Some Positive Politics Stories
And they’re all about the same candidate: Obama.
I’m not quite a starry-eyed romantic, but maybe I’m a bit of an idealist, so these stories appeal to be immensely. They’re all links to Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish blog, where he often posts excerpts from reader emails. And they’re amazing.
I’ll start with a comment from Yemen, part of a series of posts relating views from abroad. The clincher is this line:
After my haircut was nearing an end - a nearly 60 minute process - Mohammed said that “if a black man can become President, then maybe the story of America isn’t a lie after all.”
America is not perfect, but it did used to stand for something that was good to a lot of people both here and abroad.
The next three posts are from readers in the US.
First, on the attractiveness of a president Obama — to Republicans. The readers says:
And then came the loss of privacy. Where once there was the beiief in live and let live, there was now a strange curiosity on the part of the government, to peer into the most private parts of our lives. Where once was a party with a rather sunny disposition came one that was dark, glowering and saw the future as a threat … a place to be fortified … where dreams had to be put aside to allow in, the harsh realities of our times. I wanted to dream again. I wanted to crawl out of the cave that that day in September drove us to. I want to fly my flag not for our fallen soldiers but for our ideals again, I want to befriend my neighbors, be they black or white, gay or straight, Catholic, Muslim, Christian, or Jew.
This is noteworthy to me on many levels. First, the acknowledgement about the lost of privacy: that Republicans don’t see it as “what’s wrong with spying if you don’t have anything to hide?” Second, the reminder that a decent person of any political stripe would naturally want to get to know his neighbors and be part of the broader — and diverse — community. Lastly, the reminder that just because they voted R doesn’t mean they’re corrupt or uneducated.
The next post is one person’s experience at an Obama speech in Maine:
Just when we were ready to turn back, we were told that Barack would speak to us outside, and would do so FIRST.
So imagine a scene like the stump speeches only read about in books, people jostling on snowbanks, climbing fences, trees, even each other in the calm cold that was Maine yesterday to hear and see Barack, for only a few minutes. And did he deliver. …
Anyone who will do this in a state with a population likely to vote for Hillary, a tiny, white, poor, lost in the back woods near Canada population, and for those foolish enough to show up “late”, is someone who clearly gives a damn. He was comfortable with a chaotic situation, worked it to his advantage on the fly, and did it with grace and aplomb.
That’s not the guy you want to have beer with. That’s a leader, whom you want to follow.
Another story was about an experience at the Maine caucus, which drew huge crowds and which shows Obama’s game-changing influence.
I think many people who have claimed blind loyalty to the Republican or Democratic parties have seen what acting like sheep has gotten us, and we’re done with it. If it’s Clinton and McCain, we’ll still be voting for the other offices on the ballot, but the presidential one will remain blank.
This statement reflects what I’ve felt since the middle of the Clinton years and what I think a lot of straight party-line D and R voters are feeling this year. Our two major parties are cesspits of corruption, media-pandering, conscienceless vote-trading, and beauracracy without principle. (For the Bushies these epithets should go without saying, and just look at the lack of corrective action on the part of the go-along, get-along Democratic majority in Congress.)
Finally, one of Sullivan’s readers wrote on why, as a working-class independent, she’s voting Obama:
Is it any wonder that so many of us could latch onto a message that resonates with authenticity, a message that speaks to a better America, a message of hope? Is it any wonder that Obama shines like a beacon in the face of so much darkness? We have been eight long years in a cesspool of waste, fear-mongering, lies, and criminal profiteering from ill-concieved economic and fiscal policy. This republican administration cannot end soon enough…
This final article holds both the seeds of hope and of failure for Obama as a president. Many of her quarrels are with the state of the economy:
My American dream was sold to the lowest bidder (China), given to the cheapest available laborers (Latinos), and used to run-up corporate profits at the expense of hundreds of thousands just like me. And George tells us how “strong” the U.S. economy is. Well George, not out here in the wasteland of American manufacturing. …
I think the real failure here is that the Bush League didn’t manage to keep the economy up just enough to keep the working stiffs marginally happy. Too much spending on things like defense, too many program cuts on things like social welfare, and too many tax cuts for the rich. The wrong kinds of economic stimulus. And I don’t think Obama’s going to do anything much to change our overseas trade balance or the immigrant situation. Obama’s a first-generation American on one side of his family, after all.
I’m sick to death of hearing how… if we want to succeed in this country we need to embrace the new “global economy”…
Unfortunately, “globalization” is here to stay. We’re not going to ground the planes, disconnect the Internet, and stop international trade. And nor should we. But we could reorganize our priorities along greater social and economic justice lines. Reign in the influence of corporations and sovereignty-threatening trade organizations like the WTO. Create progressive import tax structures that favor trade in goods that are sustainable, fairly traded, sweatshop-free.
But these kinds of policies are difficult to enact in the current intensely right-leaning political and economic environment. (See also: universal health care, gay rights, etc.) I don’t think Obama — whatever his influence and charisma — will have the political capital to enact these kinds of changes wholesale. Piecemeal maybe. But his position on healthcare policy suggests to me that he’s a pragmatist, not an idealist or an activist. (But the GOP is already gearing up to tar him as an extreme leftist “liberal,” which is their idea of a bad name.)
All of these first-hand stories are really heartening to me. They reflect a sea change in the attitudes of a lot of Americans about politics and politicians. They show that a lot of people understand how debased our politics and society have become, and that a lot of people want to rally around someone who will let them “dream again” and “fly their flags for our ideals again.” I find these stories really moving because they confirm for me that we’re not completely lost to those debased politics, that change can happen, and that, sometimes, it’s good to be an idealist.
