Howard Zinn at Busboys and Poets

Howard Zinn made an appearance at Busboys and Poets on Tuesday night. This is a very bad photo I took through the window on my way out.

He was in town raising funds for a movie he is doing based on his most famous book, A People's History of the United States. (I got a signed copy while I was there, very exciting.)

He spent most of his time speaking about the current political situation and reminding us that Obama is a politician – more intelligent and thoughtful a politician than we have seen in a while, but a politician nonetheless.

Our job, as Zinn sees it, is to push Obama. We don’t need just another liberal democrat in office. Going back to the Clinton years is not good enough. Our entire system is collapsing and we need people who think in a whole new way.

He reminded us that Obama said that he did not just want to end the Iraq war, but he wanted to get us out of the mindset that got us into the war. Zinn says we must get out of the mindset that got us into this financial crisis as well.

And to all the people who say we should give Obama a break and understand that he is walking a fine line and that he would antagonize certain people if he pushed to far? Zinn says some people need to be antagonized. You don’t worry about antagonizing slaveholders when fighting against slavery.

My favorite quote of the night was one he shared that was actually from Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was running for his second term and had already pissed off a lot of business interests with his social programs. Talking about the wealthy people who were pissed off he said "they are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred." We could use some of that attitude now.