Undoubtedly, some of these views will get me in trouble. I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them.
-"The Audacity of Hope" by Barack Obama
There is no clearer insight into Senator Obama's political and personal views than his two books. While "The Audacity of Hope" is most definitely a political book, it also has a level of honesty that speaks to the reader. The question is, did people listen?
Obama's not a left winger, centrist, liberal Democrat, conservative Democrat, progressive or any of the other generalizations that we try to use to group us together in defiance of "them." He has always rejected such ideological rigidity in favor of a more pragmatic politics. This is just reality.
For me, that's exactly what I want in a leader. I don't want a president who tries to do everything and does nothing, nor one who appeals only to my views, for I know there are few others out there who would agree with all of them. Instead, I want a leader who I think is smart enough to know what he can do and what he can't. Often times this will mean he goes against my views, perhaps even some of my more fundamental precepts, in which case I will tell him.
But that doesn't mean I'll stop doing what I can to help him get elected, and then to be a successful president, because it's not about me or him. It's about getting our country moving forward again in a variety of areas. If I see him treading water on FISA or even pushing us further into the depths of constitutional crisis, I will tell him, but I will still help him move us forward on a whole host of other issues that are equally important to our country.
To listen to the commentary recently on Obama's position on FISA and even his position on capital punishment, you would think Benedict Arnold had just tried to surrender West Point. I believe this level of fervor betrays a lack of perspective towards our problems and what he can do to fix them. Here's a news flash: the Bush administration has screwed up our government in countless ways; even as president, Obama won't be able to fix them all, and he surely can't as a candidate and junior senator from Illinois.
In addition though, he's also a politician who has to work within the political climate created by the Bush administration's politics of fear. While many here may see through the lies and innuendo this administration has lived by, the majority of Americans have a less informed view, mostly owing to a media that does nothing to help broaden citizens' perspectives.
Politics sucks; that's just a reality. No one likes to see our leaders sacrifice principles in favor of political expediency, but that's what politics brings out in all but the few who either don't care about reelection or are so safe in their positions they don't need to worry about "pandering." Running for president never gives you that opportunity. For every great president or even legitimate presidential candidate you come up with, we can find numerous times they have acted this way.
What has surprised me is not that Obama has acted against my views, but how rarely he has. He stood up to the pressure to take a hard line on negotiating with "rogue" regimes. He stood up against gas tax pandering. He has continuously been called naive, inexperienced, an unknown quantity, different and on and on. And yet, on the whole, he has trusted that if he explained his position to the American people, they will either agree with him or trust his judgment. To be frank, on some issues, he has not felt that the nuances of his perspective could be adequately presented to the public at large, especially given the current mediums available to talk to the people, ie cable news, talking heads, self important newspaper columnists and editorial boards. I think the FISA issue is an example of this.
This is going to happen again. Sometimes it will happen because he genuinely disagrees with you or me, and other times, like now, because he believe political expediency is necessary for short, medium and long term gain. That's how politics works, always has, likely always will. Obama isn't going to change how politics works in this country in one election, nor should he try. He should try to win, because right now that's what matters most.
In closing, I'll leave you with one other quote from his book that I think is relevant at this moment:
I am angry about policies that consistently favor the wealthy and powerful over average Americans, and insist that government has an important role in opening up opportunity to all. I believe in evolution, scientific inquiry, and global warming; I believe in free speech, whether politically correct or politically incorrect, and I am suspicious of using government to impose anybody's religious beliefs -- including my own -- on non-believers...But that is not all that I am. I also think my party can be smug, detached and dogmatic at times.