I've met Barack Obama. Shook his hand a couple times. Took a picture or two. He liked my pink tie.
And that's the quick and dirty reason why I support Barack Obama.
If you need more of a wallop then read on.
(Hint: it has to do with words, Rousseau and movement-building)
Obama is not only far and away more progressive than Hillary Clinton, but he's one of the most progressive candidates in modern history with a real shot at winning the presidency. (Sorry John, your campaign never picked up the traction and the media ignored you, but you'd make a great AG in an Obama administration.)
His record is solidly progressive and I'm not going to recount his biography or legislative votes in either the Illinois State Senate or U.S. Senate for anyone--you know how to use Google, look it up.
The amazing thing about Obama is that he has a way of framing the issues and his undeniably progressive positions in a way that is not anathema to Republicans and moderate-conservative leaning Independents.
In fact, his framing ability is so phenomenal, his appeal so post-partisan that he has the exclusive ability of being able to get those aforementioned moderates, conservatives and Republicans to vote for him and support his ideas and policies.
This is a far cry from the disastrous and anti-progressive Clinton tactic of "triangulation" wherein Democrats try to out-Republican Republicans by shifting hard to the right on certain issues in order to appear moderate. Triangulation cedes the debate to the Right Wing, moves the center (and thus the country) to the right and allows for only grinding, incremental change at best. And it is predicated, indeed, all but ensures the most narrow and indecisive of electoral victories.
Obama's not looking just to win. He's not looking for a narrow victory. A victory by plurality or even majority bare majority is not attractive to the senator from Illinois. He's looking for a mandate.
A genuine, bona fide mandate.
He's not throwing shells or buzz-words like being a "uniter, not a divider" to project some acceptable image. No.
He knows that he has to have the nation united to move the ball down the field. Up the hill. Past the present.
So he uses his talents and gifts and tenor to do it. And it works.
This isn't just an expansive bit of affability we're talking about. This is someone who can and does change people's minds.
This isn't the Democratic version of George W. Bush whose folksy charm took precedence over substance. This is commanding respect for your ideas and policies because of the words you choose to express them and the tone you take as well.
If any comparisons in the recent past cast of presidents are applicable, Obama has a Reaganesque ability to get the nation to see the problems his way and in turn, support his way of solving those problems.
Furthermore Obama has a tendency, again unique, of forcing people to look at America not only as a nation beset by problems and turmoil, but as a nation of unending potential.
In Obama's America we can, should and will strive for solutions to the problems of the present, but we'll do one better: we'll fight for strong ideas in and for the future so that we can achieve grander and greater things.
Yeah, that's called "Hope". It's pretty audacious.
(And Hillary snipes at Obama for using words that resonate and move people. Her campaign anonymously derides him for being a "hope-monger".)
Words do matter. Presence does matter. But that's not the entirety of Obama's appeal.
He might seem (and is) relatively young and hip but these aren't the reasons that people are attracted to Obama. Nor is his race alone the reason. This isn't identity politics at play, not in the least. Try peddling that line to the folks in Iowa or New Hampshire.
It's what his relative youth represents: the ability to be bold and understand the fierce urgency of the state in which we find ourselves today.
It is because voters feel that Obama is, not just hip, but hip to their concerns and struggles, their ideas and passions.
It is because of his heritage, one that most of us don't have, but wish we did in terms of the perspective that it offers. A perspective that's never been tried in the White House before and that just might work wonders.
Platitudes? Laughable.
Empty sloganeering? No.
Obama uses anthems that are metaphors for the best we see in ourselves and collectively as a nation. He has cast himself as the imperfect vessel that is the best bet, at current, to guide us where we want to and need to be.
There is a powerful and hefty force behind everything Obama says and a more than distinguished record of achievements and experience-in and out of elective office, in and out of the United States, in and out of Chicago's Black community-to back every bit of it up.
Don't discount the power of rhetoric. Don't discount the power of framing the issues. Don't discount the notion of cross-over appeal. In a word: don't discount Obama's likability.
Does Obama have a gift for this kind of thing? For wooing and wowing individuals and groups of people? You bet he does.
But even as he dazzles our senses and moves us to his side through gravitas and emotion, there's the intellectual tick of history and his own passion for his mission throughout his presentation that tells us: "This guy is the real deal. He's not a phony."
Even as Obama proves himself to be a powerhouse behind a microphone, he uses the organization that his aura has put into existence as a mover, a motivator, an agent of change. (To put it homely: he dumps money into the apparatus that will build a progressive future and gets people off their asses to work for that future.)
It's not just him. He seemingly gets us and truly moves us. He forces us to be citizens.
Obama's personality, likability and rhetoric transcend pure charm, success and swagger. Instead they're being used to fuel a movement.
And that's a huge difference between him and his rivals.
They're running campaigns.
He's building a movement.
(Cross posted at Justice Addict)