A Prayer Circle for Obama

Clinton's comments to the Argus today, about the assassination of RFK, took me back to the Obama rally in Des Moines Tuesday night.  Standing on an outdoor stairway above the stage, I had to get out of the way of the SWAT team as they ran up the stairs.  They were in fatigues, or all-black, with their pants tucked into their boots and hair in moussed spikes, carrying long guns.  They joined the police officers and Secret Service agents who were already spread out above the site of the speech, and in droves around the stage. I both hated to see them, and was glad they were there.

The thought that the hatred that abounds in any campaign could result in murder is disturbing.  But for Obama, it feels as though the risk is greater--because of race, the false Muslim rumors associating him with terrorism, and the fuel that the Clinton campaign keeps adding to this smoldering threat.  To them, I say:  Not this time.  

What can an ordinary person do in response?  

There are practical things--We can reach out to our friends and neighbors to correct false information.  We can follow the lead of Obama himself in spreading his inclusive message of hope and change, and refusing to return in kind the viciousness that will flow from the rightwing fringe. We can shame them in our communities through letters to the editor. We can be alert at his rallies to things or people that seem out of place.

But I feel the need to do more.  Which brings me to the title of this diary.  I invite you to join me in a prayer circle for Obama.  Some of us are religious and some are not.  I don't think it matters whether you light a candle in your church, add Obama to your prayers or meditations, or simply hold him in the light in your mind's eye and wish him well.  However you choose to do it, please join me in surrounding Barack Obama with all the positive energy you can summon to the task, and wishing him safe travels.  

Let us pray.