Obama: “A More Perfect Union”
I disagree with lots and lots of Obama’s proposed policies - especially his foreign policies. But his language is superb - something that radical democrats need to learn from and use if we are to build a truly transformative movement. Here’s Obama talking about race, religion, unity and contradictions in America. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a mainstream politician - let alone someone running for president - talk in this way. Certainly not someone who could be our next president. To win we must first learn how to communicate our values to all of America.
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I think your support for Obama, while reasoned, is astonishingly naive. To solidify a movement of the masses is not simply a matter of getting your language in front of them. It is a step; a step that is already achieved by his running. Support for his candidacy based on this premise, however, is support for a candidate who is not right policy wise for this country. Obama is young, inexperienced and exactly what you purport to appose - established politics. He is the compromise candidate that Republicans want. As a progressive, that should actually scare you.
Julia:
I’m not sure what you mean by “support”. If by “support” you mean that he’s my perfect candidate, then of course the answer is no: I don’t support him, nor do I support most of his policies. If by “support” you mean, do I want him in the White House, more than I want John McCain or Hillary Clinton, then the answer is yes, I do want him there more than I want McCain or Clinton.
I think the Left has a major problem: we blames liberals for the Left’s own inadequacies. I refuse to do that.
I won’t criticize a liberal departure from Republican hegemony simply because the Left didn’t organize itself to be strong enough to enact a leftist departure from Republican hegemony. I will, of course, criticize Obama, and anyone else, on policies which I think are backwards - which are numerous. I have pointed out such disagreements above, and elsewhere on my website.
So why am I highlighting Obama? Do I think he’s some liberal savior who will lead us to Paradise? Nope, just the opposite. What I am doing is highlighting how much of a political and strategic genius he is, as well as a charismatic leader and orator. I would do the same thing were Ronald Reagan in office today as a president. We, as leftists should want to become more strategic, and learn from those we can learn from. I point out other Republican - and Democratic Party - figures throughout my site that I think are brilliant strategists, orators, linguists, or politicians. Frank Luntz, Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and Karl Rove for example.
This doesn’t dilute my politics, or end goals, which quite clearly outlined on this site, are for the complete social transformation of society’s core institutions - getting rid of capitalism, authoritarian forms of government, attaining a sustainable relationship to the environment and international relationships of solidarity, and achieving racial, gender, and sexual justice and liberation.
Who doesn’t want to learn from your opponents in an effort to become a better organizer? What’s wrong with that?
Anyway, thats what I’m trying to highlight when I talk about Barack Obama.
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