Jan
21
Day 1
Filed Under Politics | 16 Comments
Day 1
I heard a lot of pundits speaking yesterday on how historic the inauguration was, how we were collectively witnessing history and other such sentiments. I agree that yesterday was a wonderful milestone for civil rights in this country, but I have a fervent hope that President Obama will not be remembered by our great-grandchildren as the first African-American US President. January 20, 2009 should not simply be the answer to question #10 on a 5th grade social studies quiz.
I hope that future generations will remember this presidency for what it will accomplish, for setting us on a trajectory of peace and prosperity that was unmatched in human history, for engaging and inspiring a new generation of leaders, for fostering a culture of service, for ushering in unparalleled access and transparency of government, for ensuring that every person has affordable access to quality healthcare, for solving our climate and poverty crisis, for building the world’s most effective primary and secondary educational system, and yes for closing the loop on 300 years of racial inequality and strife. The President can obviously not do this alone, the power of the government is (thankfully) limited and scope of our problems is unbounded; however, he can inspire us to achieve all of this and more.
President Obama’s new job will be to identify what needs to be done and motivate the American people to take action. The genius of this presidency is that nothing now seems out of reach. If, given the current state of race relations and politics, Obama was able to pull together and motivate an organization that was able to get an African-American elected president, are these other goals really unachievable? Who can deny the implausibility of what he achieved? Who can say that the other challenges facing us are more entrenched or difficult to navigate than what has already been accomplished? I cannot.
I can no longer bury my head in the sand and say that the problems facing us are too difficult to solve and therefore should be ignored. Barack Obama has proven that anything is possible, let’s help expand his chapter in the history books. Today is Day 1 of the Obama administration and we all have the opportunity and responsibility to ensure that yesterday’s event ends up as a footnote to history.
Jun
18
Eloquence Matters
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
This evening, I watched the replay of Tim Russert’s memorial service on MSNBC. There were many laughs during the course of the service, and several times that I was brought to the point of tears. This surprised me because while I certainly was a fan of Russert, I did not know him personally and never even met the man. Never the less, the passion and love that the speakers felt for Russert came across in powerfully in their eloquent eulogies.
Pondering on the power of eloquent speech to invoke emotion made me immediately think about the charge that Hillary Clinton and John McCain have tried to create that Barack Obama is all speech and no substance. This naïve and simplistic characterization of Obama is a microcosm of the fundamental issue at stake in American public policy. The simple fact is that the American people have, over the course of the last four decades, surrendered the reins of our participatory democracy to multi-national corporations who fund propaganda campaigns that we call American politics.
At this turning point in history, we desperately need a visionary leader who can leverage the power of honesty, intelligence and eloquence to evoke the emotion necessary to get the American people out from behind their TVs and into the public square to discourse with each other on what type of role this country will have in shaping our own future and the future of the world.
It is important to remember that the world was at an equally precipitous point 68 years ago today; three days after Paris fell to the Germans, Winston Churchill grasped that moment in history to address the House of Commons, the English people and the world:
“What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”
Listen to an exerpt from Churchill’s “Finest Hour” Speech (1.4mb)
Churchill’s eloquence at this moment of crisis for the world, changed the course of human events. I hope that our country can rise above the base emotions of hate and fear to elect an equally eloquent leader that can ignite the fundamental fairness, spirit and energy of the American people in a way that would make Tim Russert proud.
Apr
23
Open Letter to the Obama Campaign:
After a disappointing ten point loss in Pennsylvania and a lackluster speech this evening, I believe that Senator Obama needs a new strategy to simplify his message and present it in a way that everyone can understand the difference between his candidacy and Senator Clintons. Two points he needs to make:
- The economy is bad, lost jobs, weak dollar, huge national debt and mortgage crisis that is affecting the financial markets.
- The war is bad, people dying, reducing our ability to get Bin Laden and costing us billions of dollars that could have been used to solve (or would have prevented financial crisis) instead these billions go to large corporations.
Politicians have been manipulating the american people with fear tactics to keep our attention away from these two issues, but the fact remains that we are where we are because of special interests in politics.
Explain in no uncertain terms that the fundamental issue with our government is that in order to get elected and stay elected that you need to raise millions of dollars to run your campaign. The easiest way to get access to this kind of money is to use the lobbyists to find/organize campaign donors. Because of this the politicians that take this special interest money must then act to the benefit of the special interest or risk losing that donation for their next campaign.
The DIFFERENCE between Obama and Clinton is not lapel pins or nuances of the healthcare plan, but where the money to run her campaign came from and how that will affect her judgement to do something right for the american people or something that benefits the campaign donor. Because Obama has a donation base of 20MM people, large corporations will not have any special influence on an Obama presidency, and hopefully the clear mandate that he will be elected on will allow him to enact sweeping campaign finance reform as well.
Finally, make the connection that once we take the large corporate money out of politics, there will be no reason/benefit for legislators on either side of the aisle (with the exception of corruption) to enact laws that benefit corporations over the general people. That freedom will then allow the government to fix healthcare, education, the mortgage crisis and yes even the war.
So simply follow the money. It is unfortunate but people need a common enemy, the enemy in this case should be Large Corporations that take jobs out of the country and who pour money into lobbyists and special interests in order to bias the tax code and other laws/policies. Tell people in detail how the money of politics effects legislation (really tell people how bad it is). The best part about this, is that the same arguments will also work against McCain, so in essence you will be showcasing to Democrats that may have doubts about Obama’s electability a blueprint to beat McCain in the fall.
