"Oh! Obama!" -- A You Tube Video Victory Celebration

It has been quite an historic week with Barack Obama's amazing ascent to the U.S. Presidency. I think many of us are still stunned that it actually happened, but in one night the real possibility offered by America became so apparent for all to see. Barack's unlikely journey is more than inspirational. It is the great American success story. His rise from humble circumstances will inspire and galvanize countless future leaders in this country and around the world for years to come.

His impact on African Americans can't be measured. Watching Jesse Jackson with tears flowing down his face at Barack's acceptance speech was very moving. Jackson ran for the presidency in 1984 and now he was seeing his dream come true and also his mentor's dream -- Martin Luther King Jr. Jackson witnessed history when he saw King shot down in Memphis more than forty years ago. This week like the rest of us he witnessed history again, but this time it was the culmination of his dream and that of so many other African Americans. No longer would the presidency be locked out to people of color. Obama truly fulfilled King's wish and dream of a man being judged by the content of his character not by the color of his skin.

Living under eight years of misery brought about by the inept, callous, indifferent, greedy, ignorant, reckless Bush Administration is over. We will once again have a president who is thoughtful and who understands the problems we face. It won't easy to clean up the horrible mess the Bush legacy has left this country. But Obama seems the right man at the right time to pull it off. We need to all give him the support he needs regardless of our political views.

In celebration of his historic presidential victory, my songwriting friend Bruce Baert and I have created a YouTube video celebration "Oh! Obama! that had its debut today.

You can watch it at the beginning of the post
or here's a link -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX8VlkGjpZo

Video was directed by Los Angeles songwriter Bruce Baert, who wrote the lyrics. I produced the song and video and added some lyrics as did Bruce's mother Dorothy Baert. Storyteller Productions in Long Beach, Calif. helped us edit the video. Adding their talents to this project were Los Angeles guitarist and singer Emerson Kris and vocalist Ronna Jones. We recorded the song at Virlouise Studios in Anaheim, Calif.

This video and song truly captures the wonder of Obama's journey. It is story we can all take pride in and inspiration from in our own lives as we seek to regain America's place in the world as a force of true liberty, freedom, justice and opportunity.

Or as our song so aptly puts it..."As always we'll be victorious by Dawn's Early Light."

George Pappas

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There is more information about this project below

“Oh Obama!” Tribute Song and YouTube Video Seek to Relieve Voters from Long Campaign & Help Americans Revel in Change, Unity and Bottle their American Spirit & Celebrate--From Election Day to Inauguration Day

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – November 8, 2008, – As a lifelong registered Non-Partisan Party member, Los Angeles area songwriter Bruce Baert was and is one of those “independent voters” both political parties court. But Baert, like millions of Americans, grew to admire Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s ideas, ideals, and leadership. Banking on Obama to win the Presidency and make history, Baert was so inspired he said he “had” to write this catchy tribute song about Obama’s rise. He says the “song lyrics combined with the YouTube video are classy, unique, smart, tempered, interesting and engaging--Just like Barack Obama.”
The song debuts on Election Day, the video featuring the song launches this week.

Baert, (pronounced “Bear-t”), said: “Americans may wake up after this 21-month election marathon with a 2008 Election Hangover...I want my song to alleviate that and bottle the enthusiasm into an American celebration that begins now and ends on Inauguration Day: Tuesday, Jan., 20, 2009, the day after MLK Day is observed honoring MLK’s would-be 80th Birthday, and the day before so much official hard work begins.” Baert, a former Hillary Clinton supporter, adds: “There will be some serious work ahead to tackle…Barack’s acceptance line should be: ‘We can only get better from here!’”

Some lyrics include:
Oh he came from Hawaii with his heart upon his sleeve,
He’s goin’ to the White House, the top job in D.C.
The man with the funny name, they said he shouldn’t try,
“Fear” so taught, eight Bush Years bad, Obama’s Battle Cry.
Oh! Obama! Our Nation turns to thee
Already making history, along with Hillary.
Oh! Obama! You’ll be the first to be,
Only in the USA; In the Land of Liberty!

“When someone just gives our song a listen, they will love the words, the tune, the musicianship and singing. It doesn’t get overly political or at all negative, and only mentions Obama, not others. We try to stay above the fray, but enjoy this new time,” Baert said. “Oh! Obama!” is like nothing else out there. It is to the 1848 folksy old standard “Oh! Susanna!” Perhaps ironically, “Oh! Susanna!” was originally sometimes performed by minstrels, a racist tradition, but a product of its time. Baert is a resident of the nearby Los Angeles suburb Whittier, which is former President Richard Nixon’s hometown.

