urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:kovalinsky03 SM Kovalinsky: free-lance writer, philosopher kovalinsky03 2008-05-23T21:46:40Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:kovalinsky03:666 2008-05-23T16:25:33Z 2008-05-23T21:46:40Z Eminem; John Foxx; Morrissey; Roxy Music Anyone who has been informed and enriched by Howe and Strauss' 1998 text,&nbsp;<i><b> The Fourth Turning</b></i>&nbsp; must also feel a certain sense of excitement at the appearance of Barack Obama&nbsp; on the US political scene.&nbsp; The venerable US historians who co-authored the aforementioned text created a wonderful synergy with their discourse on the natural cycles of history&nbsp; - fueled in large part by generational ebb and flux &nbsp; -&nbsp; and have for many created a new lens through which to view current events .&nbsp; That Obama's coming was sudden,&nbsp; unexpected to a large degree,&nbsp; and yet so precise in its timing and its details is an awe-inspiring event to many who view our current election process as one of the most important in our nation's history.<br /><br />Obama is dynamic:&nbsp; He is a great orator and rhetoritition; &nbsp; he is highly intuitive in his thinking;&nbsp; he evokes response and energy in an&nbsp; unusual manner.&nbsp; He is not altogether suited to the job as US president: His relative youth,&nbsp; inexperience and his various and sundry problems (Rev. Wright among others) give some stern pause.&nbsp; And yet he is poised for flight,&nbsp; ready to view our current crises with a fresh eye&nbsp; - a beautiful and masculine eye,&nbsp; I do believe&nbsp; -&nbsp; and from a stance which seems to encourage the utmost confidence in him.&nbsp; I suppose he is a phenomenal politician.&nbsp; Many will be against him,&nbsp; deride him,&nbsp; take issue with him.&nbsp; Yet I wager that it will not matter:&nbsp; One might say he is destined to prevail. . . <i><b>Susan Marie Kovalinsky</b></i>