What it is ain't exactly clear. But it's something unusual.
It's not too difficult to understand the appeal of Barack Obama. He's consciously appealing to people to be part of a great work, calling up the Civil Rights movement, the fight against fascism, the abolition of slavery - calling people to be part of something bigger than themselves, getting rid of that paralysing imposition of impotence that politics uses to dominate and dictate. In that sense, even 'Yes we can' makes sense - because, of course, the response for years has been that "you can't change anything". "You can't fight City Hall."
So it's fascinating. The video linked above, of 7000 students marching down a highway to protest attempts to disenfranchise Black students - is a signal that there's something happening that just isn't making the radar of the political debate. We know about the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters during the last two elections, but there never seemed to be a real grass roots direct action opposition that was going to be effective in fighting back. Now, there seems to have been something unleashed.
Like most folks, I can't believe that Obama will get elected. Or that if he's elected, he'll not sell out hugely. Or that if he doesn't sell out, that he'll not be assassinated. But there does seem to be just the hint of a possibility that the talk of a movement might just have a kernel of possibilities. And it's in those thousands marching down the highway, that the kernel might just be germinating to burst out.
