The conversations always begin the same way. A person on the street or at a job will spot my dark blue Obama '08 t-shirt and will feel a need to address it. The approach is often respectful, curious but reserved, interested but cautious. They want to know why I support him. Why is Obama causing a stir in the media? Why are the college kids fascinated with him? Is this an example of the Cult of Personality so clichéd over the years? Or, is there something else going on beneath the surface? People really want to know. As a long time supporter of the Senator, I feel the need to answer these observers. In this simple attempt, I might get it wrong. I might not understand what everyone else is thinking but I do know what is driving me. With humility and begging your patience, here is what I call the Audacity of Soap.
Piercing the night, gunshots rain out of the woods and fields in persistent attempts to thwart the British advance. How many lives were sacrificed in Revolutionary battles to obtain the God-given right to self-govern? Each son or daughter lost to that war did so for the far possibility that we might construct our own system of representative Democracy. Did they all die for the hope that we might build a system that doesn’t work? The splintered cogs of a warped construction were not the dream of those unrepresented by the old world. What they wanted was a new world, and with it a new leader kept in constant check by the firm opposition of free voices. They wanted an honest debate and a balance of powers. Eventually, those dreams were realized.
For two hundred years, each progressive generation added a new accent to the floor of Congress, a new perspective to the Senate and a wider vision for the country as a whole. For two hundred years, each conservative wall came tumbling down as blanket prejudices against Blacks, Catholics, Jews, Gays and Liberals were addressed and punctured with the spear of reason and compassion. No matter the fear or excuse, no matter the hesitation or doubt, nothing has ever been able to cool down the melting pot of our aspirations. We are dreamers, great dreamers who imagine splendid creations. We can’t help it really, we’re American. Our rise has not been one of tyranny but rather one of ingenuity. That persuasive desire towards inventiveness and social harmony continues today. It has never been hindered by the false ghosts of big brother’s intervention. It has even overcome the legal manipulations of loophole aristocracy. It is, in fact, bubbling up again, right now.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Baronius
Alex - Very well written.
2 - Dr Dreadful
I agree. At times I could almost hear Obama's voice speaking the words.
He could, in fact, do a lot worse than to hire Alex as a speechwriter.
3 - Jordan Richardson
Well said, Alex.
4 - Joanne Huspek
If only all it took was soap.
5 - Baritone
Hopefully, Obama will turn out to be "Mr. Clean."
B
6 - Dr Dreadful
Wow, what a furore that would start. Everyone knows Mr Clean is gay.
7 - Jet
?????????????????? I keep missing all those memos?
8 - Baritone
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
B
9 - Dr Dreadful
Oh, come on, Jet. Look at the guy.
Big bald musclebound dude with a white t-shirt and an ear piercing? Hangs out with women all the time?? Advertises cleaning products???
I mean, for crying out loud...
;-)
10 - Jordan Richardson
And most people know about the fling with Uncle Ben.
11 - Dan Miller
A very well written article, but I must confess that something seems to be missing.
There may well be, indeed there probably is, an emerging mood which favors change for the better from the old ways; not merely change, but change for the better. What I find missing is a basis for the implicit assertion that Senator Obama is likely to be an effective instrument of such change.
Senator Clinton clearly would not be; and Senator McCain, although a bit of a maverick is, at best, in the "Maybe?" category. That does not mean that Senator Obama is clearly in the "certainly" or even "probably" category.
I am prepared to be convinced that he is, but it hasn't happened yet.
Leaving aside notions that Democrats are Good and Republicans are Bad, and vice-versa, what is there about Senator Obama to convince us that he and a presumably compliant Democratic Congress are likely to restore the vitality and virtue of the United States?
Dan
12 - Jet
Ah yes... judgment by stereotype, even the most levelheaded of us seems to be guilty of it... if only in jest
13 - Jordan Richardson
Oh for crying out loud...
14 - Jet
Big... Musclebound... Ahnhald?
15 - Jet
(snif) (choke) Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
16 - Dave Nalle
Sorry, I don't get the title. I kept waiting for the over the top rhetoric to turn satirical and it never did.
