This diary is a response to the an excellent diary by shpilk on yesterday’s rec list entitled "Obama and the Great Disappointment," where I wrote an obscenely long comment that was suggested should be a diary instead. The diary has in turn become absurdly long, but it is deep and heartfelt, so I will be very appreciative of those brave souls who push on through to the end. Here we go.
I agree with the majority of the author’s comments (especially with his/her thesis that we shouldn’t be lessening our support for Obama due to his recent "moves" on important issues). But I disagree fundamentally with the author’s thesis that Obama is a "centrist democrat" whose recent policy "moves," while alarming, shouldn’t be so distressing because it increases the likelihood that a) Obama will win the election, and b) that the democrats will run up big margins in the down-ticket elections, providing him large majorities in Congress with which to work.
Follow me over the thread for more...
shpilk writes:
So, unlike others who were dazzled by the rhetoric of hope, not understanding the nature of the man who spoke the words, I've moved on and accepted that we have a putative centrist nominee, who sits smack dab in the middle of existing Democratic views in the Senate. In fact, unlike many here I get to bask in hope, because I see a very strong Democrat who will pull huge numbers in the House and help win Senate seats, while others here sound like they've given up.
I think Obama will be much more progressive as President than he is as a candidate, because he will be working with a Democratic House and Senate.
Ironic, isn't it? This "way to the left" Kossack, [yours truly] is not alarmed with what is happening within the Obama campaign. I never bought into the line that Barack Obama was anything other than a centrist Democrat. I see movement towards the center of the complete spectrum, so as to gain some traction and put pressure on McCain, who still hasn't figured out what he is. By taking the moderate stances, Obama is forcing McCain further to the right.
The author seems to be saying, "look, Obama is really not that great of a candidate. He’s certainly not progressive and he’s really a sort of unimpressive centrist democrat. But hey, I at least recognized it beforehand, so I’m not too disappointed about it now. Did you really think that you could get a truly progressive president? It was rather silly for the rest of you to get your hopes up like that. Anyway, the good news is that by moving to the center, Obama is ruining McCain’s lines of attack, meaning that Obama will most certainly win the election and we’ll have strong success down the ticket as well. Then we can expect to have some pretty progressive politics for once, since President Obama, centrist democrat or not, will be governing with strong majorities in the House and Senate."
I take issue with this whole train of thought. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been drinking much Kool-Aid, but I’m just not ready yet to dispense with the great hope that our chosen candidate really is the tremendous transformative leader we took him to be during the primary season. It has been distressing to me, and no doubt to others as well, to see the tide here at Kos turn so rapidly against Obama, especially given that Kos was once the unofficial headquarters for Obamania on the web. How I long for the good old days when people here were truly excited about their candidate, when photodiaries of the latest massive Obama rally daily graced the recommended list, when we stayed up for all hours waiting for the last returns to come in from the straggling counties, when we counted and recounted every last delegate, when our momentum marched across a country, when we shocked a nation...
As much as I hate to let all these warm memories go and fade into the past so quickly, I could fathom it, accept it and move on if I really thought that Obama had done something to compromise his core principles over the last few months. All good things must come to an end after all, and weren’t we warned incessantly before by all the skeptics and doubters that this day of disillusionment would inevitably come? Painful though it would be, I would accept this fate, nurture my emotional woundedness and move on content to give him my vote, but no more, in order to defeat the greater of two evils. I would do all this if Obama had really turned his back on his principles and on a truly progressive agenda...
BUT HE HASN’T.
My thesis here is that the "Great Disappointment" (which is clever way to phrase the latest reaction around here), should really be renamed the "Great Misunderstanding." For, as far as I can tell, the origin of our present funk isn’t so much the fact that we are finally waking up to the depressing reality that Obama is really nothing but your old, typical spineless democrat (an unfortunate, but familiar and perhaps tolerable creature) as the fact that we have mistaken the precise breed of transformative and inspired candidate that Obama really is. We had thought that he was one kind of awesome leader, but he is actually another kind. And the strangest truth of all is that Obama himself was entirely clear about this from the beginning. He has not changed his positions or "moved to the center" through all this, but has merely fleshed out in greater detail the principles that have animated his entire campaign, starting from the beginning.
