From mainstream media commentators to General Colin Powell to rival John McCain – all give Barack Obama credit for “inspiring” people.
My own fascination brought me to take my youngest brother to Obama’s rally during the heat of the Democratic Primary when Obama stopped in Dallas. We waited for several hours to watch Obama speak for what seemed like 10 minutes.
Oddly enough, Dallas was the first stop that didn’t chant “Yes We Can.”
Being a political junkie myself, I wanted a rally sign. I set out to retrieve one. I found myself and an over weight woman being pressed against a brick wall with a volunteer screaming “you’re going to kill her” to the crowd that had pummeled us. Too little signs, too many fans.
Reform: 1.the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc.: social reform; spelling reform.
Change: 1.to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone: to change one’s name; to change one’s opinion; to change the course of history.
From Dictionary.com
There is a difference in the promise of a change versus the promise of a reform. First, a reform ticket acknowledges the good of the initial structure, and seeks to route out what has corrupted it. The promise of change simply says things will be different; possibly better, possibly worse, but definitely different. Change lacks specifics, reform seeks the goal of fixing the problems.
While reform includes some change, the basic promise differs, and this is evident in the two campaigns. The Obama campaign promises to be different than President Bush. Different how? In party affiliation, in political philosophy, a broad sweeping promise to not be ‘him’. However, the McCain campaign says through reform they’ll fix Washington. Washington is ‘broken’, but it is not inherently bad. The government structures of America are quite remarkable, however, with power comes corruption and the McCain/Palin ticket seeks to rectify problems of waste and corruption. The ‘reform mantle’ take a sliver of the ‘change argument’ and focus it on specifics. The idea of change is often appealing, but change can be good and it can be bad. Simply promising not to be ‘that guy’ is not concrete plan for what type of change one seeks.
David Brook’s excellent article The Two Obama’s does an excellent job laying out how Senator Obama talks reform and inspiration, but plays old school politics as well as anyone out there…
“God, Republicans are saps. They think that they’re running against some academic liberal who wouldn’t wear flag pins on his lapel, whose wife isn’t proud of America and who went to some liberationist church where the pastor damned his own country. They think they’re running against some naïve university-town dreamer, the second coming of Adlai Stevenson…”
“…But as recent weeks have made clear, Barack Obama is the most split-personality politician in the country today. On the one hand, there is Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce urgency of now. But then on the other side, there’s Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes…”
Brooks goes on to explain Obama’s history of old school politics. That he is smart and calculating, and has laid out a path for himself that any old-school Chigago politician would be proud of…
“…Back when he was in the Illinois State Senate, Dr. Barack could have taken positions on politically uncomfortable issues. But Fast Eddie Obama voted “present” nearly 130 times. From time to time, he threw his voting power under the truck.
Dr. Barack said he could no more disown the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than disown his own grandmother. Then the political costs of Rev. Wright escalated and Fast Eddie Obama threw Wright under the truck.
Dr. Barack could have been a workhorse senator. But primary candidates don’t do tough votes, so Fast Eddie Obama threw the workhorse duties under the truck.
Dr. Barack could have changed the way presidential campaigning works. John McCain offered to have a series of extended town-hall meetings around the country. But favored candidates don’t go in for unscripted free-range conversations. Fast Eddie Obama threw the new-politics mantra under the truck.
And then on Thursday, Fast Eddie Obama had his finest hour. Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue. He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He’s spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system.
Just a small reminder that if Barack Obama wants to scream about “a third term for George Bush,” The McCain Campaign should link Senator Obama to something much scarier.
The Obama campaign sent out an email this afternoon requesting donations…
A few days ago, Barack spoke about the frustrations that working people in this country are feeling and said what we all know is true: that many people are bitter and angry because they believe their government isn’t listening to them.
You and I both know that the hope of changing that reality is what drives the unprecedented support for this campaign from ordinary people in every part of the country.
But our opponents have been spinning the media and peddling fake outrage around the clock. John McCain’s campaign, which will continue the George Bush economic policies that have devastated the middle class, called Barack out of touch and elitist. And Hillary Clinton, who is the candidate who said lobbyists represent real people, didn’t just echo the Republican candidate’s talking points: she actually used the very same words to pile on with more attacks.
They talk about spin, that’s a pretty impressive piece of spin right there. Senator Obama did not say, ‘bitter and angry because they believe their government isn’t listening to them.’ He said, “it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” So his campaign email stating that they are persuing “the hope of changing that reality” isn’t comforting. Exactly how do they plan on changing ‘bitter Middle America’, and does ‘bitter Middle America’ really wants Obama-style changes. He may not like President Bush’s economic policies, but I don’t hear too many small towners requesting the tax hike that would come with a repeal of the Bush tax cuts. Instead of blaming his competition for his demeaning remarks, maybe instead he should realize if you’re being criticized from the left and the right that maybe your remarks were genuinely offensive.
The controversy about Senator Obama and his pastor is a difficult topic. Ironically there is very little that is black and white about race issues in the United States. Initially Senator Obama’s speech regarding his pastor seemed passable.While some reported it as a remarkable historic speech on race, something remained unsettling about the speech and the incident as a whole.The previous article “Obama’s Jeremiah Wright Problem” by acrediblepresident (see below) put correctly idetified that problem as ‘hate’.When hate and religion mix it has created some of the worst tradgedies in human history.While no one thinks that an epic tradgedy will emerge from the preachings of Senator Obama’s church, there’s a need to call it like it is.When churches on either the right or the left used their pulpit after 9/11 to preach hate or further a political agenda, it was incredibly calous and decidedly un-Christian.
This is not an issue that is resolved for Senator Obama and his candidacy, or for the voters.The cue from his speech that sparked doubts was his comparison of his grandmother to Pastor Wright.For those who have or had a grandmother that they loved, even if she was prone to making politically incorrect remarks will have difficulty seeing these two cases as comparable.Also, Senator Obama’s invocation of Geraldine Ferraro was decidedly political and didn’t connect with the rest of his speech.Neither is a tragic flaw, but brings into question the purpose and the sincerity of his speech.Also noted in acrediblepresident’s article there is still little known about Senator Obama.He has capitalized on his excellent speeking ability, but given the people very little content.The task now is on him to show who he really is beyond the promise of hope and change.This glimpse into his religious life still gives many of us an uneasy feeling, and he needs to explain why hateful speech is okay for some, but not for others.
I read this morning that Ann Coulter would rather support Hillary Clinton than John McCain, and my reaction was ‘that’s fine with me.’ I don’t mind Ann Coulter abandoning the Republican nominee, not because she’s a conservative, but because she is often mean-spirited. One doesn’t have to be Liberal to think her attacks on the 9/11 widows were nasty and unnecessary. This just highlights the fact that protests of late about John McCain aren’t coming from pure conservatives, they’re coming from angry conservatives. They’re coming from many of the radio talk personalities that belittle people with opposing opinions. However, John McCain’s potential nomination is not a sign that Republican are turning away conservative politics, it’s a sign that they are turning away from the bitter partisanship that has fueled political discourse over the last two decades. The remark from Ann Coulter points to the fact that there are people both are the far right and the far left that feed off of this nastiness that has come with the successive presidencies of Bush/Clinton/Bush possibly Clinton again. A vote for John McCain doesn’t betray conservative ideals, it’s a vote for changing the tone in Washington. John McCain’s appeal to Independents stems from the fact that he’s respectful with people who disagree with him, and I think that’s a change that should be welcomed in Washington regardless of ones political leanings.
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