Yes We Can...Give Fist-Bumps

Yes, it's largely a puff piece that's making the rounds on websites, radio stations, and talking-head shows in an attempt to draw in the fleeting interest of a demographic that wouldn't normally be interested in anything the least bit political. But nontheless, this is why I support Barack Obama.

Something as simple as this gesture of greeting -- just two outstretched fists touching at the knuckles -- perfectly epitomizes exactly what Obama offers this country: change. It's a paradigm shift; a hope for something different; the subversion of everything we knew.

As far as the big picture goes, it doesn't mean much of anything. It doesn't speak of how competently Obama could fix our fuel-dependency problems, stabilize our hemorrhaging economy, protect us from terrorist attacks, or get illegal immigration under control. It doesn't really say anything, other than that Obama is particularly hip for a 47-year-old man. And yet, somehow, I find it so reassuring.

For me, everything about this one image symbolizes progress. It's the transition from one thing to another, with the former thing being what we were and the latter thing being what we can be. Not many other prominently public politicians can pull off a display of such honest and laid-back self-assuredness; if Bush fist-bumped someone, it would come across as contrived and rehearsed. If Hilary did it, it would look ridiculous. If Dick Cheney did it, you'd have to repress every instinctual urge to gag to death. If Al Gore did it, it'd be awesome, but that has more to do with irony than anything. So really, the only person that could legitimately pull it off would be Bill Clinton, and that's just because he was the closest thing this country has ever had to a black president. So to finally get to the punchline of this tangent, the importance of all this is credibility. We don't know what Obama's worth is as a potential president yet, we'll have to wait and see on that. But we do know what his worth is as a man. He's an entirely contemporary figure that matters in the HERE and NOW. Unlike his cardboard cut-out predecessors, he acts and thinks like me, like my friends, like my peers. He's the living embodiment of what things are really like, as opposed to an embodiment of the fictitious suburban Utopia that may or may not have ever existed. Forget about archetypes, they're for the dead and buried. Step aside, the future is coming through. I think we should all be very excited.

Although, upon closer inspection of the picture, I'm a little disappointed to see that Barack is doing it wrong. His fist is horizontal (think of how you would hold onto a bicycle handle), while Michelle Obama's fist is vertical (think of how you would hold onto a popsicle). His wife's got the right idea, she needs to give him the heads up on that. It's a small matter of concern, though. Nothing a little bit of quick coaching can't remedy.



And remember the way Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff used to greet each other on old episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? I hope the two of them are saving that for the inauguration speech.