Black Like Us

"Stay with me here."

I already know that half of you will dismiss this posting as long-distance Obama idolatry, from someone who's only spent about a month and a half living under his "rule." You'll mutter about my appalling lack of poli-sci expertise for arriving at the hypothesis I'm about to share with you. You'll just dismiss what I'm about to state as a girlish crush, or blind nationalism, or old-school "race pride," or some other such tomfoolery.

But I remember feeling the tectonic plates of the Earth move while watching President Barack Obama give his speech at Cairo University in June of 2009. I made a point of leaving my desk at Nation Centre and joining the guys in the Sports Department to watch it on one of the office TVs. I also mentioned that I had grown up in Cairo. They were quite impressed, until I added the "Illinois" part, and then I became invisible again.

I watched as much of it as I could before having to return to my desk, but remember thinking how extraordinary the image was. An American President, of African descent, addressing a predominantly Muslim crowd in an Arabic nation on the African continent. Again, if you had predicted that would happen in June of 2008, I'd have done my best to try and have you committed, for your own safety.

Now, here's that hypothesis I promised to share. I think the seeds for the uprising in Tahrir Square were planted in June of 2009. I believe that after 8 years of watching George W.'s addle-pated international diplomacy, people in the Middle East were more stunned than the rest of the world that America was able produce a Barack Obama. And before you even "go there," I realize that just because he has a Muslim sounding name, it doesn't mean he's universally accepted, or even liked in the Middle East. After all, he's still associated with "The Great Satan."

But look at the picture up top. Take your time, really LOOK at it. Like most biracial people, if you didn't know Obama is the product of an African man and a white American woman, you could conclude he was from Spain. Or Argentina. Or Greece....

Or Tunisia. Or Algeria.

Or Egypt.

Imagine what it must have felt like to be sitting in the auditorium of Cairo University in June of 2009, watching a youthful, vibrant man, the "Leader of the Free World," who looks kinda like your people, talking about freedom and democracy and respect for women a bunch of other "radical" ideas. When all you've experienced from your leaders for the past 3 decades is greed and brutality and utter contempt.

No need to give him another Nobel for it, but you'll never convince ME that President Barack Hussein Obama didn't light the spark that lit the match that eventually lit the path to Tahrir Square.

Oh, and one more thing: If loving him is wrong, I don't wanna be right.