Today, after the unofficial 9/11 'truce' and the time it gave the Obama camp to regroup after these past couple of whirlwind weeks, I was expecting some serious THUNDER from our candidate.
I'm not talking about abstract oratory here.
I'm talking about the fiery conviction that electrified us in 2004 and rumbled throughout Obama's primary campaign;
the clarity that powered the rallying cries of what now feels like a distant past - (remember Yes we can! and Not this time!?);
the assertiveness that boomed recently from the stage at Mile High Stadium;
the courage that reverberated through the Philadelphia speech on racism;
the authority that enabled Obama to urge African-American men to be more responsible fathers and then be applauded by those very men.
What do we get instead? Three TV ads, released with an urgency (6:00 am, September 12) that would suggest the intention of hitting back hard, but which are instead utterly forgettable and, therefore, useless.
Let me premise this by saying that I'm not a Chicken Little. I'm not one of those who are terrified that we're gonna lose. In fact, just yesterday I found myself consoling my sister, my fiance' and a fretful friend, worriers all, reminding them of the strength of Obama's ground game and the invisibility of newly energized, newly registered voters in the poll numbers, assuring them that the sheer preposterousness of Sarah Palin will eventually become apparent to everyone, etc... all the usual stuff we optimists placate worriers with.
But I am concerned that Obama has lost track of his greatest strength. Let me explain.
Barack Obama is all about dignity, ours and his own, and that's one of the main reasons that he's such an extraordinary candidate. But I fear that his admirable refusal to descend into pettiness, along with his justifiable reluctance to be cast as Angry Black Man have limited his understanding of what dignity actually means.
Dignity isn't ONLY rising above pettiness.
It isn't ONLY a question of composure and decorum.
Dignity is not restricted to enunciating fair and feasible policies articulately, or to respecting the dignity of the electorate by speaking to us like intelligent adults.
Dignity is also the power of the truth told forcefully, and the righteousness of exposing and denouncing untruths loudly.
Obama continues, of course, to tell the truth, and he is responding quickly and intelligently to McSame's untruths. But he's doing it gently and subtly. He has confused forcefulness with the appearance of anger - or fears the electorate will confuse them - and as a result, he has lost much of his power.
When he is not being meta-Obama, calmly analyzing the situation from afar (or, as his adversaries prefer to see it, from on high), he is one-of-us-Obama, using humor and sarcasm to invite his audience to roll their eyes along with him at all those silly Republican pranks. And when he's not being either of those Obamas, he's being extraordinarily reasonable and fair. That's why we love him, of course. But subtlety cannot and will not work against McSame's gutter politics.
Forceful clarity, powered by truths that register deep in our collective gut, will work.
'Yes we can!' and 'Not this time!' is not empty sloganeering, regardless of how easy it is for Republicans to say it is. No amount of mockery can override the sheer POWER with which those simple words speak to the collective hopes and concerns and convictions of ALL Americans, independently of party affiliation.
Please understand that I am not presuming to tell Obama what he should or shouldn't do. He has run the most inspiring and well-organized campaign I've seen in my lifetime, having started paying attention around Nixon '72.
What I will do is suggest that he examine how his fear of being perceived as either petty or angry many have limited his understanding of the many and much more effective ways - conviction, clarity, courage, assertiveness, authority - in which his own immense, innate dignity have been and can continue to be expressed.