Hope at the End of a Long Campaign
posted by Frank Pasquale
It’s hard to believe that America has been embroiled in electioneering for the better part of this year. It’s been trying–American campaign coverage is generally a disgrace. For me, the miracle of the Obama campaign has been his ability to rise above the petty mudslinging of politics as usual and offer a unifying vision for a diverse and divided country. As Steve Chapman has put it, “It is a message of fundamental unity and good will, at a time when politics often resembles Henry Adams’ mordant description: ‘the systematic organization of hatreds.’” It is a message that has attracted thoughtful conservatives ranging from Andrew Sullivan to David Post to Peggy Noonan to Doug Kmiec. All see the terrible challenges we are facing, and the need to pull together as a country.
The Onion styles this election–only half in jest–as a “War for the White House.” Politics so often seems to amount to Pyrrhic victories and zero-sum struggles for power. But I sense the financial meltdown has brought about a new seriousness in America, and that Obama is the ideal leader for such a time. As Seamus Heaney puts it,
History says, don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.
We saw the “longed-for tidal wave of justice” in the great leadership of FDR during the Great Depression. We saw it in the flawed LBJ’s drive for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Voting Rights Act. I have a sense that this is one of the few times in my lifetime we can hope for it again. As MLK once declared, “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”
November 3, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Posted in: Politics
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Responses (4)
b4uno - November 3, 2008 at 8:57 pm
This radio show is about what is truly at stake in this election, and what we are TRULY voting for. It can change the mindset of the entire country and could have an effect for years to come. Most people don’t think of it in this way. It’s very surprising. And either way you decide, you will at least be aware.
http://tinyurl.com/5znubc
b4uno - November 3, 2008 at 9:05 pm
It can change the mindset of the entire country and could have an effect for years to come. Most people don’t think of it in this way. It’s very surprising. And either way you decide, you will at least be aware and understand the implications. If you like what you hear, please pass the link on to others who you may think might like it.
http://tinyurl.com/5znubc
Nate Oman - November 3, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I am cautiously optimistic about Obama. I would be more sanguine about his unifying abilities if there was stronger evidence of his ability to — in the words of the Economist — say boo to a single Democratic goose.
Mark Stanley - November 4, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Obama’s ability to bring conservatives into the fold was key in giving his message of unity – which some had said was only prose – a certain credibility. Peggy Noonan was particularly outspoken at a time when other conservatives had not yet crossed over. Newsy.com had a good piece featuring Noonan yesterday.
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