A.V_M: In the tank for Barack Obama

Street art poster, Lower East Side

Quality surfing for afro-media goodness has suffered a precipitously decline lately here at casa forota, captivated as we are with the US elections. Against our better judgement, we have been spending all our alloted Internet time (and more) scouring the political blogs to make sure there isn’t an event that will disrupt what is looking increasingly like the election of the first 21st century global citizen as the leader of the free world.

This feels like one of those moments in time when history bounces off current events and moves in a whole new direction. In addition to a historic election, the global 21st century finally arrived recently with a noisy, gigantic financial thud and a big cloud of evaporated market wealth. There is now no question just how interconnected this world is thanks to money, the Internet, human networks and global popular culture. I have an academic background in International Business, so the global economy is a personal, if not academic, interest for me. So far it looks like most leaders and public institutions are not even in the same ballpark in terms of understanding or even addressing the complexity that surrounds the social, economic and political implications of the recent crisis and the process of globalization that underlies it.

So … what happens now? The US President, as the ultimate symbol of that global leadership, will need to signal the right kind of behavior to attract the concentration of minds and money in the US and elsewhere to continue to take globalization in a positive direction. This is as opposed to what we have seen in the last 8 years where America, in response to an admittedly traumatic event, created a fortress around itself and viewed almost everyone they saw through its turrets as hostile. As the recent financial events are showing, we are all in this together; we may not be crazy about each other but no one person, group, country has the right answer about which way to go now.

Street art poster, Lower East Side

It has been a little baffling to see, on one hand the large crowds that Barack Obama draws, but on the other the closeness of this race given how unpopular the Republican party is and how overmatched McCain is in terms of campaign resources. There are those who love Obama because they can project their hope and aspirations on him. There are those who won’t vote for him because of the color of his skin. And then there are others with no reason to be racist who can’t put their finger on who he really is.

Those of us who have grown up or spent large chunks of their adult lives beyond the borders of where they were born, instinctively understand Barack’s appeal, and his challenges connecting with certain Americans. We have learned to live with multiple identities, literally, to be able to navigate all the worlds we encounter. For instance, I have one “mental” hat for when I am in Central Kenya visiting with my 80+ year old uncle and the rest of my relatives. I have another hat late at night in Brooklyn when I am with my friends. My uncle no doubt claims me as his flesh and blood, but I know he has a sneaking suspicion that he doesn’t really know me (he is so American!). Central Kenya and New York City have little in common in terms of place, but are now linked in the abstract by the global economy and in reality by my existence.

Screen shot from Terry Richardson’s web site. © Terry Richardson. Warning: Link NSFW

I believe that this has been the core of Barack Obama’s challenge with some of those hard working “real” Americans. This is a man who has lived in Hawaii and Indonesia, has been to Harvard and worked on the South Side of Chicago. Unable to possibly appreciate that he could a composite of those experiences, some pick parts of his life to define him (Muslim! Terrorist! Elitist!) But it is that ability to navigate different realities that is sorely needed at the commanding heights of both policy and economy at this time of exploding global interdependence. A 21st century leader will need the ability to sense that seemingly unconnected people, places, events are nonetheless related by our growing interconnectedness. More and more Americans are getting comfortable with Obama’s potential as a leader, let’s hope enough of them are convinced to make it more than just potential.

Let’s vote already! I need to get back to looking at the less weighty aspects of globalization and its effect on our media and culture.

“Obama Sale” in SoHo store