46. Origins of the Bureacratic Species, Part 5 of 5
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! It’s Thursday afternoon here in Baghdad, and if you’re reading this in the States you’re between eight and fourteen hours behind, so you have football and cooking and eating and cleaning and sharing to look forward to. Please look for something to be grateful for, as it’s the easiest gift you can give to yourself.
I can think of no better way to celebrate than to publish the fifth and final installment of “Origins of the Bureaucratic Species”. Longtime readers will be grateful for this stunning conclusion to an excellent series on the topic, and new readers can begin at the beginning by clicking here to read from episode one.
As a final comment before launching this week’s conclusion, I would like to point out the sweet appropriateness of celebrating the accomplishments of successful bureaucrats on the same day as we highlight the value of that great and humble bird, the turkey.
Without further ado….
Origins of the Bureaucratic Species
by Marc A. Viola
Conclusion – Persona Non Grata
The founders are long gone, forced out by a gradual, methodical, bureaucratically instigated overthrow. Control has been transferred, and talented individuals go into exile. All become a persona non grata (PNG), an outcast from the organization that they helped create.
One of the worst fates to befall intelligence professionals overseas is to be declared PNG by the nation where they are stationed. It means that a foreign government has found your behavior disquieting enough to require you to depart its borders, and never return. Sometimes, if a government finds your shenanigans particularly distasteful, they will have you “rolled up.” That means you are arrested, roughed up a bit, asked uncomfortably probing questions (perhaps related to even more uncomfortably revealing photographs of you and others), and then assisted in your departure. Nobody really wants to be rolled-up. It is just bad form.
It takes a special level of tactlessness, or outright hubris, to achieve PNG status, and it is especially troublesome if you have a fondness for the country, its people, the food, or the lifestyle. I liked traveling abroad, so whenever I did I kept my head down.
The same could not be said for my organizational travels in the Intelligence Community. I came into the community with the foolish idea of “making a difference.” I expected to engage in critical thinking and informed debate. Unfortunately, when a person becomes “smart enough to be dangerous,” bureaucrats can smell him or her from miles away. Like so many others in “the 20 percent,” I just wanted to do my job, take pride in my work, and defend the nation. Over time, this won me PNG status from organizations throughout the community. That translated into fewer choices for future assignments. I was rapidly running out of agencies that I could work for, or wanted me working for them. As I discovered, PNG status applies not only to organization founders, but also to those perceived as possessing similar energies that would threaten the bureaucratic species.
Ultimately, those in “the 20 percent” recognize that there may be no personal or professional profit to be gained from their efforts to stay on under such constraints. In fact, by overachieving or employing their special talents, they increase the risk of being viewed as threatening to stability. So one treads delicately on a tightrope stretched between initiatives that would move organizations forward and the bureaucratic anchors jammed into the floor to hold them back, all the while trying not to startle the idle spectators. Again, that is where good management makes all the difference, and without which the disillusioning balancing act of “the 20 percent” is long and un-applauded.
About the author – Marc A. Viola
Marc A. Viola
Marc Anthony Viola is an intelligence professional pioneering the development and deployment of innovative technologies and tradecraft for the U.S. Intelligence Community for almost 20 years. He is best known for his work with Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) at such Intelligence Community (IC) agencies as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He was the Director of MASINT Review for the Presidential Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, http://www.wmd.gov/.
An aerospace engineer, he expanded the scope of his interests into business, computer and information systems management, strategic intelligence, and national security studies. Viola is a visiting guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College (formerly the Joint Military Intelligence College) for intelligence science topics. A former military officer, he served for almost 12 years in various U.S. Air Force intelligence positions before separating from active duty, then the reserves, and finally becoming a successful consultant. During his years in the Air Force, Marc Viola was privileged to work with, and for, members of, and organizations directed by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and the Canadian Forces.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this series. While the story may be told in a friendly and entertaining way, the unfortunate material it describes is only too accurate. Our hope in telling it is that through awareness, individuals in every segment of society may recognize the bureaucratic tendency in their organizations or themselves, and decide they’re not willing to accept such a wasted life.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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45. Introducing “You Oughta Know”
There are many very, very important stories being told around the world. I began writing the TWIT series in Powerful Peace just this week to share some of what outside nations don’t see on the ground here in Iraq amid all the ratings-bait of media casualty counts.
