I'm not in this to vote against John McCain. I'm here to vote for Obama.
Yes, a McCain presidency would push us past a point of no return for climate change, the economy, and the judicial system. And the thought of a Palin administration gives me the cold shakes.
But do you remember what it felt like last January and February for both Obama and Hilary supporters? That wasn't just moving past the Bush disaster--it was moving toward a compelling vision. Remember the speech on race? Remember "yes we can"? Remember the giddiness over the panel of candidates the Democrats fielded at the primary debates? As we pump up our testosterone and put up our dukes to pummel McCain & Palin, I find myself needing to stay grounded in what we're for--not just what we're against.
So to remind myself why I'm in this, here are my Top Ten Reasons to Hope for an Obama presidency:
1. Hope feels good. The last time I felt hopeful about the presidency was at a McGovern rally in 1976 (though I admit I flirted with hope for several weeks when Bill Clinton was inaugurated). I've spent my entire adult life cynical about the presidency. Every time I start to feel that I might let myself hope, even a little, I get teary-eyed. Cynicism is a nice place to visit, but I don't want to live there. 32 years of cynicism will take a while to break through, and Barack Obama is helping crack that hard shell.
2. He started out as a community organizer! That's what I call a qualification. Community organizers know how to get things done, and they know which things need to get done. Barack Obama is of the people--he has street cred. My sister and brother, both former community organizers in Chicago(!), told me long ago--"he's the real thing."
3. He's an anti-racism archetype. Imagine the impact on our country's pervasive, underlying racism of an African American appearing presidential on tv, executing competently, and bringing people together. An Obama presidency would be a watershed event, 10 times more impactful on race relations than the already powerful Obama candidacy.
4. He lived outside the US as a child. I was born the child of white Americans in Hong Kong, and those early years made an indelible mark on me--years of living in a place where most people didn't speak English and very few looked like me, where hundreds of thousands of refugees slept on the street or in dangerous shanty towns, where nobody had to convince anybody that there was a world beyond the borders of the United States. You can usually tell when you're talking with someone who has lived outside the U.S. It does something very wholesome for a person's world view.
5. He will begin to turn the page on disaster capitalism. All the talk about the demise of unfettered free market capitalism is decidedly premature. Yes, many have noticed in the last few weeks that the emperor has no clothes, but rest assured the emperor is reaching for a glove to put on that invisible hand. What we need is someone who will dig deep into the foundations of the current market collapse to fix the underpinnings. This will take courage, intelligence, and discipline. Hmmmm, can anyone think of a presidential candidate with courage, intelligence, and discipline? ;-)
6. Crisis is opportunity. In the days of my youth, I was much more ideological. You were right or you were wrong--you were with me or you were against me. Since then, I've become quite an incrementalist. I always remember Molly Ivins pointing out what a difference the lesser of two evils can make for someone living on the margins. And I had pretty much decided that the best I could expect would be to swing the pendulum back just a little more toward caring for people who need help. But with the global financial meltdown, combined with the wars, unchecked climate change, and the systematic trashing of the major sections of the Constitution, I think we're at a crisis point that merits more than just a gradual shift back toward the center. With an Obama presidency, we might--just might--be able to move past making things less bad, and actually make them better again.
7. Obama could lead a functional government. After decades dominated by leaders in government who are trying to keep the government from governing, we are on the threshold of having executive and legislative branches that can actually function, and who believe that government can be a force for good. Imagine the executive and legislative branches working together to address the big problems of our time.
8. Climate Change and Healthcare--the defining issues of our time. It is entirely possible that during the past 8 years we passed the point of no return for climate change. If not Obama's leadership is certainly our last great chance. Just as FDR had to move dramatically on multiple fronts, Obama is already positioning himself to be much more than a one-trick pony. He can do more than one thing at a time. One of those things must be a 180 degree change in the U.S.'s approach to climate change. Another is to finally implement real healthcare reform. Imagine Hilary and Barack working together to fix this crisis in a way that is unapoligetically caring and intelligent. See "functional government" above.
9. He will be as progressive as we let him. A president Obama, if working with a Repuclican-dominated Congress, would look a lot like Bill Clinton. A president Obama with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate would be an entirely different animal. Take that one step further, and image a world in which we the people took this movement beyond electoral politics. Imagine a world in which the majority of the American people spoke their minds and demanded that President Obama lead us into a progressive future of universal healthcare, sustainable energy, international cooperation, and equitable taxation. When the people lead, the leaders will follow, especially leaders like Barack Obama.
10. He can bring out the best in my relatives who live in rurual Texas. This is what first drew me to Obama, and it harkens back to his 2004 convention speech. My relatives in rurual Texas are some of the nicest and most caring people you will have have the privilege to meet. Somehow, Republicans ever since Reagan have convinced them to support politicians and policies that are in conflict with their core beliefs. My cousins and aunts and uncles care about people who don't have enough money. They want everyone to have a good doctor. They don't want mass extinction from climate change. They don't want endless war. They even care about civilians in Iraq, and they certainly don't want continued dependence on foreign oil. And yet I despair of my ever being able to talk about these issues with them. But there is something about who Barack Obama is that enables him to cross that chasm, to bring Americans together for a common, even noble purpose. He brings out the best in people. And maybe that's why I particularly need to remind myself, as the campaign rhetoric takes a downward tack, of the positives. For me, this election isn't mostly about keeping John McCain out of the Oval Office, it's about putting Barack Obama into the Oval Office, and 60 Senators onto Capital Hill, ready to work together.
On January 20, 2009, barely 3 months from now, the main thing I'll remember about John McCain and Sarah Palin will be the Tina Fey skits. I'll be looking to the future, with the taste of hope in my mouth and the winds of change at my back.