The real question is why we have been taken by such surprise by all of this, given that Obama has been clear about it from the start. I think what we are really trying to ask is "Who is Barack Obama and what does he stand for?" Is he just a centrist democrat running for the middle now that the General Election has begun? I will argue (hopefully conclusively) in the following that he is not. Is he a transformational, once-in-a-generation candidate who will decisively alter the course of politics in this country? I will argue that he is. HOWEVER, Obama is not a "change" candidate in the Kossian sense that he supports your whole laundry list of progressive policy positions. Rather, Obama is a change candidate in a generational sense, meaning that it is his stated intention to end, once and for all, that species of politics, which has been standard operating procedure in Washington since Nixon, which is dominated by partisan bickering, the exploitation of fear and division for political point-scoring, and the subversion of the common good by the special and partisan interest. Finally, it’s worth noting in all of this that Obama has been very clear that these are the principles on which he has built his campaign (and I sense that most of us enthusiastically support them) so there is a degree in which the onus for the recent disappointment/misunderstanding falls on us. We must strive to be better listeners.
Putting past blame aside now, let’s get down to business. What we really want to know now is "Who is this guy Barack Obama? Where is he coming from? What are his core value and what’s at the center of his candidacy?" Despite the fact that he’s been running for the highest office for approximately 19 months now, there’s still a perception among many that the answers to these questions are wrapped in a dense cloud of mystery, perhaps destined to remain there for all posterity. Who is Barack Obama? Nobody seems to know...
Ok, ok. In order answer these pressing questions, I will use as my references five major speeches that Obama has during his time in the public spotlight. These are as follows:
- The 2004 Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention
- His inaugural campaign speech in Springfield, Ill in January 2007 when he announced his candidacy for POTUS
- His victory speech following the Iowa Caucuses on 1/3/08
- The famous "Yes We Can" speech following his defeat in New Hampshire on
- His nomination clinching speech in St. Paul, MN on 6/3/08 which also marked the beginning of his general election campaign
(All speeches can be found here at the Obama website.)
Think of this as something of a "Greatest Hits" compilation by Barack Obama. Of course, there would certainly be some policy speeches in such a compilation (especially his moving "Perfecting the Union" speech on race that he gave in Philadelphia in April) but for now we want to limit ourselves to his general speeches. We are not yet ready for delving into his stances on specific issues, since we’re still trying to figure out in a basic way who this guy is and where he’s coming from.
This selection of speeches is also nice because it illustrates that Obama’s general worldview, ideas, narrative, and policy positions have remained remarkably consistent over this period of time. Ideologically, you will see that the 2004 Illinois State Senator (candidate for US Senate) Barack Obama sounds much like the January 2007 Barack Obama who announces he is running for POTUS, who in turn sounds almost identical to the Barack Obama of the famous 2008 Primaries, who in turn is much the same as, yes, the Barack Obama of the 2008 General Election campaign.
I really suggest that everybody watch the videos from these speeches by following the links above. The speeches themselves speak more strongly for Obama’s sincerity, passion, and genius as a political leader and an agent of change than any second hand analysis ever could. But it requires a little over an hour to do and there is still some critical listening and interpretation to be done in order to pull all the threads together into a coherent picture that finally answers the question who Obama is. So, I encourage to watch the videos yourselves, but the following will be my best attempt at a Cliff’s Notes version these speeches meant to answer the questions "Who is Barack Obama, where is he coming from, and what does he stand for?" In particular, I will provide a guide to Obama’s overall worldview, which sees politics as an almost transcendent or metaphysical affair.
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There are two central premises that lie at the core of Obama’s metaphysical beliefs regarding America, her politics, and his personal role in them. The first is general. Obama adheres to a particular understanding of America’s promise, the importance of politics and the public sphere, and the meaning of American history. Beyond this general portrait, however, Obama seems to recognize that the forces operating within himself are in some sense reflections of those greater forces that operate beyond himself in the sphere of American society. Because Obama is able to reconcile and integrate the divergent forces in both his psyche and heritage by recognizing their implicit unity, thereby awakening a powerful force for the common good in the process, he is therefore well suited to lead a similar transformation of America. Obama can be a great leader for America because in some sense he has already healed America within himself. (I told you we would be getting metaphysical!) Let’s examine Obama’s metaphysical understanding of America first, before we move on to the deeper issue of how it is reflected in him.
