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Who is Barack Obama? We can readily fill in his life story – raised by a single Mom, then grandparents in Kansas. An excellent public school record earned scholarships to college and law school where he became the editor of Harvard Law Review. After a stint as a civil rights attorney, he became a community organizer and elected to state office in Illinois. He emerged on the national scene when he delivered the keynote address at the 2004 National Democratic Convention. Four years ago he was elected to the United States Senate. His very popular book, The Audacity of Hope, became a national bestseller. You may have even heard him deliver a speech or two in the lengthy and grueling race for his party’s nomination for the presidency of the United States. After all, that was quite a race, culminating this past week with, for all practical purposes, his nomination – the first time such has been won by an African American, but who is Barack Obama and what is the significance of his candidacy beyond its racial uniqueness?
Think about the last 10 years. The decade saw the destruction of The Twin Towers and the death of 3,000 people as a result of a terrorist attack. Since then, we have watched as the country has descended into the Iraqi War, a war that has grown increasingly unpopular and has seen over 4,000 die, tens of thousands wounded and substantial numbers of Iraqis killed. On another front of the war, Afghanistan, the government we support teeters and those responsible for the 2001 terrorist attack are still alive, planning and plotting further terrorist actions around the world.
Meanwhile, for most of the last decade, the nation has grown uneasy. Economics have not gone well. The Midwest still reels from loss of jobs that began in the 1990’s and is now epidemic. Auto, steel – manufacturing – are gone and whole towns, whole states even, and a region has been in deep recession while the rest of the country now seems victim to the same economic malaise. The last few years has seen an emerging real estate crisis that has depressed home values across the country. After a predatory lending spree morphed into a foreclosure crisis, people already disturbed by a seemingly endless war, loss of good jobs now wonder about the declining worth of their home; for some, the single most expensive investment they possess. As the election in November looms there seems to be a palpable sense that things seem out of whack, Washington seems out of touch with their harsh reality and that change, reform is sorely needed.
It is this anxiety and disquiet that Obama has tapped into. His political sense has sharpened his message. There is no doubt that his message of change, hope and reform, this time from the bottom up, has found a receptive audience. His oratory skills and personal charisma seem to have struck a responsive chord - 20,000 routinely turn out to listen to his speeches and respond, “Yes we can!” they are testimony to his skill in reading and delivering a speech to a substantial audience of supporters. However, there is much more to this man than a clever turn of a phrase and the force of personality. There is more to Obama than that.
Some 45 years ago there was another politician who possessed some of the same magic. Jack Kennedy had the ability to break bread with political bosses, make the necessary deals and yet not be diminished in the eyes of his supporters. So too with Barrack Obama. No one arises from the hurly burly of local Chicago politics without some accommodation being sought and granted from the Daly machine, and I have no doubt that Obama made his share. Yet, at the same time, his wheeling and dealing in the world of Chicago politics has not tarnished him. In the eyes of his Chicago supporters he is as he always was, undiminished by the political compromises he no doubt made along the way.
Barack Obama is a shrewd politician possessing all the skills and artful dodges required. One day wearing an American flag lapel pin, one day not. One day standing for a flag salute with hand over heart, the next day just standing with hands at his side. One day casting out a preacher friend who became more a liability than an asset. Yet none of such matters causes much more than comment among those who support him, those who believe in him.
What has been impressive in his primary campaign has been the vocabulary of his campaign speeches. The “you” and “we” has replaced the “I” of political speak. By so doing Obama has recognized that the politicians of the last generation have largely conducted their campaigns discussing what it is they (the “I” in political speak) can do for me and you. Obama has none of that. He speaks of “you” and “we” always emphasizing “together” engaged in a common effort which holds the promise of true reform. What Obama has done is to bring community back into the political discourse, and that has been no small feat, not at all.
During the primary season, other candidates made much of Obama’s lack of experience, simultaneously conceding his impressive oratory skills, but quickly adding that it takes more to become a nation’s leader than giving a good speech and rhetorically asking “What has he done?’ These attacks have had little impact. The crowds continue to grow and it is only since the nomination is his, have his former opponents seen his organizational skills as the reason he is their party’s presumptive nominee.
Last Tuesday night I watched John McCain stand before a green wall in New Orleans to deliver his remarks on the close of the 2008 primary season. His words about Barack Obama had the familiar ring of all of the candidates Obama had defeated. He spoke in the familiar manner of a lifetime Washington politician, de-emphasizing the need for change, diminishing the power of people together seeking to reform government to once again make a difference in the lives of people and to characterize his opponent as young, inexperienced and naïve. This strategy did not work this Spring and may not this Fall.
Barack Obama has many facets, state legislator, orator, US Senator but perhaps the most telling is his prior experience as community organizer and state legislator. The former has honed practical skills in much the same manner that a corporate CEO develops his craft. Organizing a community for change, particularly in a city like Chicago, is no small task. Coupling his organizational skills with real political experience has further refined, increased and enhanced this talent. He is well aware of the legislative process, how public policies are developed, the need to compromise, bargain and to deal. After all, to survive in the state capitol of Illinois – indeed, to come from a city like Chicago complete with the Daly machine - all the while preserving his base and the faith of those who support him, requires great skill, intelligence and more than a modicum of acute political awareness.
In the final analysis, history may well record Barack Obama as the first African American to become the nominee of his party, but the more salient fact may just be that in addition, Barack Obama is the first community organizer to make the run too, and that may tell us more about this remarkable young man than one might have thought.
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Posted by richwb on 2008-06-08 11:30:26 | Rating: | Views: 69
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refreshing. At first I didn't know which way you were going to go with this post, but I figured, be you a support or be you for McCain or even still for Hilary, I respected the way you recapped what is known about Barack. I don't say that because I'm Black so I must vote for Barack. *rolling eyes* I say it because I'm exhausted of politics, muckracking, numbers and games. I just want people to get back to governing the people; to keeping nation and its people's interests at heart. Simply put, all you can do is study the candidates, their reps, the track records, and the the character that they demonstrate, pray and then vote. Thank you for your Assessment. BTW, I'm an Independent, so honest, fair assessments mean a lot to me.
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Posted by JMlessons
on 2008-06-08 13:33:08
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