Fundamentally, I can relate to Barack. He feels real…honest…human. Which means he’s imperfect too…I’m concerned, for example, about how he intends to pay for his somewhat extravagant economic plan, and even more seriously, if and how at the same time he intends to address our nation’s budget and debt crisis, with Social Security and Medicare about to break the bank and some hard choices for us ahead.
But while Barack may not be the perfect candidate, there is no such thing, and he is absolutely, far and above, the best candidate in the field.
I urge you to believe again…in yourself, in our nation, and in our future. Hope alone may not bring home the bacon, but you’ll never get any bacon without it.
Imagine interviewing for a job without hope. Imagine getting married without hope. Imagine raising a child without hope. Imagine making a sales call, or starting a business, without hope. Imagine sending three astronauts to the moon for the first time without hope. Imagine the progress of the civil rights movement without hope. Imagine defeating the Nazis and the spread of fascism without hope. Imagine the day after 9/11 without hope. Imagine going from the stock crash of 1929 to the Marshall Plan of 1947 – a journey from poverty to global rebuilder – without hope. Imagine constructing the national highway system without hope. Imagine inventing an airplane and flying it across the ocean without hope. Imagine waging a defiant and risky Revolutionary War against mighty King George III, and birthing a nation founded on untested ideas, without hope. All of these things are impossible without hope.
Yes, we’ve been disappointed before. Yes, we’ve been cheated before. Yes, we’ve been lied to before. And nobody can promise it won’t happen again. But whenever you are disappointed, cheated, or lied to, what gets you going again?
Hope!
Hope does.
Hope gets you going again.
That positive and uplifting faith that we have in ourselves and in our future no matter what the circumstances – what we call hope – that is the fuel that fires and sustains our nation’s engines of innovation, prosperity, equality, freedom, and fidelity to our principles.
After being disappointed, cheated, and lied to for eight long years by the Bush administration, Barack Obama is that long-sought flame of hope that lights us up again, that reminds us that we are a great people, with great potential, and that together we can rise again and shine the bright light of America far and wide. Yes, we can!
Vote for Barack Obama. Long live our Republic.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Reason #4 To Elect Barack Obama: His Sincerity
Fourthly, I support Barack Obama for President because I believe in his sincerity. I believe in his sincerity because the man has been consistent in presenting who he is and what he stands for throughout his presidential campaign. He has said repeatedly that he is about hope, about uniting people around a common purpose, about changing and elevating the political discourse, about setting higher standards for ourselves in relation to our world and its troubles.
You may say that his message has been so consistent because his campaign has always been pretty successful the way it is; he hasn’t been forced to tweak it. If so, then that speaks to the value and appropriateness of his message to the American people. He speaks, and we respond. That says a lot about this being the right guy for us.
But I would also point out that as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton changed places in the delegate chase in the primaries, Barack’s message remained consistent, when he was down and when he was up.
Now I fully support a politician’s right to change his or her mind about a particular policy or position as new facts come in (which is different than changing your stripes according to political expediency), but I admire Barack’s consistency in who he is and what he stands for. Barack says to us, “This is who I am, this is what I stand for, this is what you’ll get.” It’s a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, the same proposition that Joe Biden offered that made him my first choice for President before he dropped out of the primary race as a presidential candidate.
Well, I like who you are, Barack, and what you stand for, and I want more.
You may say that his message has been so consistent because his campaign has always been pretty successful the way it is; he hasn’t been forced to tweak it. If so, then that speaks to the value and appropriateness of his message to the American people. He speaks, and we respond. That says a lot about this being the right guy for us.
But I would also point out that as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton changed places in the delegate chase in the primaries, Barack’s message remained consistent, when he was down and when he was up.
Now I fully support a politician’s right to change his or her mind about a particular policy or position as new facts come in (which is different than changing your stripes according to political expediency), but I admire Barack’s consistency in who he is and what he stands for. Barack says to us, “This is who I am, this is what I stand for, this is what you’ll get.” It’s a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, the same proposition that Joe Biden offered that made him my first choice for President before he dropped out of the primary race as a presidential candidate.
Well, I like who you are, Barack, and what you stand for, and I want more.
Reason #3 To Elect Barack Obama: His Political Pragmatism
The third aspect of Barack Obama’s candidacy that I want to address is his political pragmatism. This is not a quality often ascribed to Barack…he is often characterized as a blue-sky visionary, or less charitably, a dreamer or a promise-maker. But in fact, I find Barack to be very politically pragmatic, which means that he does have what it takes to get important things done in this country. Why do I say this?
The very ability Barack has to listen to multiple points of view and integrate them into a better idea, as he describes doing repeatedly in The Audacity of Hope, demonstrates a meaningful level of realistic, grounded pragmatism. You cannot listen to others and make compromises without this level of pragmatism.
He understands that everyone deserves to be heard, that even lobbyists deserve a seat at the table, and that passing a decent piece of legislation is better than doing without a perfect piece of legislation.
And in his book, he freely and openly discusses the regrets and wrong turns of his life, from his occasions of drug use in his youth to the burning resentment of his lonely wife during his early political campaigns. Most politicians try to hide this stuff as if it never happened, but that is fantasyland and contrary to real pragmatism.