>>We all want to live in a better world and now many of us are ready to start building it. <<
The problem here is that at least half of us think building a better world means NOT embracing the failed political ideals which Obama represents. Obama is practicing the classic bait and switch. Promise hope and platitudes but instead take away choices and opportunities. Too many have seen through it and cynicism IS the best form of self-defense. Obama is going to be rejected by the voters so hard that he bounces in November.
Dave
17 - Baritone
Oh, god Dave. You have no idea what the voters are going to do in November. Just as I've admitted that my outlandish predictions of an Obama landslide are no more than wishful thinking, you should reel in your enthusiasm, your wishful thinking and hold onto your butt.
It's going to be a bumpy ride.
(Hey, I managed to use two film quotes consecutively.)
B
18 - Dr Dreadful
Jet, he's a cartoon. Stereotyping pretty much goes with the territory.
19 - Jet
Dear God, I'm going to have to start labeling my jokes again...
20 - Lee Richards
Right now, to me Obama is like the musician who can play all the notes perfectly but has no musical heart and soul. (McCain can't find the tune.)
I hope for better, once we get out of the summer silly season and into some more meaningful debates and dialogues. Maybe then we'll see if Obama only fakes the notes or if he really can swing. (McCain CAN tap his foot to ABBA, I hear.)
Like some others have said, I may be voting for a running mate instead of the candidate this year. But I will be voting for change in congress.
21 - Baritone
It's hard for me to understand just what it is that most of you have come to expect from a presidential candidate.
Ghandi is dead and Jesus at last glimpse was no longer corporeal.
Sadly for true righties Reagan has also shuffled off his mortal coil. Although, I've heard tell that he might deign to return for another term if enough true believers will don hair shirts and crawl cross country on their knees to his grave, self flagellating all the way.
When was the last time ANY presidential candidate measured up to the unrealistic expectations of the electorate? While voters generally expect their candidates to be the embodiment of the second coming, the system which we perpetuate pretty much precludes the nomination of the best and brightest. At least Obama is articulate and has style. As Madison Avenue continually reminds us "image is everything."
I rather imagine that Obama will shred McCain in the debates, but that won't matter to most. McCain gets a pass no matter what he says or does cause he's a "straight talkin" GOB, and this country loves folksy, inarticulate doofuses in the White House.
B.
22 - Dan Miller
Baritone,
I think most us want a reliable father figure: someone whom we can really trust, who doesn't stray too far from the our ideological norms, remains constant and doesn't make vague promises we somehow don't quite believe. At the same time, most of us probably want someone who does not treat us as naive children. Unfortunately, Senator Obama does not seem to fit these perhaps unrealistic expectations.
Dan
23 - Jordan Richardson
So wouldn't a vote for John McCain be a little like voting for a tempermental, senile grandpappy?
24 - Dan Miller
Possibly. That's why his choice of running mate is so very important.
Dan
25 - Baritone
Dan,
I am not longing for a surrogate father in the White House. If your assessment is correct, that is really too bad for the country. Perhaps McCain can bolster his numbers if he were to send everyone a warm lap blanket and comfortable slippers with "McCain 2008" emblazoned on them. I know many felt Reagan fulfilled that image. I was always comforted and felt warm and runny inside upon seeing clips of Ronnie dozing off during meetings of his Cabinet or the Joint Chiefs, a few jelly beans rolling onto the floor from his slackened hand, and perhaps just the smallest bit of drool making its way down his strong Hollywood chin.
As to pols making "vague promises we don't quite believe," when was that ever NOT the case? Every politician, even the best of them, promise the moon and stars when campaigning. I haven't heard anything substantive coming from the McCain camp or the candidate himself. He has been no more specific, laid out no more in the way of nuts and bolts about anything than has Obama.
Frankly, I don't know what anyone would expect to hear from any candidate in their stump speeches. Getting into the details as to how various issues would be dealt with if elected would take time few of the candidates or their adoring audiences have; not to mention that delivering such information would be deadly dull. Further, McCain's WEB site offers no more than does Obama's in the way of details for anyone willing to take the time to read them.
Who was the last politician whom you really trusted? The unswerving drive and self-centeredness required of anyone running for office, especially the presidency, is rarely concomitant with that person really giving a rats ass about anything but themselves and their own aggrandizement. It's the nature of the beast.
And the fact is that your assessment of Obama is not shared by a large number of people - perhaps a plurality of voters come November. I happen to like the guy as do many others.
B