Tonight I launch another effort with much the same aim. You Oughta Know is a weekly-changing link at the top of the lists to the right, dedicated to communicating realities that command the attention of believers in Powerful Peace.
This first story, Rape as a Weapon of War, is extremely troubling. It may be too graphic for some readers, so please stop where you need to.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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44. Hope – It Screams
I spoke today with an Iraqi Army General on the subject of our way ahead in Iraq. Like many of his peers, he has invaluable insight on problems and solutions regarding the ongoing struggle for Iraq. Like many of his peers, his recommendations (the other-than-combat efforts we will need for a long-term “win”) sometimes compete with more immediate Coalition needs for force protection and combat readiness.
Hope in Iraq
Hope, we concluded, is the most urgent commodity we can provide to the men and women of this ancient, noble and profoundly historic land. There are many other essential ingredients; most of them are merely steps along the path to hope.
Hope screams to be heard. Hope screams, desperately, to be felt.
It’s just at the edge of their hearing, for some of these. Hope is screaming its fool head off, just – just barely – out of reach from hundreds of thousands of decent people who can’t take their children to the market with them.
It’s just beyond the hearing of people without enough power, work, or water that won’t make them sick.
I can hear hope. In fact, I can’t hear anything else. It’s inevitable, now. I sense hope itself trembling in the unlimited potential of this moment. Hope knows its release is just around the corner. Any day, any moment, and hope will burst forth across this torn landscape like a storm. Those who fought for stability will fight ten times harder, in ten thousand little ways. But right now, before this great release, it’s so hard for many residents of Iraq to know hope.
Unemployed men with small children dying of illness and malnutrition fear to step forward to accept work with the Coalition, knowing that cruel, organized thugs may torture and kill a father who seeks to provide for his family in this way. Losing the only breadwinner jeopardizes the wife and other children in homes from which these fathers are too frequently lost.
My friend Jamal lost his family home, lifelong friends, and fiancee when he was identified as an interpreter. He very nearly lost much more.
On the other hand, there simply is not a great deal of work available with Coalition forces even for the willing, since positions for locals are competitive and jealously guarded.
In a society so wracked with danger and fear, much of the work from commerce and production is likewise only a memory. There is very little demand for non-essentials; when a citizen ventures to the market downtown even for necessities he knows he takes his life in his hands. There may be a car bomb rolling up to any part of any bazaar at any moment.
The citizens of Iraq are in desperate need of hope in order for them to see any purpose in striving and risking for change. When hope dies, initiative follows. Why bother?
In contrast to this dangerous apathy, I recently published an extracted article on the Baghdad Zoo now being open, safe, and enjoyed. (See A Walk in the Park). When a couple can take their little ones to such a pleasant and ordinary place, this glimmer called hope begins to take root. They taste freedom from insecurity – and like it. They begin to ponder the instability and terrors of the family neighborhood, and find a fresh energy to reclaim this rightful territory for the good of all.
They begin to say…”Oh, hell, no! Anything is better than this.”
The energy of hope can produce startling results. In a book entitled Let’s Roll, we read the story of true heroes, doomed passengers on a hijacked plane. They had some certainty that something very bad was going to happen with their plane. They realized that there might not be anything they could do about it…but they hoped they could. They hoped they could, and they acted.
They saw no gain in hiding in the herd and praying not to be the next one culled. They acted in the hope of stopping terrorists with their own hands. They succeeded. With this hope and their own hands, they saved hundreds or thousands of other innocent lives. They died, yes – they died because fighting to defend involves risk, and some pay the price for the rest.
