An enduring critique of Hillary is that Barack relies on "mere words," and that words can bring "real change." This made me think of Faulkner's Nobel Acceptance speech, which can be found here. http://www.historyplace.com/... Faulkner explained well why "mere words" matter, and the amazing power of the "poet's voice."
Barack has, in Faulkner's term, the "poet's voice."
This is what Faulkner said when accepting the Nobel Prize for literature:
I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.
I don't believe that what Barack says is "just words." And I do believe that words matter, and that they can change things. I crave transformation and change in our politics and our country. I crave the end of divisiveness and callow cynical political calculation that mindlessly accepts that the end always justifies the means, and that winning at any costs is the only approach. I crave the end of the Clinton/Rove divide and conquer approach that accepts a divided country so long as they are the ones in charge of it. I crave the end of the dynastic sense of entitlement drives the ambitions of political creatures like the Clintons. I crave getting beyond the neurotic co-dependent need for power to make up for what is lacking in their own fractured psyche, like George W. Bush's desire to prove his daddy wrong, and Hillary's desire to prove that she is more than an adjunct to Bill. I crave the restoration of our standing in the international community, and to not have to feel ashamed at being an American. I crave an America where bridges don't fall into rivers, where floods don't decimate cities, where our tax dollars go to help our country, not Irag. I could go on and on and on. But, in sum, Barack gives me hope for a different and better America. Please let the Poet's Voice Prevail, so that America can prevail.