President Obama's First Big Move: Making People Care

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jermaine-dupri/president-obamas-first-bi_b_160706.html

Jermaine Dupri

Grammy-award winning music producer
Posted January 25, 2009 | 02:39 PM (EST)
President Obama's First Big Move: Making People Care



Barack Obama's been in office less than a week and already people are bitching he hasn't done anything. But he's achieved something that the older generation in power hasn't been able to do since I've been alive: make the younger generation give a shit. That's big!

If you need proof all you had to do was flick on CNN and look at the streets of DC on Inauguration Day. I was there. It was bone crushing cold, but to me and about two million other people it didn't matter. There was a strong wind blowing that had nothing to do with the weather. We witnessed a new beginning. And it felt good.

Yeah, some people thought it was too much show biz. Maybe so. I know they gotta sell it for the cameras. But looking beyond all the hype I saw something I ain't ever seen before.
Barack Obama has done what none of the other Presidents has been able to do. Not Clinton. Not Reagan. Not no one. He instilled caring into the bodies of people like me who used to think it didn't matter either way who was in charge.

I think that's why y'all reacted so strongly to my last blog. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jermaine-dupri/let-president-elect-obama_b_155124.html?show_comment_id=19618436). I get it now. People are so politically engaged with this new president we have a nation of backstreet drivers and it's always gonna be that way. They've got something to say every time Obama does something. They still need to let him have his lane, but I guess it's healthy to make some noise if it comes from a place of caring. I've never heard so much conversation about a president in my lifetime. Haa! Least of all from me!

snip//

So when y'all start asking what Obama's gonna do next, remember, he's already tackled one of the hardest jobs yet. He made people care. And because they're paying attention, the kids are gonna be a part of the process.

I saw this change in action when I went to the D.C. mayor's party the night before Inauguration Day. This guy is black and 38 years old - just two years older than me. It's already happening. Young people of America are now running America and feels like it's gonna make a better America.

And the rest is history... in the making.

[Uzybone]

1. True, and I hope it lasts

America has been in a deep snooze for the past 20+ years (arguably the past 30). I am seeing much more conversation about domestic and world events from everybody now.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Our national mindset needs to change

Thrift is to be valued. A person's honor should be that one's most valuable possession. Working together is better than competition. The heroes should be the doctor who treats a sick person at no charge simply because that person was terribly ill and had no funds, or the neighbors who join together to help an elderly couple fix up their house after a fire, or the man who gives gift cards for food for homeless.

[TTUBatfan2008]

3. Jermaine Dupri?

LMFAO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpKZ1aWB_OE

Sorry if I have a hard time taking any of these rappers seriously on political matters.

[babylonsister]

5. His opinion is as valid as yours, and his actions speak volumes.

You don't have to like him. I give him props for getting off his ass and going to DC to celebrate. That shows he cares to me, and there are many people who would never have considered taking a road trip 'for politics' in their lives before now. So it's nice to see people care; I don't have a problem with that.

[Uzybone]

6. Thanks for saying that

the smugness of many on the blogosphere is disgusting.

[TTUBatfan2008]

10. He is a hypocrite...

making millions of dollars off of sexist language in his music. If he really "cared," he wouldn't be dropping the b-word every other line in his music or referring to himself as a "playa," which in and of itself contributes to the objectification of women.

This is a man who has the opportunity to be a role model for millions of kids out there and he chooses instead to join in on the stereotypes of the music industry. Why not take a stand against that kind of language being used in popular music?

[Cha]

4. That is one intensely valid point!

I like the way Jermaine writes..thanks babylonsister!

Rec'd~

[babylonsister]

7. I do, too. I liked the article he wrote that he links to also.

Sounds like he has a lot of common sense.

[Cha]

8. I think he's Janet Jackson's

boyfriend..who knew?

[AZBlue]

9. K&R

May it continue for a long time...