Hope is something that can be given. It can’t be forced, because a person can not be “convinced” of something against his will. Hope can be inspired by example, as when the United States of America still inspires the hope of a better life for hundreds of millions who live in tragic poverty. Hope can be revealed in the genuine, consistent effort of outreach from those who have to those who have not.
Hope sometimes stays out of reach for those without hope, until someone who holds it…offers it. In some cases, it must be given from one group of people to another. Or, from one group of nations to another. When we grasp hope firmly in our hands, we perceive the extraordinary future we can create.
This isn’t a war for Americans to bring peace, or for “the West” to establish democracy, or for any other reason than simply this: this war in Iraq, however it may have started, is a war for the Iraqi people to experience hope, say “Let’s Roll”, and take back their land for peace and safety.
Hope screams to be known. With hope, anything is possible.
Without it, nothing is.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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43. The Whole, Impartial Truth (TWIT 01) A Walk in the Park
Welcome to the Grand Opening edition of The Whole, Impartial Truth, a new and sporadic exposition of what’s “really” going on out here in Iraq.
By implying that you aren’t already getting the whole truth, I don’t mean that anyone is lying. Rather, I’m acknowledging that agenda drives communication; whether it’s a husband arguing for a big-screen TV or a statesman seeking concessions from a neighbor country, the skillful use of words creates a reality.
Each writer writes from a personal perspective, and not all media outlets provide an actual fair and balanced picture. Because of each outlet’s agenda, in fact, it may even be fair to say that not one commercial outlet provides a full and unbiased version of life as it occurs.
Here’s an example:
The Pope and President George W. Bush were fishing in a little rowboat one day. A gust of wind blew the Pope Hat off the Pope’s head and splashed it in the pond 10 yards away. The Pope was beside himself, naturally, because this is an important symbol of his office. President Bush calmly rose, stepped onto the surface of the pond, and walked over to recover the Pope Hat.
The next morning, headlines across the country blared out, “George Bush Can’t Swim” (Thanks, Gabe!)
Here’s another example. In the days before this presidential election, I was amazed to hear CNN and Fox News paint two realities based on this one, undisputable fact: the polls favored Obama 52 to McCain’s 44. Here are the two realities:
CNN: “Senator Obama continues to surge ahead with his ever-widening gap.”
Fox: “Senator McCain is really making a comeback as the gap rapidly disappears.”
(Please understand that those are not actual quotes, but paraphrasings. I don’t want to be accused of still further distortion of the truth!)
So, while Powerful Peace recognizes the existence of continuing beheadings and that little girls have been blown up by terrorist bombs as recently as this week, we must also keep in our hearts the stories that don’t sell commercial airtime such as the following, lifted intact from the “Coalition Chronicle” magazine that we read out here in the sandbox:
Baghdad Zoo – Returning to Normal
- Army Staff Sergeant James Hunter
BAGHDAD - The Baghdad Zoo opened its doors to Iraqi citizens in 1971. Since then, it has been a key centerpiece to the lives of many Iraqis. Many travel from throughout Iraq to enjoy a peaceful day at the zoo with their families.
- Time Alone
Due to the potential threat of violence and security issues in Iraq however, the last several years have not brought many people to the zoo as many feared leaving their neighborhoods and the safety and security of their own homes.
“After coalition forces pushed into Iraq, ousting the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, the zoo and surrounding park were left unattended and desolate,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Sanford…. “Animals were abandoned, stolen or freed by looters and the park grounds were vandalized.”
It was nearly two years before coalition forces began to seriously focus their efforts on the zoo after troops gained a foothold on the adjacent International Zone, which provided the opportunity for Dr. Salah, the Zawra Park director, and Dr. Adel Mousa, the zoo’s director, to truly begin rebuilding the area.
Their efforts, combined with the efforts of MND-B [Multi-National Division, Baghdad], have brought life back into the zoo.
- With Daddy at the Zoo
“The people of [Iraq] visit the zoo quite frequently,” said Sanford, who works closely with the zoo’s director. “It is a central location that helps them see the future of Iraq as a revitalized society and continues to build family relationships and a sense of normalcy in an area so often torn by hardship and conflict. Visiting the zoo and the surrounding Zawra Park area is as much a family outing here in Iraq as it is in the United States.
