A romance where the personal meets the political

A hot and enduring romance began in Chicago during the summer of 1989: that of my wife and I!

However, a more famous romance that began there and then was that of Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson. A new movie, South Side with You tells the story of their first date.


My wife and I enjoyed watching it. Some people might find it a bit slow since the emphasis is on character development through dialogue. However, I think the movie does well to deal with a number of complex and sensitive issues, particularly as the personal intersects with the political. These include:

community involvement vs. corporate careers

disenfranchisement of black communities

the cultural, economic, and political chasm between black and white communities in the USA

the pressures and prejudices faced by employees who are hired partly for affirmative action reasons

judging others for life choices and failures.

Worth watching

A significant change of preference?

[Aside: I first posted this on my work research blog, condensed concepts, but thought I would put it here as well since it may be of interest to some readers here too].

I am puzzled by something. Suppose I ask five people if they prefer tea or coffee? Three say coffee, two say tea. Four years later I ask them again. One of the five people has changed their mind, now two prefer coffee and three tea. Suppose the sample size is much larger, but still only one in five people change their preference. I would not say there was a "massive swing" in preference or that drinks "preference did an almost complete turnabout".

Furthermore, suppose also that those five people had all previously said they did not wish to register as having a definite opinion on their preference. Then it should hardly be surprising if one in five changed their opinion.

Hence, I am puzzled by an article in the Wall Street Journal by Gerald F. Seib, Unaligned votes tilt rightward en masse. It states:

A massive swing by independent voters propelled the Republican Party to a series of key victories.... 

In House races nationally, Republicans won the votes of independents—voters who said they aren't affiliated with any party—by a 55% to 40% margin, a compilation of exit polls from across the country showed.

In other words, independents' preference did an almost complete turnabout over the last four years: They favored Democrats by 18 points then, Republicans by 15 points Tuesday.

An indigenous Australian on Obama

Noel Pearson is a prominent indigenous leader in Australia. He is also a columnist for the Australian newspaper. Normally he writes about Australian issues, often with quite a unique perspective. But today he has a column about US politics, Obama misses a historic opportunity.

He considers that Obama should have focused his reform efforts on the finance industry rather than on health care. This led to him losing support among white working poor. It wasn't just that Wall Street fat cats got even richer, but irresponsible borrowers from Main Street got bailed out.

A new job for Francis Collins

The New York Times reports President Obama has nominated Francis Collins to be the next director of the National Institutes for Health. Collins was formerly the director of the Human Genome Project and recently founded the Biologos Foundation.

The NIH distributes $30-billion a year in federal money, making it the single largest source of funding for scientific research in the USA.

Obama's story

On the plane to Hong Kong last week I watched a BBC documentary, Obama: His Story . Having read Dreams from my father, it was fascinating to see pictures and video clips of his earlier life. There was a great TV news clip of Obama leading a student protest at Harvard Law School, interviews with his high school teachers and his Kenyan relatives, fellow community organisers in Chicago, and a home video of him playing basketball for his high school. It was also very moving when Obama was interviewed about the influence of his mother, father, and grandparents.

Dreams from my father

My dear wife, Robin (an American) bought me this autobiography, Dreams from My Father: a story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama, published in 1995, before he entered politics. I loved it. It is a beautifully written and engaging account of Obama's struggle to define his identity. Obama barely knew his Kenyan father, while being brought up by a white mother and grandparents in multi-cultural Hawaii. It is fascinating to read of his experience as a community organizer and activist on the south side of Chicago and the story of how he came to a personal faith and joined a church.

Because of Obama's personal history and struggle he has significant empathy with the needy and down-trodden, he is secure in himself, he honestly sees politics as a means to serve others and make a difference (rather than as a vehicle for self fulfilment), he sees churches as playing a key role in developing communities and being agents of social change, and he is not sympathetic to simplistic ideological "solutions" to deep seated social problems such as poverty and racism.

I found it incredibly encouraging (and still a little unbelievable) that this guy is now president of the U.S.A! A helpful and interesting 1995 review, A Promise of Redemption, of the book is in the New York Times. Finally, the book underscores the significant role that fathers (both present and absent) play in our lives. I consider myself blessed that when my father died last year, I was able to give the eulogy at his funeral. Preparing the text really helped me come to terms with who he was, who I am, and all the joys, blessings, disappointments, and regrets of our relationship.