Barack Obama promised to run a different kind of campaign. No more mudslinging, said he. The high road will be taken at every opportunity, because the American people are tired of partisan bickering. He stood stalwart and defiant when right-wing extremists labeled him as a Muslim; when they claimed that his wife was a anti-Patriotic wacko; when they said that he was too black, or not black enough.
Then, somewhere along the line, Barack Obama lost his balls.
I suppose the point in which the balls were lost could be specifically pointed to when Obama officially won the Democratic nomination - when he no longer had to compete with Hillary Clinton who at least drove him to the left of the road.
The problem isn't that Obama has been taking the high-road lately, or even that he's been taking the low-road. Obama's has been taking the middle of the road in more ways than one. He awkwardly maintains that he's running a new kind of campaign while discretely slamming McCain. He accuses McCain of supporting Bush's failed foreign policies, but goes around making very McCain-esque statements about Iran that are a not-so-subtle way of saying "I'm open to invade them". He accuses McCain of being funded by lobbyists, but his campaign is funded by the same big-money Democratic supporters that funded Kerry and Gore's campaigns before him - big corporations that don't have America's interests at heart, only their stockholders'.
He's immediately swerved to the center of the road on several policy issues, evidently seeing it more beneficiary to dig into the independent/liberal republican base than solidify his Democratic base, or, better yet, solidify his principles in a way that modern politicians haven't done in years.
But perhaps worst of all, he's started to run what I call, and excuse my language, a pussy campaign. It's the same campaign that Kerry ran in 2004, and it's the same campaign that Gore ran in 2000. He lowers his dignity by weakly defending himself against mud thrown by the McCain camp - because, have no doubt, the McCain camp is going to throw HYDROGEN bombs at Obama by November - fight fire with fire! America doesn't want a high-road president if it means that everything he believes in is doing to be desecrated! They want a president who'll stand up for his beliefs, a president with balls!
This sense of disgust fermented in me for the last few months, experienced a sharp increase at the farce that was the "Religion Forum", which was thinly-veiled, nationally-televised begging from both candidates to get the Evangelical vote that seems to be having so much influence this year. Finally, I believe, a dam broke after reading Michael Moore's article in this month's Rolling Stone, where a long-brewing sense of denial snapped inside me. Barack Obama was supposed to be the one president in my lifetime I vote FOR, as opposed to voting against someone else. He was supposed to evoke memories Kennedy and Roosevelt. And look at what his advisers have turned him into - they've turned him into a wimpy Democrat that lost us the election twice against George W. Bush, the worst president in the history of our nation.
Here's a very poignant piece of dialogue from The West Wing, in which President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) does something quite similar to what Obama is doing now, except for the fact that Bartlet moves to the center after he wins the presidency. He's about to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice to replace Crouch, who's retiring. He decides on a very safe choice that would be very easy to get through Congress instead of Mendoza, a much more liberal judge who would provide a difficult nomination process in the opposition Congress. This quote is between Crouch, the retiring Justice, and President Bartlet, as Crouch explains his disdain for what President Bartlet has been doing lately, including his decision to go with the more moderate nominee.
BARTLET
You’re too young to retire, Joseph.
CROUCH
[laughs] You’re an excellent liar, Mr. President.
BARTLET
[chuckling] Yes sir.
CROUCH
You’re gonna go with Harrison?
BARTLET
He’s on the short list.
CROUCH
Yeah?
BARTLET
Yeah.
CROUCH
With how many other names?
BARTLET
We’ll make our announcement on Thursday.
CROUCH
You’ve decided on Harrison.
BARTLET
I haven’t made a decision yet, Joseph.
CROUCH
You’ve made the call. [beat] Did you even consider Mendoza?
BARTLET
Mendoza was on the short list.
CROUCH
Mendoza was on the short list so you can show you had an Hispanic on the short list.
BARTLET
That’s not true, Joseph.
CROUCH
You ran great guns in the campaign. It was an insurgency, boy, a sight to see. And then
you drove to the middle of the road the moment after you took the oath. Just the middle
of the road. Nothing but a long line painted yellow.
BARTLET
Excuse me, sir...
CROUCH
I wanted to retire five years ago. But I waited for a Democrat. I wanted a Democrat.
Hmm! And instead I got you.
[later in the episode]
BARTLET
I suppose we should get out there.
CROUCH
Not yet, sir.
BARTLET
I’m sorry Joseph, but I am...
CROUCH
I’ve served on this bench for 38 years. I took my seat the year you began college.
I believe I’ve earned the right to say a word.
BARTLET
You’ve said quite a few words.
CROUCH
Not enough.
BARTLET
Let’s get out there.
CROUCH
Take the next few days with your staff, and give Mendoza the consideration he deserves.
BARTLET
Joseph, when the next seat opens up, I promise you...
CROUCH
When the next seat opens up, you’ll be writing your memoirs.
BARTLET
In three years, I would hope to be running for reel...
CROUCH
You’re gonna get beat in three years.
BARTLET
That’s a little pessimistic, Joseph.
CROUCH
American voters like guts. And Republicans have got them. In the three years, one of them
is gonna beat you.
BARTLET
You know I imagine the view from your largely unscrutinized place in history must be very
different from mine. But I remind you sir, that I have the following things to negotiate:
an opposition Congress, special interests with power beyond belief, and a bitchy media.
CROUCH
So did Harry Truman.
BARTLET
Well, I am not Harry Truman.
CROUCH
Mr. Bartlet, you needn’t point out that fact.
BARTLET
[beat] It’s "Dr. Bartlet," your honor. Now, let’s go start your retirement.
President Bartlet, at the time of the episode, was unpopular due to his perception of being weak. His staff finally decided on a strategy: "Let Bartlet be Bartlet". Bartlet himself was a Nobel laureate in economics, as well as a very principled person. Well, my friends, I want Obama to be elected, and I want him to be the next great Democratic president. So, I propose a strategy.
Let Obama be Obama.