This time to forge friendships and strengthen family ties would not be where it is today without the efforts of Iraqi security forces and MND-B troops positioned throughout greater Baghdad.
When Iraqi security forces and MND-B cracked down on special groups extremists and sent many fleeing the area, it brought new life and a sense of normalcy back to the Iraqi people.
“The current security situation has been one of stabilization and peace in the area, drawing more families from their home and into the park and zoo for leisure and recreational activities once thought to be too risky to chance,” said Sanford. “The continued effort of both coalition forces and the Government of Iraq have allowed people who once only ventured out for necessity to stray far from their homes at times, even if just to see the new tigers, Hope and Riley, now being proudly displayed.”
Mousa said he now sees a secure place for people from all over Iraq to visit.
Family Picnic at the Zoo
“The people are all smiling; they are happy,” the zoo director said.
The security situation has made many Iraqis happy people, but none may be as happy as those children who walk through the gates of the Baghdad Zoo daily to see the lions, tigers, bears, an array of fish, flamingos, crocodiles, alligators or even a little girl’s favorite, a pony.
Many are seen smiling, maybe some a bit frightened by those larger animals, as they walk across the green grass or the natural or manmade paths during their leisurely strolls.
Sitting atop the freshly cut green grass are many families with picnic baskets and soda cans in tow. The children seem to run endlessly until exhausted from the heat of the sun.
When Sanford visits the zoo to meet with his Iraqi counterpart, he too feels a difference in his surroundings.
As he walks onto the grounds on the zoo, just as many do daily, he finds himself walking along a marble walkway with an array of birds and fowl on either side surrounding him.
“As you walk from cage to cage, you will almost definitely notice the significant difference in cleanliness of the area,” Sanford said. “Trash is placed in trash cans and sidewalks are kept swept and clean.”
“As you make your way around, you will see families laughing and smiling, couples holding hands and children tugging on their parents to point out some fascinating creature,” he adds. “It is truly an experience.”
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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42. My Blood Is In This Flag
Literally.
As I see the Stars and Stripes cascading majestically from the highest railings here in Baghdad this week, I am reminded that my own blood marks the seam, four stories above.
During one of my visits to the Baghdad Coalition Headquarters a few months back, I noticed a group of soldiers struggling to hold up the palace’s massive, forty-foot-long U.S. flag as they prepared it for hanging.
I jumped in to keep my little piece of our treasured national symbol from touching the floor. We needed to cut old zip-ties out of the grommets, so I opened my knife and set to work on the heavy plastic fasteners.
Distracted by the complex exercise of cutting while lifting, I nicked one of my fingers. It was an insignificant boo-boo, and I didn’t think much of it at the time. With some embarrassment, I later noticed that a spot of my blood had soaked into the edge of that flag, staining the white, red.
It wasn’t until hours afterward, as I stood staring in awe at this towering display, that the greater impact of the imagery of blood in the flag struck home.
Blood Marks Old Glory
Rewind a few years, and you’ll see me as a younger, pre-retirement Navy SEAL training at one of our desert locations. My platoon was completing a particularly unimpressive series of “Immediate Action Drills” (in a nutshell: shooting and running and dropping down and shooting again).
The cadre bellowed at us to get more aggressive with every iteration, and I took that seriously – to the point of inadvertently smashing my rifle scope against the corner of my mouth on one particularly enthusiastic “drop” to continue firing.
When our lackluster performance ended, the hardcore old frogman in charge of our training said he had never seen such a disgusting spectacle in all his years as a commando. (We take solace in the knowledge that combat critique is often exaggerated to drive a point home.) After he finally got done telling us what a bunch of [blank]-ing [blankety-blank-blanks] we were, he took a long, ragged breath and we thought he was spent.
He wasn’t. Glaring menacingly around our sheepish group, he suddenly locked eyes with me and said, “You. You’re bleeding…I like that.”