The important point here is that Obama has a specific understanding of 1) the unique promise of America, 2) the forces that degrade this promise and lead to the decay of society, and 3) the forces that counter the decay and lead to the rebirth and reinvigoration of our society. All of this can be further reduced to a simple ontological assumption – that "we are one" – which is either expressing itself in a pure or diluted form in any given moment of America history. This brings us to the final point that America history can be seen as the unfolding competition between these competing forces – i.e. the force that recognizes unity and the spirit of the common good vs. the force that exploits division and degrades society. There are particular crucial moments in our long unfolding history when the nation reaches a critical crossroads and the citizens are forced to choose between coming together by recognizing their implicit unity and standing up to confront common threats or else face further degradation (and presumably ultimately destruction) by letting their petty divisions drive them apart endlessly. We are currently standing at one of those crucial moments in the crossroads of American history.
Okay, let’s get specific now. What exactly does Obama see as the promise of America? In the above speeches, he gives two different but complimentary responses to this question. In his 2004 speech, our first real introduction to Obama on the national stage, he tells us this about America:
Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation — not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy.
Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
That is the true genius of America — a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles:
- That we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm.
- That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door.
- That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe.
- That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted at least, most of the time.
He tells us here that America is not made great because of its power ("the height of our skyscrapers, power of our military or size of our economy"). No, America is a great nation because it is the place where "simple dreams" and "small miracles" are nurtured and enabled.
(The part about the votes counting "most of the time" is obviously a humorous dig at the 2000 Florida results which left his Democratic audience bitter – and no doubt still does! But notice that he doesn’t advocate dwelling on it and building our hatred over it. He mentions the situation, addresses it so it can breathe, but brings it up in a lighthearted way, as "water under the bridge," so that we can even laugh about it, release our negativity and move on. This is characteristic for Obama. Don’t expect him to endlessly fight old battles from the past (think FISA!). That’s simply not what he’s about).
So now we have the idea that America is made great because it’s a place where our "simple dreams" can be lived out and where "small miracles" take place everyday. Sounds hopeful doesn’t it? In essence, America is great because it’s the land of hope and opportunity.
But America is great for another reason as well. In Springfield, while announcing his bid for President, Obama tells us something else about the inherent promise of America:
The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed (my emphasis). And we should take heart, because we've changed this country before. In the face of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King's call to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more - and it is time for our generation to answer that call.
For that is our unyielding faith - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.
Here we are introduced to the additional notion that America’s promise lies in the fact that our forefathers designed a system of government such that "We The People" can change it. Although there’s great opportunity in that promise, there’s also a bit of challenge. What if we change it the wrong way? What if we fail where our forefathers had succeeded in previous times of trouble? Obama seems to recognize the element of challenge bestowed to us by our founding fathers ("it is time for our generation to answer the call"). And yet, instead of cowering with fear that we might do the wrong thing, Obama seems confident that Americans can and do rise to the occasion when great, decisive action is required. It is one of our traits as Americans: "For that is our unyielding faith – that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it."
To review, for Obama the promise of America is that it is: 1) a land of "small miracles" where people can live out their "simple dreams," and 2) a nation constructed in such a way that, when the time is right, the people themselves who love their country can change it to meet the challenge of the times.
Is there a connection between these two views of America? There is, but we have to move further to find it.
It’s time now to discuss Obama’s ontological contention that we as Americans are truly one people and that the commonalities that unite us are much stronger than the differences that appear to separate us. I’m not showing you anything new by referring to the now-famous lines from his 2004 speech:
Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes.
Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian
America — there’s the United States of America.
The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too:
We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States.
We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States.
There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.
We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope?
We are one people. Let’s think about that for a moment because sometimes its as hard for those of us on the "progressive" end of the spectrum to really embrace it as those on the conservative side. The small town rural farmers who consistently vote republican, the evangelicals, the Wall St. executives that support corporate dominance, those remaining whites in the south and elsewhere that still won’t vote for a black man no matter what his policies are – we are one with them. Can you say that and truly mean it? That’s what Obama is saying, and it’s radical. He’s saying that despite all of the differences we have with the other side, and though "we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, we are Americans first. We are always Americans first" (St. Paul speech). We are one.
But there’s more going on in these lines than just the radical assertion that we are one before we are many. He also talks about the "spin masters" and "negative ad peddlers," and finally he asks us a critical question: "Do we participate in a politics of cynicism... or a politics of hope?"
What does cynicism mean for Obama? And hope? He’s always talking about hope! But what does he really mean by it? Let’s start by looking at "cynicism" and all that isn’t hope first, for then it will be clearer why Obama sees such importance in hope.