I know that Obama has been talking about these issues, but he speaks of them at a 50,000 foot level. He needs to connect the dots (follow the money issue to the individuals pocket) and show how big business is the enemy we need to be paying attention to.
Eddie
p.s. One more thing, either get rid of the Teleprompter or practice it more, your starting to come off a little robotic.
Apr
6
As I mentioned previously, I have been supporting Obama for president since reading Audacity of Hope. However, after seeing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright videos that have been circulating on cable TV and YouTube, I started to question Sen. Obama’s judgment and the veracity of what he wrote in his book. I can’t say that my feelings were strong enough to change my decision to vote for Obama, but I began to consider that he might not be electable.
Not for a moment did I ever consider that Rev. Wright was anything other than the angry black man preaching villainy and hate that the media portrayed him as. Today, however, I came across this video that shows one of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons in context. Based on the viewing of this video, I came to two conclusions:
- Rev. Write is an intelligent and thoughtful pastor who is trying to inform and enlighten his congregation in a positive and constructive way.
- I am a racist.
I reached the conclusion that I am racist because I am not gullible person and I have always been skeptical of the media and their need to sensationalize issues, so I should have taken all of the Rev. Write coverage with a grain of salt (but I didn’t). It so easily fit into my narrow world view of what a black minister in Chicago would be preaching that I accepted the validity of it without question. Being a middle-aged white man living in Cincinnati with no first hand experience with the black church (or any church for that matter) I should have deferred judgment and sought more information, but instead I judged Rev. Write’s character and I questioned Sen. Obama’s judgment. I should have been looking in the mirror assessing my own prejudices and evaluating my own contribution to society.
After lifting the veil of my racism and seeing the sermon in context, I was a little frustrated that Obama has not defended his pastor in more uncertain terms, or at least pointed out the issue of context to media outlets. However, after thinking through the politics of the situation, I don’t believe it is possible for Obama to defend those comments without destroying his campaign. The simple fact is that most people will never see the full sermons in context and any defense of the statements would undoubtedly provide the tools necessary for his opponents to portray him as sympathetic to the out-of-context statements.
This latent racism that lies just below the surface of even the most progressive of us has not only forced Barack to distance himself and his family from Rev. Write, but has also permanently stained the reputation of a patriotic, eloquent and compassionate man.
Rev. Jeremiah Write, I am sorry to have pre-judged you, and I would be honored to know you in any context.
Mar
13
At the beginning of the year I was pretty much settled on voting for Clinton in the 2008 presidential race. I was one of many that were awed by Obama’s 2004 keynote speech but I didn’t know enough about him to sway me from the safe choice (Clinton). However, I was so intrigued with Obama’s success in Iowa that I took the time to read the Audacity of Hope. It took me 9 hours to pour through and the moment I set the book down I fired up my laptop and made a donation to the Obama Campaign.
As Obama gained ground and then pulled away from Clinton, I was dismayed to see the Clinton campaign resort to the “kitchen sink strategy.” A strategy that I perceived as a last ditch attempt to make Obama unelectable, in the hope that the super delegates will be forced to throw their support to her. The Clinton campaign then broke out Karl Rove’s media and communication playbook to sell the kitchen sink.
These Clinton tactics have so jaded my opinion of what she and her campaign are willing to do to gain the nomination that I have cynically concluded that the flap caused by Geraldine Ferraro was not accidental. It all started with a controversial comment:
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” – Geraldine Ferraro
Many people believe that she was implying that Obama has achieved his current success because of affirmative action or because white americans feel guilty about their internal race conflicts, and had finally found a black candidate that was “safe” enough for them to prove that they are not really racist. I however, saw in her actions, signs that point to a much more sinister and Machiavellian plan.
Is it possible that Ferraro specifically planted this quote; a quote that, while not blatantly racist, was certainly on the edge and would assuredly raise controversy in the media? Ferraro is a smart woman and an experienced politician, she should have (and I argue that she did) know exactly how her words would be interpreted, and how that would play out in the media.
I think that Ferraro purposely planted the quote in the hopes that the Obama campaign would attack her on the issue of race. They didn’t quite take the bait – Obama called the comments divisive and patently absurd, but that didn’t stop Ferraro from appearing on morning talks shows and claiming that Obama was attacking her as a racist. It was a perfect platform to paint Obama as an unfair aggressor attacking the Matriarch of the democratic party (who has a 30 year record of supporting civil rights).
Watching the whole incident evolve, I couldn’t help but draw the conclusion that it was all staged to publicly sacrifice Ferraro in order to evoke a defensive reaction from white voters. When Clinton finally got around to asking Ferraro to step down, Ferraro took the opportunity to fire a final shot in her departure email (which was, of course, immediately released to the press).
“Dear Hillary, I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what’s at stake in this campaign. The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won’t let that happen. Thank you for everything you’ve done and continue to do to make this a better world for my children and grandchildren. You have my deep admiration and respect, Gerry”
I hope that I am wrong, I hope that Ferraro is just a product of a generation that is less sensitive to the nuance of how words and ideas are being used in the media today to spin agendas, create conflict and divide our nation. I also hope that Hillary had nothing to do with planning or approving this activity and that her lack of urgency with regard to dealing with it had more to do with her respect of Ferraro than her desire to let the firestorm of controversy build to a crescendo.
I hope all these things, but I no longer have the audacity to hope that Senator Clinton is listening to her conscious nor that she is willing to do what is in the best interest of the Democratic Party and the Country.