And we were redeemed.
I’ll let the reader unfold some of the profound layers of meaning at this concept of redemption through blood.
Despite such boo-boos, all of the accumulated dents and scrapes I acquired during my career don’t add up to one serious injury as suffered by hundreds of thousands over hundreds of years of American life; I can still count the same number of fingers and limbs as when I got born about four decades back.
What is most desperately important to remember on Veterans Day is that our precious flag is soaked in the blood of every wounded and slain warrior who ever served America and freedom. If not for the blood of heroes, this flag would be nothing more than the tattered and molding scraps of a great experiment which had failed to rise and inspire the world.
Our grand story has been and continues to be paid for, as they say, in blood and treasure. While those who have the treasure have often found it unnecessary to also contribute blood, we have awesome exceptions. Our legendary veterans, George Washington and his comrades, are among this noble crowd. These men would have suffered the horror of a traitor’s execution if captured. Many did. They willingly risked all for this cause so much greater than themselves.
Raising the Flag
Did you know this? Washington said, “The fate of unborn millions will now depend on God, on the courage and conduct of this army.” Unborn millions! How could any ordinary man have the vision in the first, perilous birth pangs of a nation, to foresee how much would become of this fragile dream if only they risked and paid their all???
Let us remember our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who truly paid the costs of freedom and an example for the world. Let us especially hold ourselves accountable to those future generations within and without our borders who may one day look back and say – of us – “But for their sacrifices, we would not know liberty.”
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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41. Did You Understand the Barack Obama Piece?
Barack Obama
It’s very important to the grasp of Powerful Peace that I clear this up. I don’t take any pleasure in one side humiliating the other; quite the opposite. I know being centrist still means being in the minority in the US, but it’s my belief that if I “lean right” or “lean left” according to political inclinations, I’ll put myself in some danger of falling down. In fact, I stand straight up in the middle, and measure each issue on its merit, not basing my opinions on what some affiliation tells me I should think and decide.
Please let me know if you share this vision. Sometimes this position of listening to all sides, and respecting all persons for the inherent value of their point of view, seems pretty lonely.
Article #39 is an observation on the profound nature of the world’s opinion of us, and our opinion of ourselves, as it relates to the election of this unique individual. Please do review it in this context: Barack Obama: 9/12 and 11/5.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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40. Origins of the Bureaucratic Species, Part 4 of 5
Readers, you’ve been amazingly patient while I fussed with election matters and continued to conduct my little piece of the war here in Iraq.
I promise that next week, I’ll post the fifth and final weekly edition of Origins…on an actual weekly schedule! For this week, at long last, I give you Origins of the Bureaucratic Species, Chapter Four:
Origins of the Bureaucratic Species
by Marc A. Viola
[If you haven't followed the series from the beginning, or missed the last entry, you can jump to those by clicking: Jump to Chapter One or Jump to Chapter Three]
Part Four – Overwhelmed By Sectarian Violence
When its long, slow death begins, the organization has evolved far beyond its original formation from intellectual stardust, and now resembles the landscape of medieval Europe. Barons, duchesses, earls, countesses, viceroys, and all other manner of victors emerge from the battlefields of interoffice nation-states. Staff meetings, once forums for sharing information, now make daily pronouncements on matters of organizational hierarchy and regality, and stage vacuous pantomimes bestowing honorifics upon the undeserving. Across artificially drawn borders, emails pound entrenched areas of resistance with heavy-caliber memoranda of agreements. Returning volleys rain down with incendiary track changes and cannon balls of staff summary sheets. Standardized templates and approved formats lay siege to pockets of individual originality. Task-force committees in the chapel officially validate the new dogma and issue it in website proclamations. Hyperlinks herald initiatives to “synergize,” “integrate,” “facilitate transformation,” with “network-centric processes,” “enterprise collaboration,” “re-organizing,” “re-aligning,” and “re-prioritizing” “interoperability,” while “mapping a path for closure and victory.”