Millions of Americans are weary of the almost two-year U.S. Presidential campaign, yet are excited about the change and fresh start of an Obama Administration. “Doesn’t that sound good? An Obama Administration,” Baert added. This song/video is free online, and it is a non-profit production.

“Who knows? Maybe the Obama-Biden Campaign will play our anthem-like song or maybe Jay Leno or David Letterman,” Baert said.

Baert has a rare hat-trick of election process experience: He has worked as a clerk at and for his local L.A. County precincts as a poll worker, or “paid volunteer” ---for many general elections. He worked as a newspaper reporter writing about some local elections. Finally, he has covered for that newspaper immediate results released at and from the County Registrar’s Office. His mother, Dorothy Baert, passed on to him that tradition, working as a Judge and Inspector at her local voting precinct for tiny, medium and large turnout elections, being cited by the Registrar’s Office for 40 years of service. Dorothy, along with Bruce’s Journalism and college friend George Pappas, wrote additional lyrics for “Oh! Obama!”

“This election is the most polarized we’ve all seen in our lives, man have I argued with people, and they with me,” Baert said, adding: “But Republican or Democrat or another party, they all care, and that’s good and what’s important. This election isn’t just history, it’s Uber-history.”

Please note:
• MP3 and/or CD available upon request, and are online. Video on YouTube and DVDs available upon request
• Baert and/or others are available for interviews.
• Please see attached tribute song lyrics, and also attached original “Oh! Susanna!” song lyrics (for comparison.)

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For more information:
Publicist: George Pappas
Office: (562) 439-2575 Mobile: (562) 857-5680, Email: gmpwrite@gmail.com

OH! OBAMA! -- AN OBAMA VICTORY CELEBRATION IN SONG

This has been one of the most interesting and important elections of my lifetime. It seems there is so much more at stake after eight long miserable years of living with the misguided policies of the Bush Administration. However, I am very hopeful we will get it right this time with the election of Barack Obama.

Obama has inspired me like no political figure in many years. It is not just his galvanizing speeches and spirited approach, but I believe Obama also shows the intelligence, temperament, fortitude, graciousness and determination to help bring our country back from the brink.

My friend Los Angeles songwriter Bruce Baert has been similarly inspired. However, he wanted to do more to show his support for Obama than pulling the lever in the voting booth or working as a volunteer in this historic election. He decided to add his voice to Obama's growing list of supporters in a unique fashion.

Baert has created a new election tribute song "Oh! Obama!" It is based on the traditional song "Oh, Susanna" with all new lyrics that include Baert's prediction for Obama's victory. The lyrics are clever, classy and timely. I have posted the lyrics at the end of this post.

The track also features stellar performances from L.A. based artists -- guitarist and singer Emerson Kris and vocalist Ronna Jones.

Baert is a former Hillary Clinton supporter that became inspired by Obama in recent months.

Bruce's previous projects have included the tribute songs and videos "Paul McCartney is 64" and "The Crocodile Hunter Tribute."

Here are links to them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-DPWR2cdLc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUbVI8jELY8

We are also working on a video for the song "Oh! Obama!" that we will launch on You Tube after the election if Obama wins.

And this time we hope it is not only wishful thinking.

George Pappas

********

Copyright 3/07, 10/08 Bruce Baert, © with Library of Congress
Lyrics by Bruce Baert
Additional Lyrics by Dorothy Baert, George Pappas
Vocal Performances by Ronna Jones, Emerson Kris
Guitar Performance by Emerson Kris
Recorded at Virlouise Studios, Anaheim, Calif.
Based on “Oh! Susanna!” by Stephen Foster (pub. 1848)

“Oh! Obama!”

Oh he came from Hawaii with his heart upon his sleeve,
He’s goin’ to the White House, the top job in D.C.
The man with the funny name they said he shouldn’t try,
“Fear” so taught, eight Bush Years bad, Obama’s Battle Cry.

Chorus #1:

Oh! Obama! Our Nation turns to thee,
Already making history, along with Hillary

Wall Street bailout, six-year war, economy downhill,
Americans have a dream in sight, we’ll make it up that hill.
“Yes” we need Change, new ideas, think outside the box,
End divisiveness, Red agin’ Blue, CNN ‘gainst FOX.

Chorus #2:

Oh! Obama! We face a serious plight,
“As” Always we’ll be victorious by Dawn’s Early Light.

He’s a-headin’ for that honor, Country bestowed on he,
Let’s pray he learns from Lincoln, FDR, and Kennedy.
And if we get fooled again, then I’ll surely cry,
For those who fought with honor, our Democracy must survive

Chorus #3:

Oh! Obama! You’ll be the first to be…
Only in the USA; In-the-Land-of-Liberty! Yee-haw!!!

