Obama vs. Hillary- the Answer
Election ‘08 continues to unfold- in many different directions. For
the first time since 1952 there is no sitting president or
vice-president in the race, nor even an endorsement from the White
House for a candidate. The Republicans have finally finished
bludgeoning one another in search of the party’s soul, but only just
long enough to have a bloodied nominee emerge via the "surge," Senator
John McCain. Large factions of the GOP have now regained their breath
and have initiated a gang-torturing of their presumptive nominee for
not conforming to their domestic policy desires. Of course Mr. Huckabee
has stayed in the race to no consequence, only to feed his delusions of
grandeur and perhaps add conversational fodder for his personal cell
phone calls with God. Either that, or he’s insane; the question about
this man’s sanity has been one of the most fun aspects of this whole
race.
Which is saying an incredible amount. This has been an unbelievably
fascinating presidential race, epic to start with if only because three
types of human being emerged to become serious candidates for the White
House for the first time in history: a black, a Mormon, and a woman.
The Mormon, Mitt Romney, turned out to be not-so-special after all: he
only sleeps with one woman, that too his wife (how boring!), and even
worse, he turned out to be a corporate, WASPish automaton who had no
core beliefs. He wisely bowed down to McCain. So did third-rate actor
(and fourth-rate candidate) Fred Thompson, and the 9/11-horse-beating
Rudy Giuliani. On the Dem side, Edwards had the good sense to bow out
quickly to prepare himself for a job in the new administration.
The black, Barack Obama, and the woman, Hillary Clinton, are locked
in a more important race, because it’s likely to be for the
presidency. November isn’t here yet, but after Iraq, Katrina, Libbey,
DeLay, Abramoff, a scorched earth, and a crumbling real estate market,
Republicans may as well get ready to kiss the White House goodbye. In
fact the election of a centrist like McCain is sort of an early
admission of defeat, and I think most pundits on both sides of the
aisle recognize this. This is of course barring a massive choke by the
Democrats, which we cannot rule out completely.
So the race for the Democratic party is far closer, more
consequential, and consequently more brutal, a race that could last all
the way to the Democratic national convention in late summer. But it
shouldn’t. By now it should be clear to all Democrats that Barack
Obama has earned the right to be their nominee for President.
Many people are on the fence, and this is aimed squarely at you. Here
is why the party should quit its pointless civil war and rally around
Obama.
Poll after poll by independent sources confirms this. The more people
get to know Obama, the greater his margin of victory appears to be in
the polls. People have already known Clinton and McCain for decades.
Most aren’t likely to change their minds about either, unless Obama
stumbles badly. By the way, Obama hasn’t stumbled yet in a year of
campaigning, largely from way behind.
- Obama has no experience?
Okay, so being a civil rights lawyer isn’t experience to be a leader?
Being a constitutional law professor doesn’t prepare one for public
service? 8 years as an Illinois state Senator- chopped liver, you
say? 3 and a half years on the cold, mean streets of Chicago helping
poor people get jobs- negligible? Winning 70% of the vote in a
successful U.S. Senate bid- dumb luck? FIGHTING THE CLINTON MACHINE TO
AN ABSOLUTE STANDSTILL IN A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN? One can’t even
pretend to argue this one. Now that’s experience. The fact that Obama
is out-maneuvering Hillary and her wily husband, the leaders of the
Democratic party for 16 straight years in this high-stakes race
demonstrates a lot of executive experience in itself. Try successfully
managing a budget of over $100 million, a staff of over 700 employees
and hundreds of thousands of volunteers in all 50 states before
bringing up the ‘e’ word.
- Obama is getting the youth vote out in epic proportions.
And they are swinging for him 80%. 80% !!! This may turn out to be a
record year for under-30 participation in any U.S. election- it could
even beat the year that 18 year olds were allowed to vote for the first
time in 1972, when the voting age was lowered from 21. It’s also the
main reason why pollsters are left busily scratching their asses and
mumbling into the mirror.
mostly overwhelming margins, representing every region of the country.
When is the last time a presidential candidate from any party
has done so? Let alone an unknown who nobody had heard of, who did not
come into the race with most of the establishment connections behind
him?
- More significant than the fact that these kids are voting, is the fact that many kids are actually excited about politics and the political process for the first time in their lives.
How many smart young people do I know that have never cared about
politics until now? Um, how about ALMOST ALL OF THEM? I went to
college in the nation’s capital itself, and large swaths of my
colleagues were disengaged from government at all levels, largely due
to disgust, and rightly so. For people who have been interested in
government for many years, it’s an exciting time to see people who
didn’t know the difference between the two major parties, start talking
about delegates and superdelegates. It’s all because of Obama. To a
lesser degree, Obama is also inspiring older people- including the
parents who had been disengaged for many decades- to vote and even care.
- Obama can more easily build a consensus to get things done.
This is related to the above point: getting citizens involved matters.
We all know that Hillary and Obama have nearly the exact same
platform. (1) Reform health care to make it universally
accessible. (2) Bring troops home on a timetable. (3) Fix the
environment. If you think the policy minutiae on any of these issues
matter for a president, you’re wrong. The same small group of liberal
academic wonks will be advising either one as the next president on all
three initiatives. More important is inspiring confidence and hope in
the nation. To the extent that any of these things can ever be done,
you need a uniter to make them happen, to convince fierce opposing
forces such as vested interests that these are the right things to do.