Barack is pragmatic enough to own his life, to take responsibility for it, and to frankly share it with others so that he may communicate effectively and perhaps, benefit both himself and the listener through the exchange.
The very ability Barack has to listen to multiple points of view and integrate them into a better idea, as he describes doing repeatedly in The Audacity of Hope, demonstrates a meaningful level of realistic, grounded pragmatism. You cannot listen to others and make compromises without this level of pragmatism.
He understands that everyone deserves to be heard, that even lobbyists deserve a seat at the table, and that passing a decent piece of legislation is better than doing without a perfect piece of legislation.
And in his book, he freely and openly discusses the regrets and wrong turns of his life, from his occasions of drug use in his youth to the burning resentment of his lonely wife during his early political campaigns. Most politicians try to hide this stuff as if it never happened, but that is fantasyland and contrary to real pragmatism.
Barack is pragmatic enough to own his life, to take responsibility for it, and to frankly share it with others so that he may communicate effectively and perhaps, benefit both himself and the listener through the exchange.
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.
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.
Reason #1 To Elect Barack Obama: His Inspiring Vision
First of all, Barack brings us hope. His mesmerizing vision and charisma have motivated me and millions of others to believe again – in ourselves, in our leaders, in our future and potential as a people, and perhaps most importantly, in our ability to take back our nation from the war-makers, the fear-mongers, and the religious zealots. He has inspired us to believe that we can re-light our nation’s bright lamp, and return it to the mantle once again as the world’s beacon of freedom and prosperity.
Barack’s opponents like to criticize his charisma as a speaker and visionary. They say that he’s all talk and no action, that he’s full of promises and empty of solutions. We won’t know if that’s true until his time as President is finished. But make no mistake: the power of inspiration cannot be underestimated.
Going to the moon – from pipe dream to splashdown in nine short years – was an absurdly optimistic, even totally unrealistic, notion. And yet President John F. Kennedy lit the fires of our imaginations and aspirations as a nation of innovators and risk-takers, and thirty-eight years later we not only stand as the only nation to have ever accomplished this monstrous feat, but that program spawned entire new industries, millions of jobs, and decades of economic prosperity and engineering invention.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed that he had a dream “that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’” it WAS just a dream. But his moving rhetoric and courageous example inspired millions to demand an equality of opportunity and respect for all Americans that ultimately did our nation proud, and made our country stronger and truer to its ideals than it had been before, and more so than many at the time thought was possible.
In one of the televised debates during the primary campaign, Hillary Clinton criticized Barack Obama for relying too much on the power of “the word” to get meaningful things done. Unintimidated by her smug criticism, Barack countered by confidently and clearly re-asserting the power of the word to get meaningful things done, because he knows that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when a leader they trust motivates them to do so. Our own history proves it.
You see, after years of disillusionment, embarrassment, and alienation from the rest of the world under the Bush administration, the American electorate needs now – more than ever – a strong dose of hope. Hope and belief in ourselves that the last eight years are not who we are, or who we are destined to become. The Republicans offer us more fear, conflict, death, destruction, isolation, and erosion of our personal privacy and civil liberties. Barack offers us hope, optimism, a call to get out of the sewer and into the light, to get back to everything that makes this country great.
Like the great orators and visionaries before him, Barack has the power to heal and inspire our nation in a powerful, even game-changing way. Anyone who discounts the value of this unique ability – especially in dour times like these – lacks a singular understanding of our country and its state in the world.
There is no shortage of wonks, advisors and managers in Washington to define and implement policy details. What Washington singularly lacks is a strong, inspiring personality who can unite people around a common purpose – from Congress to Main Street to Wall Street – someone who can motivate them to believe in themselves again, convince them to trust in the promise of the world again, and guide them in returning this country to its founding principles of freedom, prosperity and equality.
Barack’s opponents like to criticize his charisma as a speaker and visionary. They say that he’s all talk and no action, that he’s full of promises and empty of solutions. We won’t know if that’s true until his time as President is finished. But make no mistake: the power of inspiration cannot be underestimated.
Going to the moon – from pipe dream to splashdown in nine short years – was an absurdly optimistic, even totally unrealistic, notion. And yet President John F. Kennedy lit the fires of our imaginations and aspirations as a nation of innovators and risk-takers, and thirty-eight years later we not only stand as the only nation to have ever accomplished this monstrous feat, but that program spawned entire new industries, millions of jobs, and decades of economic prosperity and engineering invention.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed that he had a dream “that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’” it WAS just a dream. But his moving rhetoric and courageous example inspired millions to demand an equality of opportunity and respect for all Americans that ultimately did our nation proud, and made our country stronger and truer to its ideals than it had been before, and more so than many at the time thought was possible.
In one of the televised debates during the primary campaign, Hillary Clinton criticized Barack Obama for relying too much on the power of “the word” to get meaningful things done. Unintimidated by her smug criticism, Barack countered by confidently and clearly re-asserting the power of the word to get meaningful things done, because he knows that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when a leader they trust motivates them to do so. Our own history proves it.
