Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Another North Carolina Presidential Candidate by D.G. MARTIN Will a North Carolinian ever have a chance to be elected President of the United States? One of us, John Edwards, came close twice. But, as Duke and Carolina can attest, just making it to the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight does not make you a champion. North Carolina has not had a president it could claim since Andrew Johnson left of- fice in 1869. We claim Andrew Jackson, but most outsiders think that he was born across the line in South Carolina. James K. Polk was certainly born in our state, but he and the two others left North Carolina behind, settled in Tennessee, and called that state as home long before they made it to the White House. So, if we want to be honest about it, we are still looking for the first someone who calls North Carolina home to win the Presidency. I think we might have a candidate — or future candidate. You decide. Let me tell you about him in the context of what can make a great Presidential candidate. Whether you like Barack Obama or not, you probably agree that he was a superior Presidential candidate: great public speaker, effective fundraiser, likable, focused, comfortable with other cultures, successful writer and well connected. Let’s go down the list. Public speaking: After former Governor Jim Hunt heard our possible Presidential candidate speak, he wrote, “an exceptional public speaker ... an inspir- ing tour de force that concluded with a standing ovation.” About another speech, Barbara Rimer, dean of UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, said that he “electrified the audience. Never have I seen the kind of positive, visceral reaction … tears flowed freely.” Fundraising: The small non-profit that he co-founded to fund programs in a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, has grown to a million dollar a year operation, based large- ly on his smooth but aggressive efforts. One of his fundraising targets characterized him as “relentless.” Likable: Notwithstanding his intensity, almost everybody who has seen him in operation is bowled over by his charm. “He looks so nice,” one person told me after he had simply walked by her desk. Focused: He proved to be unwavering in the pursuit of his goal of building the Kenyan non-profit, when others, like me, would have given up many times. He is also adaptable and ready to make changes when obstacles come up. Comfortable with other cultures: As a college student studying the Kenyan slums, he not only visited places where few other people are willing to go, but for several months he lived with the residents of 10 x 10 foot shacks and talked to them in Swahili. His mother, like Obama’s mother, is an anthropologist. Maybe their moms had something to do with their shared respect for and knowledge of other cultures. Successful writer: Whether or not his new book, It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine’s Path to Peace, turns out to be as successful as Obama’s Dreams from My Father, it is in the same league. It is an impressive and moving memoir that is far and away better than what we expect to read from political candidates. Connected: On his current coast-to-coast book tour, he is making stops to see his friends at places like Google, the Gates Foundation, Target Headquarters, and the Soros Open Society Institute. Any presidential candidate would drool. Military: Obama had none. This potential North Carolina candidate served three very challenging overseas tours as a Marine Corps officer. Who is he? UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, Charlotte resident, and Duke Energy employee Rye Barcott. One problem about a Presidential campaign anytime soon: Born in 1979, he will not be old enough to run until the 2016 election. But I can wait. D.G. MARTIN, Columnist COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM APRIL 13-19, 2011 UCW 17