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Wed 29 Oct 2008
Obamarama
On November 4, the American people will decide who will be their next president. It is a decision that effects not only Americans, but citizens of the entire world. Earlier in the year, Sarah and I managed to sit down for a chat with Nic Offer from the band !!!. At the time of the interview, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were locked in a tight race to become the Democrat Party candidate, it was on Offer’s mind and from our brief discussion it was obvious this election has attracted people that have never before been interested in happenings inside The White House.
Quickly drawn to the topic of politics after a question relating to his song ‘Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard’, the tone changed from laughing about getting Giuliani to give him a hand job to a humble natured debate about Barack Obama. Admitting he has never really paid much attention to politics, Offer says “it’s just been exciting lately.” Inspired by Barak Obama, he seems genuinely excited to see a politician speaking his mind. “I think he’s like someone we have never seen, just watching his speech on race I thought was incredible. Because you know, what politicians do is dance around the questions and answers. I’ve never seen someone go straight to the heart of question and say something that might be difficult.” It’s this type of straight talking attitude of Obama that has seen many people, previously uninterested in politics, come out and voice an opinion. People from many parts of society who have previously felt isolated by white collar politicians can relate to Obama on a different level, it’s more like Obama relates them. “I don’t think I’ve ever cared about a candidate more or known of any of my friends to have cared about a candidate more until Obama showed up” Offer declares shamelessly.
“I think it’s imperative to the future of America that he wins”
With Americas credibility across the world at an all time low, no time is better than now to elect a president that is both liked and praised globally. While many anti-globalisation movements still discredit Obama for having no foreign policy to help markets and over seas countries crippled by American globalisation, many do agree that Obama is the best suited candidate to bring about change. Offer sees the upcoming election as an opportunity for Americans to break away from the ‘old guard’; a long line of democrats and republicans who he says are “part of the reason we ended up in problems like this.” The Clinton family is viewed as part of this ‘old guard’. Nominating Hillary Clinton as the Democrat candidate would have promised more of the same, creating a dynasty type structure within American politics. However he wants to make it very clear, “I’m not even remotely interested in McCain… if they didn’t have Obama I would have been for her… and I feel for her too. You know, she thought she had it in the bag, she really did you know, and then all of a sudden here comes the best democratic candidate people have seen in like thirty, forty years out of nowhere”.
It all relates back to the simple fact of trust, by directly answering the questions asked of him by the American people, Barak Obama has managed to attract previously uninterested people who no longer feel politically isolated. Offer even goes as far as calling Obama ‘cool’, a word very rarely used to describe politicians. “It’s almost been uncool to say that someone was a cool candidate” he says. Unfortunately in the end it is just politics, and with that comes an obvious warning. “The nature of it is that it’s politics and will end up letting you down in some way and I think that will be really sad to see. But ultimately I think Americas really heading into some tough questions and seeing someone like Obama who didn’t dance and went straight for it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a politician like that. I think it’s imperative to the future of America that he wins.”
Posted by Nick Fulton under U.S.A
October 30th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
WELL HE’S GOT MY VOTE