck not just in the decade of the 1990s but

literally in last century. With eyes looking backward, they refuse to see the future is in front of us.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Excellent article!

When the meeting was over, someone called and asked me what I thought. I was mildly surprised by my answer:

Yes, I said simply. Yes, he just might be all that.

In person, Barack Obama is even more charismatic than on TV. He is tall, lithe, coordinated. He is thoughtful and funny at the same time. His enormous appeal seems to be built on a combination of intellectual and social intelligence. One of the people present was, I knew, a Hillary Clinton supporter. Obama clearly sensed that, bore in, tried to win her over.

I asked him a question about the nation's decaying infrastructure; would he, if necessary, support something like a new WPA, the federal program that put the unemployed to work during the Depression? Obama responded with a sophisticated plan for a program that would assist states and communities to do just that, by using a pool of matching fund money.

His program made sense, but what impressed me more was that he had clearly studied the issue, assimilated the knowledge, and was able to call it forth without seeming like a policy wonk.

Bottom line, what he seemed to be saying was that he thought he could bring about change — because he thinks we are ready to bring about change, after the years of the lies and filth and greed of the Bush administration. Would he ask us to sacrifice?

Yes, he would. We're going to pay more for energy, for gasoline and electricity, and that's probably not all. He wants to give students a $4,000 tuition credit — and would require them to do a fair amount of national or community service.

He intends to do a lot of things, but adds, "My first job is to build a working majority. And despite having an unabashedly progressive agenda, I've been able to attract independent and even some Republican votes, in a way that I'm afraid Hillary Clinton can't." He never said a negative word about his opponent, except that she is "too polarizing a figure" to bridge the great divide in our nation today.
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12518

[WillyT]

4. K & R !!!

:bounce::kick::bounce:

[JimGinPA]

5. Very Nice - I Wish Some Of The More Open-Minded Hillary Supporters Would Read It Too

K&R

[Royal Oak Rog]

7. More on Grace Lee Boggs she's a hero of human rights

Who just happens to live in Detroit:


Grace Lee Boggs Bio
Grace Lee Boggs is an activist, writer and speaker whose more
than sixty years of political involvement encompass the major
U.S. social movements of this century: Labor, Civil rights,
Black Power, Asian American, Women's and Environmental
Justice.

Born in Providence, R.I. of Chinese immigrant parents in
l915, Grace received her B.A. from Barnard College in l935
and her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Bryn Mawr College in l940.
In the l940s and l950s she worked with West Indian Marxist
historian C.L.R.James and in l953 she came to Detroit where
she married James Boggs, African American labor activist,
writer and strategist. Working together in grassroots groups
and projects, they were partners for over 40 years until James
death in July l993. Their book, Revolution and Evolution in
the Twentieth Century, was published by Monthly Review
Press in l974.

In 1992, with James Boggs, Shea Howell and others, she founded
DETROIT SUMMER, a multicultural, intergenerational youth program
to rebuild, redefine and respirit Detroit from the ground up, which
completed its 14th season in the summer of 2006. Currently she works
with the Detroit City of Hope campaign and the Beloved Communities
Initiative and writes for the weekly Michigan Citizen.

Her autobiography, Living for Change, published by the University
of Minnesota Press in March l998 is widely used in university classes
in Asian American studies, on Detroit and on social movements.

Her many awards include:

1993: Human Rights Day Award, Center of Peace and Conflict Studies,
Wayne State University.

1998: Zenobia Paine Drake Award, Black Family Development.

2000: Discipleship Award from Groundwork for a Just World.

2000: Distinguished Alumnae Award, Barnard College.

2000: Chinese American Pioneers Award, Organization of Chinese
Americans.

2001: Women's Lifetime Achievement, Anti-Defamation League.

2002: Legacy Award, Museum of Chinese in America, New York City.

2004: Grassroots Peacebuilder Award, Peace Action of Michigan.

2004: Senior Celebrity Award, Bridging Communities, Detroit.

2004: Doctor of Humane Letters degree, College of Wooster.

2004: Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues Award.

2004: Lifetime Commitment Award, Michigan Coalition for Human Rights.

2005: Lifetime Achievement Award, Michigan Women's Federation.

2005: Community Honoree Award, WAND (Women's Action for New
Directions).

2005: Urban Woman Writer in Residence, Department of Interdisciplinary
Studies, Wayne State University.

2005: Lifetime Achievement Award, Detroit City Council.

2007: A Detroit News Michiganian of the Year.

A plaque in her honor is displayed at the National Women's Hall of Fame
in Seneca Falls, New York.

2007 Doctor of Humane Letters degree, Kalamazoo College.
update 6-11-07

[Johnny__Motown]

8. Good article, Good post.. but the metro times.. dude?

buy a real news paper..

[Royal Oak Rog]

9. Jack Lessenberry is the best editorial

writer in this town hands down. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of MT weekly just to read him, if not the other features. C'mon now the News and the Free Press have been jokes for years. Do you really enjoy those fish wraps? I know it's free, but the quality, especially Lessenbary far exceeds anything we've got left in this town.

[Royal Oak Rog]

12. The only other real newspaper

in this town is written in New York and yes I still buy the Times.

[Cha]

10. More from Grace Lee Boggs..

<snip>

Yes, I said simply. Yes, he just might be all that.


I asked him a question about the nation's decaying infrastructure; would he, if necessary, support something like a new WPA, the federal program that put the unemployed to work during the Depression? Obama responded with a sophisticated plan for a program that would assist states and communities to do just that, by using a pool of matching fund money.

His program made sense, but what impressed me more was that he had clearly studied the issue, assimilated the knowledge, and was able to call it forth without seeming like a policy wonk.

Bottom line, what he seemed to be saying was that he thought he could bring about change — because he thinks we are ready to bring about change, after the years of the lies and filth and greed of the Bush administration. Would he ask us to sacrifice?

Yes, he would. We're going to pay more for energy, for gasoline and electricity, and that's probably not all. He wants to give students a $4,000 tuition credit — and would require them to do a fair amount of national or community service."

A chance to work for their tuition with community service or national.

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. Grace is an amazing woman....

I still have her Bill Moyers interview on TIVO. She is as sharp today as ever.

[Royal Oak Rog]

13. She shows up on DemocracyNow.org from time to time also

those are also archived on the net, Amy Goodman just adores her.

[Tarheel_Dem]

14. thanks for the heads up, will definitely check it out.....

:hi: