When Senator Obama had to respond to hecklers at his recent St. Petersburg town hall meeting, he reminded the hecklers, and all of us Americans, about what his "new politics" means.
It means this: why don't you go out there and run for office yourself?
Obama handled the hecklers very well. He won their silence by reminding them they'd get a chance to ask a question. When they asked their question, he answered it. The question was: why hasn't Senator Obama spoken out "not even once" on the issues most plaguing the black community such as predatory lending, Jena 6, Katrina. Obama answered by explaining that he has spoken out on every single issue that the questioner had raised. When the protestor still didn't seem happy, Obama said, "I may not have spoken out the way you wanted me to speak out . . . which gives you the option of voting for somebody else. It gives you the option of running for office yourself. Those are all options."
What I liked so much about this response is in what Obama did not say, but what I understood. Here he is, sacrificing all of his time and energy, turning his hair gray, spending precious time away from his wife and daughters, putting himself out like a lamb to the slaughter everyday to be hounded by the media, to have his every word scrutinized, to be called arrogant and uppity and naive and inexperienced -- all for the sake of his country. And this man has the nerve to ask him what he's done for the black community? Well, if all of what Obama has done -- giving his entire life over to community service, civil rights, and public office -- isn't enough for that protestor, then I guess that guy should go ahead and run for office himself.
We've become deeply cynical about politicians in this country, and not without reason. But it's also important to recognize the immense responsibility and sacrifice our representatives make. We tend to see our elected officials as people who belong to a different class, that have a power that we could never have. But what Obama reminds us is that any one of us could run for office. He had no political experience, no coffer filled with cash, no long line of family members in government, to show him the way when he ran for his first office. He learned by watching others, by making important connections, and by rolling up his sleeves with determination.
Of course it's imperative that citizens make their voices heard to their elected representatives, and hold them accountable. So I am not in any way offended that a few hecklers interrupted Obama to bring attention to an issue they cared about, and I'm not suggesting that anyone who dares to criticize a politician should just go run for office instead. Rather, what I am realizing is that when we bemoan how there's only a choice between two evils, or that we have a do-nothing Congress, or that our politicians are all bought out by lobbyists -- do you ever consider running for office in order to change the status quo?
One of my favorite Obama quotes comes from a
1995 profile in The Chicago Reader:
What if a politician were to see his job as an organizer, as part teacher and part advocate, one who does not sell voters short but who educates them about the real choices before them?
Obama educated his audience in Florida about their option to run for office. If concerned citizens all around the country were willing to make such a sacrifice, we really could have a "new politics."
I just might take him up on that.