[ported from my Facebook profile]

Obama has to show his street organizer talents as soon as he is inaugurated. If he goes along to get along with business as usual, he will forfeit his powers to change. The first days are the most important because they are the moments of greatest anticipation. Expectation on all sides is an opportunity for new directions. The voices of moderation are — as MLK, Jr., pointed out years ago — invitations to do nothing, to preserve the status quo. You can hear those voices murmuring, “America is a center-right nation. Change is not what we really want.”

In October, speaking to Native American Indians via video, Barack’s Message for First Americans , Barack said “We’ve got to acknowledge that truth [the tragic history between the United States and Tribal Nations] if we’re going to move forward in a fair and honest way.” This principle of understanding history applies not just to working with Native Nations of America, but across the whole range of issues, conflicts, and crises confronting us as Peoples on a Planet.

Barack said, too, “I know what it feels like to be viewed as an outsider sometimes. I know what it’s like to have not always been respected, to sometimes have been ignored.”

It remains to be seen if he will act in accord with these statements on a global basis. In particular, will Barack Obama lead the U.S. government to acknowledge and respect all the Peoples of the Middle East, or will he continue to insist there is a “special relationship” with one of them? The “tragic history” of Jewish relations with virtually all Western governments must be acknowledged, but it is not an excuse for more tragedy.

The United States is often referred to as a “Christian country” (and there is a sense in which this is true, given the historical trajectory of Christian-inspired colonization in North America). But the United States takes upon itself the support of a Jewish state in the Middle East, as part of a political trajectory derived from ejection of Jews by European states during and after WW II. Meanwhile, the U.S. relates to Muslim states primarily through colonial and neo-colonial trade structures. All of this elaborate religio-political structure is coming apart at the seams. Relations with the “heathen” Indians included.

We need to acknowledge the whole long story of the Family of Abraham if we’re going to move forward in a fair and honest way. We must stand back to see the underlying cultural-genealogical connections among Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Peoples to understand their motivations to fight one another to the death. That means standing back from whatever allegiances we ourselves may have to one or another version or participant in that Family history. Undoubtedly this is asking for a lot, especially in an era where introspection is guarded against by culture leaders as well as the masses whose energies they direct.

It is not necessary to have much introspection and understanding of others (and otherhood) to take a stand against the present carnage. But deep understanding of the big picture is essential to survival of diverse Peoples on a single Planet. If Barack sees this and acts on it with all Nations, as he promised to with Native American Nations, he will have a chance to be a great leader. If he waits, bides his time for some other opportunity, he will have already defaulted on his great mantra of change and will lose his chance of leading anywhere.