Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said of FDR that he possessed "a second-rate intellect, but a first-rate temperament."
Whatever you think of that assessment, and the slightly arcane language...
I think in Barack Obama we'll have a President with first-rate intellect AND a first-rate temperament.
This is not to say that Obama is perfect, or to buy into the silly strawman argument rightwingers love so much about Obama being some kind of liberal "messiah." I don't believe that of any politician, whatever their sterling qualities. If anyone, whatever his/her political leanings, is looking for the Answer to All Our Problems in anyone running for office, they're sadly misguided.
So my support for Barack Obama has nothing to do with wanting a savior. It comes from wanting a moral, mature, intelligent President, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time.
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To step back for a moment:
I didn't even support Obama in the primaries. At first. I was a John Edwards supporter (yeah, I know -- insert your own tabloid jokes here!) because I connected with his populist message regarding the severe economic divide in this country. I was deeply suspicious of Obama not because I didn't think he was a decent man or (obviously) intelligent, but because he seemed to lack the fire I wanted. He was just a bit too measured, too cautious in my view, and didn't speak in enough specifics -- and didn't throw out the partisan red meat I wanted to hear.
I was wrong about Obama. Not wrong that he's measured, but wrong about how to interpret that. As a liberal who has had to watch this country nearly destroyed by the Bush-Cheney-Rove years, I wanted a firebreather who would smite all the wrongdoers. But really, even John Edwards couldn't satisfy on that score. So in the end, it was clear that my need for truckloads of ass-kicking anti-Bush, anti-GOP rhetoric was mostly about me.
Since none of the primary candidates with a serious chance actually satisfied my apparent emotional need for a Smiter of Republicans, I had to take a more serious look at all of the candidates and their proposals. That was a good thing for my ongoing process of becoming a mature adult (any day now, man), but more importantly, it made me look at the candidates differently -- as potential Presidents, not simply as The One Who Will Smite the GOP.
After making myself think a little more long-term about who might actually be in the White House in 2009, one of the qualities I really hoped to see in our next President -- besides NOT being a Republican -- was emotional maturity. A maturity that I frankly lack, at least at my worst.
I hoped to see someone whose ego was firmly under control, but who was not lacking for self-confidence.
I hoped to see someone whose high intelligence was so obvious that no serious person could possibly question it. (Obama's background as a Constitutional law professor more than reinforces that.)
I hoped to see person with a strong moral compass who thinks in terms of values, but doesn't define values in the small-minded, paranoid way that word has been branded lately.
I hoped to see someone who keeps her/his eye on the big picture, and doesn't sweat the bits of day-to-day drama. Someone with vision, but not tunnel vision.
That person is Barack Obama.
I think there can be no doubt about it at this point, after Obama's long, bruising primary battle.... after the nasty, lying attacks on him by John McCain and the GOP... after seeing him debate McCain last Friday night.
And as far as Obama not being specific, as I thought during the primaries? My fault, not his. All I had to do was look
Barack Obama is not perfect -- no candidate ever will be. He doesn't have the "ideal" background for the Presidency that the Beltway pundits are always trying to paint for us -- and insofar as any candidate ever will meet those shifting punditry standards, we've already seen too many people with Just the Right Background do horrifying, un-American things in office: think Dick Cheney, whose CV made him nothing if not "qualified."
Barack Obama is human, and as long as we still elect human beings as President, they won't be perfect. Much less a "messiah."
(SIDEBAR: And really, if rightwingers want to throw derisive slime about "messiahs," let me direct them to their actual worship of St. Ronald Reagan, who trumps Jesus Christ in their pantheon. Not to mention their actual worship of George W. Bush just a few years back... and some, even today.)
Barack Obama is not nearly as liberal as I am, politically, at least in the ill-defined continuum of right-left we still work with in this country. I look forward to joining others and pushing President Obama hard on a lot of issues, notably health care. It will be a joy to put pressure on a mature, intelligent, moral President -- one whose basic goals I share -- after all this time.
By contrast, I give you John McCain. Temperament? He's a ball of rage, except when he's getting his ass kissed -- which is WAY too important to him. The man has a massive ego that needs constant stroking.
McCain's Intelligence? Not laughably subpar on a Dan Quayle - Sarah Palin level, but nothing impressive either. He did terrible in the Naval Academy. Like George W. Bush, I don't think he's necessarily a stupid man (I know many people here disagree with that), but that the idea of real intelligence and analysis is intolerable to him, because of his massive ego. McCain, like Bush, is in love with the idea that his instincts are perfect, because he himself is an amazing, perfect, unquestionably great man. This is a recipe for four more years of disaster, and the nasty, horrible campaign that McCain has run gave America a preview.
Barack Obama will NOT be the perfect President, but he will be a very good one. He has the potential to be a great one, and -- especially in this time of multiple crises -- a 21st century FDR, or Lincoln. But hell, I'd take "very good" President, happily. Even "not horrible" is looking good after the last eight years.
Barack Obama has a first-rate intellect and a first-rate temperament. America has the opportunity to elect a real adult, a real leader in Barack Obama.
Or, in John McCain, a raging egomaniac with no core principles --one who will create drama after drama in order to prove what an amazing hero he is. He WILL be a horrible President.
The choice is clear.