Barack Obama’s eloquence in the defense of idealism hasn’t changed since Iowa, but reaction to it has. He is accused of favoring uplifting rhetoric over hard policy choices. Some commentators complain that for them, the thrilling speeches of the primary season now produce little or no reaction. Obama speaks of a renewed world, but most old-timers, cynical or not, expect the world — especially the one inside the Beltway — to roll on without much change. Inertia will prevail over hope. We are fortunate, however, that Obama himself doesn’t believe any of this.
“Rhetoric” is what George Bush offered when he promised compassionate conservatism and insisted that he was a uniter, not a divider. The words were a cover up and a pretense, empty of sincere meaning. All along, one supposes, Bush’s right-wing agenda was firmly in place. Canny advisers knew the agenda wouldn’t sell, so they mounted a distraction that quite handily fooled enough of the voting public to achieve the desired results.
Obama’s words ring of sincerity, but that’s not the key thing: they grow from a much wider basis than one politician’s desire to be elected. It may be true that he resorts to cliches when speaking of a new world and dignity for every person, but the impulse behind them is shared by millions, not just in this country but around the globe. Spontaneous upwelling like this occurs rarely, and it often signifies radical change. The mechanics of mass movements baffle historians. Many kinds of simmering emotions never coalesce into a movement. Eastern Europe changed under Communism for forty-five years to no great effect except mass grumbling and depression, and those uprisings that did occur in Hungary and Czechoslovakia were quelled in a matter of days by brute force.
We aren’t talking about might against might now but something subtler. Obama was right to mention the Berlin Wall multiple times in his visit to that city, because the Wall was not pushed over by force, unless you mean the force of consciousness. Right timing and mass will came together perfectly; resistance and opposition were rendered powerless. Can the same magic strike again? We have immovable walls in the U.S., and no one knows if Obama will be like Woodrow Wilson, whose ideals about peace and international unity were crushed, or like Kennedy, who caught a wave of change stronger than he ever expected (his 1960 campaign, viewed objectively, was full of standard Cold War rhetoric).
Clearly millions of people, the majority of the electorate, want a new start on many fronts. Taken piecemeal, Obama’s chances of reforming Washington, reversing the enormous national debt, updating the tax code, offering universal health care, and establishing a new image abroad seem slim. Idealism, we are told, will come a cropper when it hits its head against solid reality. But that so-called solid reality was built on intangible ideas, hopes, wishes, and needs. Obama grasps this. He understands that tough policy decisions, which of course must be made, aren’t the stuff of inspiration. His campaign is a litmus test for whether a critical mass has formed or wether we are witnessing winds of change that will soon die down. The fate of the world doesn’t hang in the balance, but the future of America’s self-image does. National awareness has been stuck for eight years, and breaking it free needs the inspiration Obama is trying to apply.
www.intentblog.com
http://beta.intent.com
www.deepakchopra.com
Beliefnet
Advertisement
posted July 25, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I sincerely hope you are reading the situation with Obama correctly. My greatest fear (and here comes the cynicism) is that the words of hope and change he is using are not what is truly in his heart. I fear he has co-opted them while accurately reading the signs that the winds of change, so to speak, are out there and reachable at this point in history. Of course, there is really no way to know this for certain. Very thought provoking and hopeful post. Thank you.
posted July 26, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Remember Landstuhl!
Landstuhl is the name of the US army hospital in Germany that Obama had ORIGINALLY planned to visit in order to pay respects to our injured soldiers. But he cancelled the trip when he learned that he couldn’t take the media with him inside the hospital wards and film his gladhanding with these wounded heroes. It wasn’t enough for him to invest some of his personal time to simply greet and thank these soldiers. No, he wanted the visit filmed for the evening news and for use in his fall TV ads.
When we think of the Obama Summer Tour, let’s first remember the place he didn’t visit: Landstuhl. And then remember why. And then ask what this incident says about the character of this wannabe.
When we weigh the rhetoric of Senator Obama, let’s recall the famous line by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say to the contrary.”
Remember Landstuhl!
posted July 27, 2008 at 10:11 pm
IT’s him or McCain. I don’t htink a politician is going to lead us through the door. But if we have one up there that doesn’t keep it shut, that at least lets it fall open a bit, just enough for it to catch the wind, then the people will do the rest. the consciousness will do it.
He may not be pure (he may be, i dont know), but he may allow for the change.
I like this point in the blog:
“that so-called solid reality was built on intangible ideas, hopes, wishes, and needs.”
Thats right. It’s not solid. It can change. May it happen.
posted July 28, 2008 at 11:03 am
Travis,
You sound like you are for ANY kind of change. “Change” is not per se necessarily good. Just like the daily choices we make in life, some will produce harm to others. Others will be well intended but produce unintentional harm to others. Others will produce good.
You say, “May it happen.” Depending on what “it” means, that may or not be good.
posted July 30, 2008 at 2:25 am
Obama is a disgrace to this nation. Landstuhl Germany is where the severly injured soldiers are taken. I lived in Germany for 5 years also worked at Landstuhl. You have no idea what it means to have just anyone visit from the USA. They risked their lives for this country in he had truly cared about them he would have spent the time to visit each and every person at Landstuhl Army Hospital. This just shows Obama’s true reason for the visit to Landstuhl. Media attention!!!
posted July 30, 2008 at 8:27 am
I agree Edith, but not only Obama, but Michelle as well. I just can’t see her as First Lady. Any woman who “just now got proud” of our country??? Where has she been the last 30 years?? If Obama was not running for President, you can bet your booties that he would still belong to that black radical church run by Rev. Wright and still be associated with that Ayers guy. He’s just a slick talking con artist.
posted July 30, 2008 at 1:50 pm
ANY change is better than what we got right now. It needs to happen and things may just have to get much worse before they get better. And by the way, it amuses me to see some ya struggling to come with reasons to hate Michelle. Could it that we can’t stand her because she’s ‘black’ in every sense. Yeah, the image of ‘girlfriend’ (with the accompanying head snap)in the white house, is too jarring for us genteel, middle america folks. Right.
posted July 30, 2008 at 5:16 pm
rainwater: “ANY change is better than what we got right now.”
You’re right about that, my friend.
The good news is that NONE of the major candidates on the November ballot has the name “Bush.” We’re getting “change” regardless who we elect.
So whether we elect McCain, Nader, Obama or Barr … we are definitely getting change in the White House.
posted July 30, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Change is on its way! There is no stopping it. Consciousness is tired of the media hype, graft in politics, unaccountable leaders of every kind, and materialism. When consciousness changes so does the world.
We are vibrating at a higher level and light will prevail!
posted October 7, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Vibrating at a higher level?????
LOL