{"id":1313,"date":"2008-11-04T08:27:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-04T08:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:12:05","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:12:05","slug":"passing-the-torch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch.html","title":{"rendered":"Passing the Torch"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SRBP7P332vI\/AAAAAAAAB2c\/G5ojju7W01o\/s1600-h\/Obama+Kennedy.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:left;margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;width: 260px;height: 360px\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SRBP7P332vI\/AAAAAAAAB2c\/G5ojju7W01o\/s400\/Obama+Kennedy.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div>Well, the election is under way\u2026<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And if <a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/ap\/20081104\/ap_on_el_pr\/new_hampshire_first_votes\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dixville Notch<\/a> is any indicator, Barack Obama will be our next president.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>This is a fascinating time, an astonishing time; something I never thought would happen in my lifetime.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It certainly doesn\u2019t mean, as I keep hearing from certain talking heads and others, that the issue of race isn\u2019t still a cancer within our body politic. But, it is an amazing thing, nonetheless\u2026<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Let\u2019s say Barack Obama is our next president. He\u00a0will inherit a terrible mess. It is hard for me to picture how he will be able to accomplish much, even to stop the economic hemorrhage. The power of a president here is quite limited. And, of course, there are those wars out there, waiting decisive leadership, and no obvious way through.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>We may well be tottering at the edge of a world depression. I hope not. Desperately. But it is well within the realm of the possible.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It\u2019s easy to think, \u201cthey\u201d wait until its a complete mess, then they give a black guy the shot\u2026<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Of course, it\u2019s not that.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>We\u2019ve been brought here through the confluence of many things. It is an alignment of stars. It is the flow of karma.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And, here we are; we are at a change point for the American nation, and the world, as well\u2026<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A torch is being passed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And I find my breath catch\u2026<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-434585686711471543?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, the election is under way\u2026 And if Dixville Notch is any indicator, Barack Obama will be our next president. This is a fascinating time, an astonishing time; something I never thought would happen in my lifetime. It certainly doesn\u2019t mean, as I keep hearing from certain talking heads and others, that the issue of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Passing the Torch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Well, the election is under way...And if Dixville Notch is any indicator, Barack Obama will be our next president.This is a fascinating time, an\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Passing the Torch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Well, the election is under way...And if Dixville Notch is any indicator, Barack Obama will be our next president.This is a fascinating time, an\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-04T08:27:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:12:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SRBP7P332vI\/AAAAAAAAB2c\/G5ojju7W01o\/s400\/Obama+Kennedy.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch.html\",\"name\":\"Passing the Torch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-04T08:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:12:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"Well, the election is under way...And if Dixville Notch is any indicator, Barack Obama will be our next president.This is a fascinating time, an\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/11\/passing-the-torch.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Passing the Torch\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. 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