Repeat Chorus #1 and #3
End/FADE OUT

ELECTION TIME -- a Poem

This has been a long and unpredictable election season. I would have never predicted what has happened, but I couldn't be more pleased. The Bush Years....eight years of misery, cynicism and greed are almost over.

Still, I have no idea how the candidates can endure this constant political warfare.

So as the election nears, I thought I'd post a poem about the emptiness of the election process and what it brings us ultimately.

I hope this time with the election of Barack Obama it will different and that we will finally have someone in the White House again who gives a damn about where this country is heading and wants to do something about it.

Let's certainly hope so.

GP

*****************************************

ELECTION TIME

Am I just a figment of your populist imagination?

Another blurred face in the crowd?

Another voice drowned
out
by the political process?

You aim your TV commercials at my heart
and attempt to inspire my imagination
with flaccid speeches.

Hoping to hook us again
into believing you'll finally make a difference in our lives.

Until after election time,
when we realize we are left like
jilted lovers
with broken hearts
wondering how you rendered us so powerless.

Our pleas
and rage
die in a vacuum
of political expediency.

Washington listens to its own heartbeats
as we wonder what could have been
and live and die in the shadows of our failed dreams.

George Pappas
Copyright 2008

A PAPPAS VIEW PREDICTION -- Obama Will be Our Next President

In 15 days, we get a chance to take our country back from the cynical, the fearful, the shortsighted, the vengeful, and the greedy ... after eight years of misery.

I meant to make this prediction a week or so ago, but I've been too busy to post this blog.

I am confident Barack Obama will be our next president ... barring a horrible event I will not even mention or think about.

In all of the debates, Obama has come across as cool, calm, knowledgeable, smart, visionary and above all, presidential.

By stark contrast, McCain has appeared erratic, cantankerous, disrespectful, angry, frustrated, shortsighted, tired and lacking in ideas or vision. McBush as I like to call him is quick to fall back on his checkered past in Congress and on his war experience.

However, McCain has no real solutions for getting us out of this economic mess or our foreign entanglements. In fact, his lame policies would only continue Bush' s debacle. He doesn't have a firm grasp of the economy, which is all the public is thinking about right now.

Even his campaign's latest hail mary ploy -- appealing to Joe the Plumber backfired. Joe would benefit under a Obama's tax plan not McCain's.

McCain's health plan is a joke and won't do anything to change the existing broken system. He will also tax benefits which makes no sense.
Obama offers a health plan that promise universal health care to everyone. It will not fine small businesses -- that's another McCain lie.

Also it was so obvious in the last debate that all McCain has left is to attack Obama for past associations with Bill Ayers and ACORN. It is so pathetic. Obama explained his association with both well. They are non issues. I mean McCain has had troubling associations with Nixon stooge G. Gordon Liddy, who plotted his own terrorist acts and went to jail, and Oliver North who sponsored the Contra terrorists in El Salvador who tortured and killed thousands.

Obama will also seek policies to develop alternative energy and to get us out a wasteful and costly war in Iraq. He is offering new ideas and a fresh perspective.

McCain represents where we've already been. Obama represents where we want to go. He reminds me of the promise of Bill Clinton in 1992.

I hope Obama can help our country regain its economic power and repair our tattered standing around the world. I believe Obama is as Colin Powell described him this morning as a "transformational figure" who can bring this country together after years of contentious, partisan battles that have accomplished nothing.

McCain's temperament, and his anger issues are troublesome to say the least. We've seen what off the cuff cowboy diplomacy can do. The definition of a maverick is one who is masterless and roams on their own heeding no counsel.

Is this the kind of person we want running our country in what may be one of the most pivotal times in our history?

The challenge for Obama is immense. I have no illusions about that, but he is more than up to the job. Today Powell endorsed him and so did a number of newspapers that have rarely if ever supported a Democratic candidate -- L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, New York Times...the list goes on.

But I knew it earlier this year during his primary battles with Hillary Clinton. He offers a fresh perspective, a more inclusive approach and he just plain inspired me like no politician has in many years. People may have thought they wanted to have a beer with George W. Bush, but is that who you want running your country -- your fun beer buddy. I don't think so. Didn't work out so well.

I want someone like Obama who is thoughtful, calm, intelligent and willing to work with others to get things done on our behalf. Not someone who is stuck in divisive ideology and beholden to corporate interests like Bush and his cronies.

Only time will tell what kind of president Barack Obama will be, but this is an opportunity to change our country in such a fundamental way from the business as usual in Washington.