You see, after years of disillusionment, embarrassment, and alienation from the rest of the world under the Bush administration, the American electorate needs now – more than ever – a strong dose of hope. Hope and belief in ourselves that the last eight years are not who we are, or who we are destined to become. The Republicans offer us more fear, conflict, death, destruction, isolation, and erosion of our personal privacy and civil liberties. Barack offers us hope, optimism, a call to get out of the sewer and into the light, to get back to everything that makes this country great.
Like the great orators and visionaries before him, Barack has the power to heal and inspire our nation in a powerful, even game-changing way. Anyone who discounts the value of this unique ability – especially in dour times like these – lacks a singular understanding of our country and its state in the world.
There is no shortage of wonks, advisors and managers in Washington to define and implement policy details. What Washington singularly lacks is a strong, inspiring personality who can unite people around a common purpose – from Congress to Main Street to Wall Street – someone who can motivate them to believe in themselves again, convince them to trust in the promise of the world again, and guide them in returning this country to its founding principles of freedom, prosperity and equality.
Four Reasons To Elect Barack Obama
I'd like to share with you why I believe our nation desperately needs Barack Obama in the White House as President of the United States of America, and why I give him my full support to that end.
First, let me tell you a little about myself: I am a male, 36-year old, middle-upper class Democrat. I have a wife and young child, I am a U.S. government employee, and I live near San Jose, California. While I have voted in most general elections during my adult life, the national political scene has always felt relatively boring and unimportant to me.
But my apathy has changed after eight years of utterly disastrous domestic and foreign policies from the Bush administration that have failed us as a people, and weakened our nation economically, politically and morally.
After eight years of a long list of shockingly idiotic, disgusting, inflammatory, and in some cases flatly illegal policies, national politics has never seemed so important and compelling to me as it does now. And never have I felt so patriotic as I do now, after watching the steady destruction of our national character, our natural, fiscal and human resources, and our reputation around the world. I guess the freedoms and national pride that I always took for granted, I see now being thoroughly eroded and ground away by our nation’s behavior, and I am starting to genuinely fear for our future if we don’t make an immediate and substantial course correction.
So despite my historical apathy for political matters, I have been watching the 2008 primary campaign with a strong and daily fervor, reading the news, reading the candidates’ positions, watching the debates, and making my judgments about who can lead us back to the heritage, reputation and strength that we Americans have fought for, died for, and deserve to enjoy and pass on to our children. This election is so important that I’ve even done something I’ve never done before …contributed my own hard-earned money to two political campaigns, first Joe Biden’s, and now Barack Obama’s, which is a big deal for me.
But you see, after choking for eight years on Bush’s stench of fear, war, incompetence and swagger, Barack Obama is that desperately needed “fresh air” of American optimism, integrity, accountability, constructive engagement, unity, pragmatism, and healing that this nation – and by extension the world – so desperately needs.
I would like to point out four aspects of Barack Obama’s candidacy in particular that move me to fully support his candidacy: his ability to inspire, his ability to unite people of different minds around a common purpose, his political pragmatism, and his consistency in who he is and what he stands for.
In the next few posts, I'm going to address these four reasons in detail.
First, let me tell you a little about myself: I am a male, 36-year old, middle-upper class Democrat. I have a wife and young child, I am a U.S. government employee, and I live near San Jose, California. While I have voted in most general elections during my adult life, the national political scene has always felt relatively boring and unimportant to me.
But my apathy has changed after eight years of utterly disastrous domestic and foreign policies from the Bush administration that have failed us as a people, and weakened our nation economically, politically and morally.
After eight years of a long list of shockingly idiotic, disgusting, inflammatory, and in some cases flatly illegal policies, national politics has never seemed so important and compelling to me as it does now. And never have I felt so patriotic as I do now, after watching the steady destruction of our national character, our natural, fiscal and human resources, and our reputation around the world. I guess the freedoms and national pride that I always took for granted, I see now being thoroughly eroded and ground away by our nation’s behavior, and I am starting to genuinely fear for our future if we don’t make an immediate and substantial course correction.
So despite my historical apathy for political matters, I have been watching the 2008 primary campaign with a strong and daily fervor, reading the news, reading the candidates’ positions, watching the debates, and making my judgments about who can lead us back to the heritage, reputation and strength that we Americans have fought for, died for, and deserve to enjoy and pass on to our children. This election is so important that I’ve even done something I’ve never done before …contributed my own hard-earned money to two political campaigns, first Joe Biden’s, and now Barack Obama’s, which is a big deal for me.
But you see, after choking for eight years on Bush’s stench of fear, war, incompetence and swagger, Barack Obama is that desperately needed “fresh air” of American optimism, integrity, accountability, constructive engagement, unity, pragmatism, and healing that this nation – and by extension the world – so desperately needs.
I would like to point out four aspects of Barack Obama’s candidacy in particular that move me to fully support his candidacy: his ability to inspire, his ability to unite people of different minds around a common purpose, his political pragmatism, and his consistency in who he is and what he stands for.
In the next few posts, I'm going to address these four reasons in detail.
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