Pointless buzz-phrases and managerial jargon choke the real power of language to exchange ideas. This Orwellian “new speak” lethally submerges creativity and critical evaluation of new concepts while it stifles open debate on their possible relevancy. In their place come a barrage of slogans and managerial mantras that are precisely what the organization soon seeks in the résumés of its employee candidates. What was once an enlightened organizational renaissance has entered a dark age of institutionalized bureaucracy, and a malignantly parasitic life form has effectively taken over, its self-preservation complete. Eventually, nothing happens without the regulating influence of bureaucratic oversight and control. Nothing moves, nothing changes, and nothing really new pushes the organization forward. It is as if an administrative weir has been intentionally constructed for the express purpose of checking the flow of progress. The organization has become a fortress of servitude, a medieval castle complete with towers, walls, moats, and bureaucratic dragons. In fact, one of the terms often used to describe such individuals when I worked at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was “moat dragons.”
The organization atrophies. Where there was once energy and vitality, now a stonework system prohibits risk, experimentation, and failure. A formidable outer wall of regulations protects the now-ravenous bureaucrats as they multiply. They are safe, and their job security is assured. Life is good for the bureaucrats: they are confident that they will pay off their mortgages and kids’ college tuitions.
In sociological terms, the organization appears to be another shining example of capitalistic success. What has really happened, though, is that the once-great organization has reached a critical turning point in its existence. The genius that sired its creation is now gone. Gone are the requirements for core competency. Loyalty and obedience trump ability. To protect those less than competent, minimum performance standards are established and rigorously held down to. Excelling at endeavors, exceeding expectations, and new ideas become threatening to the establishment, upsetting its now cherished goals of stability and predictability.
The organization no longer primarily functions in its original role as a profitable answer to a business need. Instead, the organization now serves to house and employ its minions, and to fiercely defend its self-preservation. Cumbersome processes have made introducing new talent or new ideas prohibitive. Only lateral changes are possible from incestuously trusted inner circles. The organization embodies a stifling atmosphere, evident in subtle indicators: drab-grey carpeting, endless white walls, and bland decor. Employees with dull looks and shadows under their eyes shuffle through hallways, eager for each day and the week to end.
About the author – Marc A. Viola
Marc A. Viola
Marc Anthony Viola is an intelligence professional pioneering the development and deployment of innovative technologies and tradecraft for the U.S. Intelligence Community for almost 20 years. He is best known for his work with Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) at such Intelligence Community (IC) agencies as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He was the Director of MASINT Review for the Presidential Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, http://www.wmd.gov/.
An aerospace engineer, he expanded the scope of his interests into business, computer and information systems management, strategic intelligence, and national security studies. Viola is a visiting guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College (formerly the Joint Military Intelligence College) for intelligence science topics. A former military officer, he served for almost 12 years in various U.S. Air Force intelligence positions before separating from active duty, then the reserves, and finally becoming a successful consultant. During his years in the Air Force, Marc Viola was privileged to work with, and for, members of, and organizations directed by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and the Canadian Forces.
Click here to jump to next week’s thrilling conclusion to…Origins of the Bureaucratic Species! [...Echo machine fades...]
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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39. Barack Obama – September 12th and November 5th
Days of National Transformation
Wherever you fell on the political spectrum when the final results were in, I would like to point out some details that have not yet been discussed. I would like to address the profound significance of this day, November 5th, 2008.
I’m writing this piece from my station in Iraq. On September 11th, 2001, I was working as a SEAL in another Middle Eastern country with some of my teammates. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we US SEALs and our class of local national SEALs endured the rare privilege of watching the events of 9/11 unfold live while half a world away.
It was evening, there. One of our number called out to the barracks that a plane had hit a Tower. We Americans and Arabs gathered in the TV lounge and sat silently for three hours as the unimaginable transpired.
The next morning, after a fitful night’s sleep, we cancelled all training and began readying ourselves for the inevitable war to come. I told a friend, “The world will never be the same.”