In a critical passage of his Springfield speech, Obama addresses the issue of cynicism (i.e. the opposite of hope) and its effects on society with particular clarity:
All of us know what those challenges are today - a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren't learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges. We've heard them. We've talked about them for years.
What's stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.
For the last six years we've been told that our mounting debts don't matter, we've been told that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion, we've been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we've been told that our crises are somebody else's fault. We're distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or immigrants.
And as people have looked away in disillusionment and frustration, we know what's filled the void. The cynics, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we're here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It's time to turn the page.
In this important passage, Obama mentions a few of his standard litany of current problems facing the government but then tells us that the reason we haven’t been able to solve these issues isn’t for lack of good ideas, but rather because of "the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems."
This point is absolutely essential for understanding Obama. The downfall of America is that we’re too easily divided. A culture of petty political point scoring takes root where the spirit of the common good should prevail. We’re all one, right? This is true, but somehow we become too easily distracted. Rather than worrying about the issues that actually matter – how we’re going to fix the pressing problems facing our generation – we become obsessed with point scoring, bickering, who said what about who on cable television. As political junkies, we know how it goes don’t we? And then what happens when the spirit of unity is shattered and the public sphere stops working for the common good? It’s obvious that only one thing can happen: the common interest gets replaced by the partisan or special interest. At that point government starts working for "the cynics and the lobbyists and the special interests" who are the only ones who can afford to play the political game. And what follows from that? Simple issues that face the collective – global warming, health care, the Iraq War, the economy – aren’t dealt with appropriately. Nobody is standing up for all of us. What we are left with is some people standing up for some of us. The result is that no work gets accomplished on the obvious tasks sitting in front of our face, and the problem grows deeper and deeper and deeper... For Obama, this is the depressing truth about how Washington turns sour, and more generally how the spirit of the nation is degraded and America begins to fail on its basic promise to enable the realization of our "simple dreams." Agree with it or don’t agree with it, but that’s how he sees it.
So what do we do about the situation? How do we restore the promise of America and make good on the challenge bestowed to us by our founding fathers when they gave to us, the people, the ability to alter the course of the country? This is where hope comes in. For Obama, hope, the all-important word in his vocabulary and worldview, is the force that allows us to realize that no matter how bad things are, or how impossible the odds, we can always look forward to tomorrow with a hint of optimism. This optimism isn’t the naïve kind which ignores problems until they become overwhelming, but rather the kind of optimism that recognizes that no matter how bad things are, we always have the ability to renew our lives, to find our dignity, and to face our challenges head on. Hope is nothing other than our simple dreams themselves. It is the dream to go to college and to create a better life for your children than was provided for you. It is the belief that in the direst of situations, we can pull together and meet our common threats with the strength of unity rather than the weakness of division. It is that which restores our common purpose, built on the foundation of our inherent unity, and infuses our institutions, government, and public sphere with the living waters that they require in order to live and thrive. Hope is energy that ensures that America will capitalize on its great promise as the land of the free. Listen to Obama say it in his own words:
In 2004:
For alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga. A belief that we’re all connected as one people.
If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child.
If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent.
If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
It is that fundamental belief, it is that fundamental belief, I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work.
It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.
In Iowa this year in his Caucus-night victory speech:
Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment - this was the place - where America remembered what it means to hope.
For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about hope.
But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.
Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill; a young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.
Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq; who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.
Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.
Hope-hope-is what led me here today - with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.
In Springfield, at the beginning of his campaign, before anyone knew that Obama would be breaking all known fundraising records by running a grassroots-financed campaign (helped significantly by the voices and enthusiasm of this community), he said:
That is why this campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us - it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice - to push us forward when we're doing right, and to let us know when we're not. This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.
Do you see what’s going on here? For Obama, hope is fundamentally the power that restores America. We are all one, as he has pointed out. But when we do fall prey to cynicism and doubt, fear and division, and our institutions begin to decay as a result and the common good is neglected, it is only hope that can bail us out. So there are two senses of hope here. The first exists on an individual or family level, where we appreciate the "small miracles" that are afforded to us by a free society that enables us to live out our "simple dreams" for ourselves, our future and our families. It gives us the courage to move on when times are tough and we rest assured that if we need a helping hand from a neighbor, that hand will most assuredly be there, because "In our country, I have found that...behind all the false labels and false divisions and categories that define us, beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes" (St. Paul speech).
