“Something’s always coming you can hear it in the ground
It swells into the air
With the rising, rising sound
And never comes but shakes the boards and rattles all the doors
What are we waiting for?”
– The Bravery, “Believe”
So I planned a post about why I am supporting Obama for President. Then it got too long. So I figured on making it a multi-part series (3 or 4 posts), but I think that was getting too long. So, I will start with the laundry list (incomplete as well) and focus on individual topics in subsequent posts.
Obama Gets The 21st Century. Look how he structured his highly successful campaign (that beat the heavily favored Hilary Clinton). It’s a textbook example of advanced Internet and social networking strategies.
- He has cut out the middle man and financed his campaign by going direct to the voters using the Internet. More on that below.
- He uses the Internet to give people tools to empower people to act and coordinate on their own. This isn’t an old-school command and control structure, but a highly distributed, highly adaptable system the can organize and coordinate millions of people.
Imagine what the man could do to transform government using 21st Century tools and strategies? Oh yeah, check out the next point…
Obama Sees Government as a Value Proposition, Not as a Solution. Look at Obama’s plans for a more transparent and efficient government and you see that he views government as needing to provide value to taxpayers. This is a very business perspective and far more effective and realistic than the conservative fantasies of extremely curtailed government. As recent events have shown and any junior high economics textbook will tell you, government has to play a role in society, us taxpayers just demand competence and protecting the public trust. Obama gets that.
Economic Growth Plan Focused on People and Infrastructure. It’s not like we need more proof that conservative ideas on economic growth are bankrupt (and can’t be bailed out if I push the metaphor any more.) Obama’s economic plan looks to grow from the middle rather than the top. That will address the growing income disparity between rich and poor that has widened during the Bush Administration and threatens the very fabric of this society.
To grow into the future, America needs to grow and foster its most basic and important element: Its people. We need the institutions and infrastructure to create a workforce that is better educated, more creative, and more adaptable. Otherwise the workforce will just be outsourced, leaving two classes in America locked in bitter warfare: the educated and rich, and the uneducated and poor.
He created a system where he is not beholden to anyone but to the voters. Obama’s approach of going retail rather than wholesale with campaign fundraising means that 93% of it’s donors gave $200 or less. He designed it that way because and he doesn’t have to answer to anyone except those who voted for him.
He Owns The Bully Pulpit. What many call the real power of the Presidency, Obama certainly has the skills to lead and inspire a nation. To wit: “Yes We Can”, DNC Acceptance Speech. Remember that speeches can move nations and more. The Gettysburg Address and FDR’s and JFK’s inaugural speeches; Reagan’s plea to “tear down that wall” all come to mind.
Obama Believes in the Intelligence of the American People. The prize example is Obama’s “Toward a More Perfect Union” speech where Obama spoke with frankness and honesty about the very real problems in race relations in America. Even Jon Stewart remarked on the date, citing it as the time “when a politician finally spoke to the American people as adults.”
The man has a steady hand. When McCain looked like he was trying to ignite a new cold war over the conflict between Georgia and Russia, Obama was trying to prevent one. As Obama consulted a crack economic team (Volcker, Rubin, and Summers) then came out with a thoughtful plan. Meanwhile, John McCain hastily called for the head of SEC Chairman and was roundly chastised for it.
Forget Experience, the Man is Just Right, a lot.
- In March, Obama called for more transparency in the financial services sector. (This speech too from 9/17/2007)
- He was against the Iraq War from the start. That was not only right but prescient.
- The timeline for withdrawal of US Forces from Iraq is pretty much what the Bush Administration is negotiating with the Iraqi Government, and what the Iraqi Government is demanding.
- Anyone else notice that the Bush Administration is negotiating with Iran. Wow, wonder where that idea came from? Remember: Nixon went to China. Even the Israelis and Palestinians talk sometimes.
Don’t Discount His Experience Too. Broad, Deep. Eight years as a State Senator. Four years as Senator. 12 years as a Constitutional Law Professor and Law Review Editor. And a Community Organizer, which means helping some of the most desperate people in our society rather then denigrating them.
Mr. Professor, Tell Me Again How You Defend the Constitution? Which happens to be the first duty of the President and most forgotten by the Bush Administration and many others since September 11.
- He will tip the scales back to protecting civil liberties after a dangerous overreaction that has lead to unprecedented and unconstitutional actions like domestic spying, torture, and suspension of basic rights like habeaus corpus.
He Blinded Me With Science. I might be in the minority, but I wholeheartedly embrace the return of the age of reason from the scholasticism of the Bush Administration. Does anyone imagine McCain, who picked the Pentecostal Palin, will have enough political capital to halt the prior Administration’s war on science?
Coming up: The Alternative Energy Apollo Program; Obama Knows We Need More Friends Than Enemies in the World; The War on Terror is a Fight for Hearts and Minds; and more…
Posted by pvonelling
Posted by pvonelling
Posted by pvonelling