What I meant by this is that, as with the designations of B.C. and A.D. (or Before Current Era and Current Era, in some calendar systems), history would now be eternally fractured into pre-9/11 and post-9/11. These terms have in fact become part of today’s vernacular. That date can reasonably be likened to a national loss of innocence.
Now consider these facts that burst forth on November 5th, 2008:
The Black segment of the United States has been uplifted in a concrete way which theories and declarations of equality could never fully communicate. This will open the eyes of every citizen that American diversity is real. It is finally true that each child can grow up to become the President of the United States of America.
Barack Obama is not Black
Simultaneously, the nation must realize that Barack Obama is not Black…not Black, that is, unless we are equally willing to label him “White”. After all, what is it that makes him Black? If it’s being born of a Black parent, then is he somehow less White in also being the son of a White parent?
(By the way, this isn’t political bandwagonning. I won’t tell you which way I voted. I’m describing our circumstances objectively.)
President-elect Obama is Black and White. Conveniently, so is America…and we are so much more.
America is also Native American, (which group, by the way, we honor in the month of November), we’re Hispanic, we’re Asian, we’re Polynesian, we’re Mediterranean, and still more. In other words, Barack Obama’s victory is not merely a win for Blacks. As he is the physical embodiment of the racial extremes of America, so his selection is a vote in favor of the entire spectrum of race in America. His victory is a win for Blacks and for Whites. It’s a win for every race between these extremes.
The nation, and the world, must also realize that he is not American…not American, that is, unless we are equally willing to name him a global citizen. If an American mother and a Kenyan father produce a child, does either side have the stronger claim to its native son?
In no way is this an insinuation that Barack Obama is not “American enough” to lead our nation. Rather, it’s an assertion that he is inherently and invaluably aware of the world beyond our borders. Our world is shrinking by the day. Great Walls and Iron Curtains are pitiful artifacts of a sadly frightened past in which nations looked at one another like suspicious townsfolk in a cowboy movie: “You ain’t from around here, is you, stranger?”
While on the subject of “(fill-in-the-blank) enough”, I want to point out that Jesse Jackson once apparently expressed that Barack Obama wasn’t “Black enough” to run and win as the Black candidate for President. Today I was moved to see Jesse Jackson weeping with joy over the election.
I say again: the world will never be the same.
A Change in America means a Change in the World
The United States is the single, most powerful people group on the planet. We have demonstrated the greatest willingness to extend ourselves out into the world to influence change – according to our best judgment. In helpful and not-so-helpful ways, we have proven over and again that we, as one entity, can move the globe.
That globe has in recent decades become less enamored of our ability and decisions to act or not act. Our face is mirrored in worldwide polls; the numbers do not paint a pretty picture.
We are perceived as a self-absorbed superpower. The image is that while our intentions may in fact be good, our values are not always demonstrated by our actions. We can swear to never tolerate genocide, then show that the slaughtering of families in Darfur doesn’t quite meet the threshold for meaningful intervention.
While the tapestry of our nation has been a multi-colored fabric since the first day, our executive has never been. This cannot go unnoticed by global neighbors. The proud label of Melting Pot must have appeared insincere as long as only the white wax floated to the top.
Raise your head high, America. If you voted for Barack Obama or against him, you participated in the selection of this living symbol of the whole greatness that is America. You were a vital part of the struggle that proves to a skeptical world that we love our country; we embrace the democratic process in choosing our leader, together; ultimately, we demonstrated that we treasure this grand, glorious, motley rabble of individuals…more than our individual selves. We truly value the diversity that is America – and the world.
I usually don’t say much to describe myself, beyond my status as a retired SEAL and global security professional. In case you’re interested, I’m White. Or rather, I should say, I’m a White American. Or rather, I should say…I’m a proud American. I’m proud that my country has so powerfully seized its own American-ness.
IF YOU APPRECIATE THESE COMMENTS, PLEASE PASS THIS ARTICLE ALONG TO LOVED ONES
…IF YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW THE OBAMAS, PLEASE DROP THEM A COPY, TOO.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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