But there is another, much deeper, and much more profound meaning of hope also. Hope is a powerful force even on the individual level, but when it is activated in a consistent way throughout the general populace, then America begins to rise up for her highest ideals and to make good on the challenge left to us by the founding fathers to continue in the endless task of "perfecting the union." Hope thus awakened on the collective level is the force that has enabled America to triumph in the most difficult of situations: in the Civil War and the battle to preserve the union and free the slaves, in the struggle for Civil Rights, in World War II in the battle liberate Europe and secure the safety of democracy on Earth. You’ve heard it before:
In Springfield, Obama invoked Lincoln (not surprisingly):
That's what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and South, slave and free. It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life, continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people - as Americans.
In St. Paul, just last month, he spelled out this theory of history even more clearly:
And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again.
So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union, and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.
So it was for the greatest generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity.
So it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines, the women who shattered glass ceilings, the children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom's cause.
So it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that's better and kinder and more just.
But the critical point for Obama is that NOW is one of those moments. Now is a moment when we are awakening the power of hope within the general populace. Now is when that power will override the cynics and skeptics who seen to exploit our division for personal gain. Now is when we will rise up as a nation and finally confront the obvious and pressing issues facing our country: global warming, poverty, failing schools, the Iraq War, and economic policy that works for Wall St. but not Main St. Thus, he continues his speech in St. Paul, in what will likely be recalled as an epic oratorical moment years from now:
America, this is our moment. This is our time, our time to turn the page on the policies of the past...
Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face, our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.
The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge -- I face this challenge with profound humility and knowledge of my own limitations, but I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people.
Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that, generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless...
This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal...
This was the moment when we ended a war, and secured our nation, and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.
This was the moment, this was the time when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals.
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Okay, ok. So this diary is already way too long. But it should be entirely clear now that much of our anger over FISA is misplaced. I’m not telling anyone to shut up. I’m pointing out FISA really doesn’t occupy a central position in his world. Obama’s "caving" on FISA does NOT mean that he is a "centrist" democrat, in the traditional sense of the word. It should be abundantly clear by now that Obama is seeking to single-handedly end the old order of politics as it’s been practiced in Washington for several decades now. And you call him a centrist? You say he’s not progressive enough? What do you mean by that exactly? Does that mean he’s not angry enough about the failures of the Bush administration (which he has railed consistently and which for him seems to represent the ultimate example of the kind of government dysfunction that ensues when the spirit of hope is snuffed out in America)?
Listen, as a professor of constitutional law and as a politician who is very aware of the many abuses of power by the Bush administration (not just warrantless wiretapping or seizure of personal information!) Obama is very determined to set the record straight, to launch an investigation into what the situation and to restore appropriate balance to the executive branch when he assumes office. He will do this just as he will try to restore many other facets of our institutions after a long period of (sometimes literally) criminal neglect.
But please, for heavens sake, don’t let your anger over this one issue blind you to the tremendous opportunity that is being offered to us by an Obama presidency. I’ve taken the time to write all of this to show you that, while Obama fully intends to fix the FISA situation when he takes office, filibustering for FISA is just not a central piece of Obama’s overall vision for America. You know how it is. What do we do on this website and in the wider collection of progressive political netroots organizations? One thing we do is we set up our various pet issues, most of which are too far left to have any realistic chance of passing in Congress, and then we use that request of ours, which may be politically unreasonable given the actual reality of the overall political spectrum and state of Congress, to measure who the "real" progressives are, and then we accuse the rest of the democrats as being spineless simply because they didn’t buckle to our demands, which in sense were a kind of political blackmail in the first place.
I have news for everyone. Obama’s recent response to the FISA situation shows that he truly listens to his constituents and hears their concerns. But it also shows that he won’t buckle to all of our demands and he won’t hesitate making decisions that he knows will be unpopular among some constituents. Would you really want it any other way? Would you prefer that this candidate for President listen only to his most loudest and most fervent supporters when making decisions? How do you think that makes other citizens feel who are not necessarily possessed by the same progressive impulses as we are?