This is not only the change we need...it is the kind of change that America was created for.

George Pappas

MONEY...and the failings of the U.S. Economy

Our country is facing its worst economic crisis since the depression. Even my own bank Washington Mutual had to be bailed out by JP Morgan Chase and who even knows if that will last. I am hesisitant to put my money in the bank for the first time in my life.

With a serious recession looming, and the idiots in Congress grandstanding over bailing out (or rescuing?) the corporate stooges and thieves while the rest of us go without, I thought I would post a poem about something on a lot people' s minds (mine included) these days -- money. The power we give this necessary tool to rule our lives is incredibly sad at times. We worship billionaires and millionaires while also loathing them at the same time.

Yet we give money -- a man made creation -- its power through defining its worth and the worth of the people who have obtained it.

Still, even money has its limits -- it can't fend off death ultimately or buy true happiness or piece of mind.

Or maybe the Beatles had it right after all ... money can't buy you love ...

GP

***

MONEY

Money is irrelevant
until you don't have any
and the threat of bankruptcy looms.

Then it become a twisted obsession
choking off creativity.

Money is not creative.
It can be earned creatively
or you can buy
creative ventures and
creative freedom with money.

But money is an empty tool
except for the power and significance
we place on money.

Broke, busted and bankrupt
are a few of the ways we talk about
our money problems.

Rich, well off, well heeled
all refer those successful with money.
Their lives are supposed to be rich
with experiences and opportunities.
Yet money has not given these people more life,
wisdom, intelligence or prowess.

We do that through hyping the power of money.

The economics of language confounds us,
haunt us, and defines us.
No denying that.

Empty pockets remain empty pockets.
That hunger gives money its real power.

George Pappas
Copyright 2008

A View From the Santa Barbara Pier

Santa Barbara, Calif., is one of my favorite places. It is a literal paradise. Every few months I try to escape there to get away and focus on my writing and life.

I wrote this poem a long time ago while sitting on the Santa Barbara pier, but as with all joyful and beautiful places in this world even life intrudes.

GP

***

A VIEW FROM THE SANTA BARBARA PIER

Shadows and sunlight
flicker on the ocean surface,
creating strange dark figures.

An impressionist painting of oceanic bodies and faces.

The scene hints of something mysterious and
inexplicable underneath the calm ocean surface.
A nature ancient and unchanging.

Nothing it seems could break into this
prehistoric silence,
this portal into a past world.

Not the fleet of fishing and merchant boats
floating and clinging to the ocean
like forlorn lovers
or
the seagulls and pigeons
armies of feathers,
scavengers,
searching for food.

A jet skier,
in all his water splashing glory,
finally breaks the spell,
creating waves
with each aggressive throttle burst.

His machine's engine
howls
at the past,
at the calm,
at the majestic beauty
of the ocean and mountains
and drowns out the
steady quiet
of waves embracing the beach
and lapping and brushing against my soul.

Life is a lot like that jet skier,
disturbing my illusionary calm,
splashing my dreams,
churning me into turmoil
and engulfing me in waves of regret.

George Pappas
Copyright 2008

THIS ECONOMY IS SET ON STUPID

A few years ago, while I was visiting Santa Barbara, I saw a homeless man holding up a sign with the phrase "This Economy is Set on Stupid."

This week we truly found out just how prescient his message was as we watched in disbelief as our country's economic situation rapidly deteriorated into the worst near collapse since the depression.
How could this happen?
Very simple -- greed, rampant greed.
These past 8 years the Bush Administration was worse than drunken sailors on leave -- spending out of control...all the while unraveling the government oversight functions and safeguards and encouraging the banks to hand out loans to anyone regardless if they could handle the financial terms.
Didn't we learn anything from the depression? How could we remove bank regulations...and let Wall Street run rampant?

And now the government is handing out corporate bailouts while the rest of us do without.

Everywhere you look....unemployment, gas prices, layoffs...homelessness are on the rise....
everything but our incomes....

GP

***

THIS ECONOMY IS SET ON STUPID

The homeless and wayward
are everywhere in Santa Barbara

They walk across streets wearing blankets
creating tents on the sidewalks
to escape from the cold.

One homeless man held a sign that
read "Please help. This economy is set
on stupid."

The dark side of life never far from view
on the picturesque beaches.
Human forms huddled under blankets
in front of fashionable stores.

The city father's gentrification effort is not
complete.
They can't sweep these broken people under
the proverbial rug.

With gentrification comes alienation
and economic decimation.

Yes...the man was right.
This economy is set on stupid.

George Pappas
Copyright 2008