Reason #2 To Elect Barack Obama: His Ability To Unite

The second aspect of Barack’s candidacy I’d like to highlight is his unique ability to unite people, even those of different minds, around a common purpose. Look at the way he gets Independents and Republicans to vote for him, in numbers no other candidate does. Or the way whites and blacks vote for him in overwhelming numbers, and now he’s starting to win the Latinos’ vote too. Young people and old people vote for him. Church-goers and atheists alike vote and cheer for him. And in the face of the adoration of these thousands, he openly calls out to the skeptics and cynics and says, “Hey, we’re not done. We need you too.” Those are the words of a uniter. While Hillary Clinton was focused on securing her base of female and blue-collar voters, Barack was busy wooing the hearts and minds of Democrats, independents, Republicans, and cynics. Those are the actions of a uniter.

I would say it’s just political theater, or clever campaigning, but in his book, The Audacity of Hope, Barack describes using the very same techniques I myself use when employing my own talents of interpersonal communication and collaboration in my work as a project manager. Barack’s approach reminds me of that famous quote by Rumi: “Out beyond right and wrong, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” As I do, Barack anchors his relationships with others first in the common ground they share, and builds from there, always respecting and listening to differing points of view. Barack has the intellectual confidence to genuinely listen to an opposing viewpoint, and he is more interested in the quality of an idea than the political party of the person who expressed it.

Barack understands that lobbyists are people too and have a right to petition their elected officials, yet, as he said so eloquently in a speech, while “they deserve a seat at the table…they don’t get to buy all the chairs.”

Barack is willing to talk to world leaders that he doesn’t agree with, so that something positive can get accomplished. He is willing to abandon strategies that don’t work, such as our occupation of Iraq, while the administration (and candidate John McCain) will literally pay any price to avoid the appearance of defeat.

Barack understands that this election, in particular, is not about the candidates, but about the soul and character of our nation, and he knows that the future is to be written by all of us, together. That’s why he says, “We are the change we have been looking for.” He is bringing us all to the White House, and we are going to re-make this nation together.

This election is not about Barack Obama or John McCain. It is about us, the American people. It’s about who we are, what we stand for, how we represent ourselves to the world, what standards we hold for ourselves, whether we walk our talk when it comes to freedom, equality and prosperity for all.

What are we going to do about racism, poverty, war, genocide, famine and disease? Are we going to torture people we suspect of being, or know to be, terrorists in order to get information from them? Should the government finance stem cell research? What role, if any, should religion play in the government?

The Bush administration has led this country down a path of such conflict, unilateralism, and fracture by exploiting and exaggerating our fear of a new and different enemy, that we’ve lost sense of who we are, and we need to get it back.

In some ways, the philosophical divisions in our nation are very small. Two-thirds of Americans agree that George Bush is doing a lousy job as President. (http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm) But more broadly, most Americans believe in having robust national security, a vibrant economy, a modest or even limited role for government in our society and private lives, faithfulness to the fundamental principles of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and enjoying low levels of crime. We also share such values as freedom, equality, fairness, and opportunity, at least for all law-abiding, legal citizens.

But there are also some deep divisions in our nation: the balance of personal privacy versus national security, the role of government in religious initiatives, the place of prayer and “intelligent design” in our public schools, the morality of abortion and stem cell research, the legal recognition of same-sex marriages, what to do about illegal immigration, and how to save Social Security and Medicare before they force our country into bankruptcy.

As our nation heals from the domestic and foreign wreckage of the Bush administration, and tackles the daunting technological, environmental, ethical and national security questions facing us into the future, we need an intelligent, sensitive, confident leader with the intellectual and moral authority to inspire and guide the nation’s dialogue in constructive directions. I believe that Barack Obama is that kind of leader, and we desperately need his skill in this area. I may not always agree with Barack's decisions, but I'll know that he at least listened to me, took my views seriously, and I trust him to make the final decision.

Metaphorically speaking, George W. Bush got himself drunk, he and his friends went out and started several barroom brawls, and then they crashed the family car on their way home. It’s time to give the keys – the responsibility and the decision-making – back to a responsible adult. It can’t come soon enough.