Part of what the Daily Kos website was established to do was to help build a progressive movement that would "turn the nation blue." Here we finally have a democratic POTUS candidate that is truly running a 50-state operation and is coming the closest to realizing that goal as anyone ever has. But we must step back and realize something: the dream to turn the entire country into passionate progressives such as ourselves is fundamentally unrealistic. It is unrealistic as similar dreams from the right to turn the whole country into evangelical Christians. The bottom line is that we are a subgroup in this country, and we always will be. That’s not to decry our state or our importance – indeed, if we have learned anything over the darkness of the last eight years it’s that progressives are vital to the healthy political functioning of this country. The tide is indeed turning back to rationality, and we have played a major role in that. But if you think the 50-state strategy can operate on the premise of trying to turn everyone everywhere else in America into people that think like us and support the same partisan legislation as we do, then I’m afraid I have to urge you to wake up from your fantasy. A true progressive agenda (progressive here is used in the sense of "making progress" or moving things forward), which Obama is running on, recognizes that the way to truly move our country forward is not by forcing everybody to run to the left, but by changing the terms of the debate so that we can all come to basic agreements about the common challenges that confront us. The harder we push to left, the harder the conservatives will push to right, and not surprising, little positive advance is made in such a situation. We should know this by now. There is ample evidence from the last few decades to support its truth.
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I hope that this little tour through Obama’s worldview as revealed by his major speeches will clear up much of this Great Misunderstanding. Obama will indeed usher in a new political age. He is indeed a once-in-a-generation kind of candidate. But he will do so by trying to reawaken the spirit of hope, which in his book acts to awaken our sensitivities so that we can see beyond our differences and come together in unity to confront our common challenges. It may not be the exact agenda you were looking for. You may have preferred a candidate that would have supported entirely your entire laundry list of progressive positions. But I truly hope you can see that it’s still pretty darn good. I would even say it’s better than the other option, not only because Obama’s plan actually seems to have a realistic chance of working (I wouldn’t hold my breath until Kucinich becomes President for instance), but more importantly because it is actually the correct way forward for us as a people.
We really are all Americans first, and in my opinion, Obama is right to suggest that the bonds that unite us are stronger than those that push us apart. He is right that the way forward is to shake off our cynicism and rekindle the spirit that says that "we can disagree without being disagreeable" and that we really can join hands to confront together the challenges confronting us as a society. And though I ran out of space to talk about it fully, if Obama, who is a living, breathing embodiment of our differences can reconcile these contradictions within himself, if America, through the spirit of hope which allows us the small miracle of realizing our simple dreams, can offer him an opportunity, based on his merits, to rise through the top universities and to the highest position in this nation, then surely we can do the same thing on the collective level.
That is what Obama has staked his candidacy on – reawakening the spirit of hope and reinvigorating our nations and institutions with its power – and if you haven’t noticed yet, with the increased voter turn out throughout the country, the re-enfranchisement of many who were overlooked, the rise of a massive campaign organization that runs offices in all 50 states and is funded mostly through small checks made by millions of ordinary donors, it’s actually beginning to happen.
So I’ll close with just a final plea. Make what you will of the FISA situation (or anything else that has upset you), but please don’t miss the point here. Don’t throw away your support because of your anger on this one issue. Take a step back. See the big picture. Look at what Obama has stood for throughout the campaign. Watch the speeches. The bottom line is he really is a remarkable public servant. He is sharp, aware of history, has an unusually accurate perception of the deeper truths lying within people and behind situations. He is humble, but he is a strong leader who is not afraid to make difficult decisions (despite what the media will tell you). And we do stand in a critical time. This election is too important to take for granted. He will win it if we work for it, if we don’t become complacent about it, but there are no guarantees. The most dangerous thing to do now would be to lose focus, to become complacent, to be swayed by the media narratives instead of the true story.
We here on Daily Kos were among the leaders of Obama’s successful primary campaign. Our enthusiasm reverberated throughout the country and led to one of the most shocking upsets of recent electoral history. It’s time to wake up again. It’s time to rekindle that. Obama goes out there every day and gives his best because he knows what the American people are capable of when they stop being distracted by petty bickering and distractions. He knows that we can heal this nation and for a while we here at Kos embraced that agenda wholeheartedly. Don’t throw everything away because of a single disagreement. As a politician, he needs some room to maneuver on specifics. In his 2007 speech, he said his goal was to end the war by March 2008. It didn’t happen obviously. But does that change his overall desire to end the war as quickly as we can do it in a safe manner? No. Maneuvering happens but his overall platform and the spirit of his campaign does not and will not. Given his remarkable consistency on this overall vision and platform throughout the years, we can feel quite confident that President Obama will operate from the same perspective that has guided state senator Obama, and U.S. Senator Obama.
The time to rise up is now. Our destiny awaits us. The individuals of this community must once again become leaders in the movement to elect Barack Obama. There’s no time to waste. Who’s with me?