Senator Barack Obama for President: Still Just a Dream

It has been two months since Senator Barack Obama, the highly touted senator from Illinois, announced the first step in his bid for the United States Presidency. He did so, quite appropriately, as closely as he could to the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday and the dream he shared with the world.

Hopes and dreams are the kindling that fuels the fire of human striving. They form the springboard from which we spring into life, from birth through death. Whether or not they come to fruition in no way diminishes their import in our daily lives. We play the lottery scarcely believing that we will win, but we savor the sweet flavor of fantasy with each unredeemed dollar that escapes our grasp at the corner gas station. Despite the condition of our society, our planet, we continue to propagate little self-replicas whose futures extend our hopes and dreams. Hopes and dreams have little to do with the tangibles that permeate our lives. They seem to survive almost blissfully free from the fetters of facts.

Corporate executives, advertisers, and politicians know this...the media thrive on it. And so it should be no surprise that Senator Obama's presidential bid is all the rage, despite the fact that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW is less likely to become his address than is my winning the lottery (and I do play sporadically when jackpots jump high enough to fuel my fantasies). Senator Obama's becoming the President of the United States may be the dream of a portion of the US population, but is more than likely the nightmare of the majority.