And if that fails, crush them with popular support. If Congress
gives Obama a hard time, I am confident he can go straight to the
American people and say, "get your Congressman in line!" and it will
happen. Hillary always was, and always will be, too divisive a figure
to accomplish this. I’ll admit that this is *partly* not her fault.
- The Republican party’s wise men have conceded that come November, they will sink or swim on one issue: Iraq.
Not immigration, not torture, not the environment, and not the
economy. That’s because McCain does not split deeply from many
liberals on these issues, certainly not either Democrat. So the party
faithful are praying hard that Iraq turns into a big Mall of America
just in time for the election, or at least a strip mall without an
armored checkpoint. Iraq represents the one area where Obama and
Clinton have a clear difference. Clinton, like McCain, voted to
authorize the war. Obama was always against it. Does that affect how
anyone’s policy decisions on Iraq will be made in the future? Perhaps,
perhaps not. The point is, only Obama has credibility on saying what
he believed in 2002. And it will matter, because Iraq will still be a
mess in November, surge or no surge.
- Which brings up the larger issue with Clinton. She almost never says what she truly believes, because she is always "triangulating" and saying what is most politically expedient.
Nobody has written about this better than my fellow Konkani, Fareed
Zakaria in the clear comparison of the two candidates in
his recent article.
- We have already lived through 8 years with the Clintons
in the White House, and they were largely okay years for most
Americans. But do we want to re-live all the same vicious battles
again? The intra- and inter- party vituperation that dominated
Washington on every issue, whether real or related to a semen-soaked
dress? Wingnuts screaming even louder than they do now on talk-radio
and television newscasts, to even larger audiences? There has been a
Bush or a Clinton working in the White House every day since January
1981. It’s time to moveon.org!
1992-2000 were mostly good years, so let’s remember the Clintons for that
happy time and not as the aging wannabe hipsters who won’t graciously
let go of the reins of power to the younger and more popular Barack
Obama. It’s time to get past the culture wars, and only one candidate
can deliver that, partly because:
- Barack makes Americans feel better about themselves, due to his background and positive oratory.
He is a post-racial candidate- he isn’t black or white, but half of
each: both and neither at the same time. Like, don’t try to pigeonhole
him. In fact, I have never heard him say the word ‘black’ in a speech
except to deliver platitudes such as, "this race is not about young
versus old….black versus white…but the past versus the future."
He represents us - America - moving on from the politics of the past
based on class,
race, gender, and age with his easy dual identity
as an open-minded African-American. He inspires people of all
types not because he is the black candidate some have been yearning
for, but because he is not. In fact, he wrote a touching book, "Dreams
from My Father" that displayed a great deal of intellectual curiosity
as he tried to sort through his complex background, growing up in
Hawaii, Indonesia, and mainland USA after his Kenyan father left his
white mother from Kansas. His conclusion was that his identity would
defy categorization, as would his public career. And this best-seller
was written in Obama’s early 30s. Contrast that with Hillary, who
beats you over the head with her womanhood. On her website you can
join "Women for Hillary!" Watch her cry- not when the bodybags arrive
home from her war, but whenever she falls behind in the race. Or more
likely, when she thinks it will help her win it.
Whatever happens, this has been a great race. I just hope you will
get on the winning side early enough to enjoy the ride before the real
hard work begins after the inauguration. And because we are witnessing
a truly great moment in American history, a grassroots movement far
larger than a mere campaign that will make the country and the world a
far better place than it was when we found it. Just a few months ago I
had been in despair that this was not possible; that under George W.
Bush America had done irreparable harm to itself and the world. Now I
have learned, not just because of Barack Obama, but because of the fact
that he makes all who he has touched want to be better people, that we
are headed in the right direction at last. I have never felt this way
before, as cheesy as that sounds. And Obama expresses the sentiment
better than anyone else could, as with most things he says:
presidential politics for the first time. That’s because back then, at
the tender age of 13, I read an excellent book called "On Wings of
Eagles" by chance when I found it in my uncle’s basement. It’s a
non-fiction account by Ken Follett of the exploits by a small group
of men in 1979 who got together and staged a top-secret, daring raid
into the heart of Iran to free American hostages. It was masterminded
and bankrolled not by the government, but by a private, rich individual
named Ross Perot. Ross Perot set up the raid to free several of his
employees at the company EDS who were swept up as hostages along with
hundreds of other Americans living in Tehran. As CEO, Perot felt
responsible for getting his employees out and back to their families;
not only did he get them out, but the operation made for a gripping
tale- complete with a drunken, divorced, and depressed ex-special
forces commando who led the squad into Iran; a couple of white-collar
EDS corporate climbers who learned how to kill people by stabbing them
in the kidneys; a getaway car that had pictures of the various Iranian
opposition leaders ready to display depending on which town they would
be going through; a U.S. government that sat lamely by on the
sidelines; bad Iranian guys; and a happy ending. I was 13 years old,
and this was the coolest story in the world. Ross Perot was the
coolest dude in the world! When he ran for president, I wanted him to
win very badly. I stayed up late to watch his infomercials and debate
reruns. In fact, it’s still a point of pride for me today that I
convinced several of my 8th grade teachers to vote for Perot based on
the social studies report I wrote on him. That was a fun time, an
interesting 3-way race which ended the first Bush presidency, but it
also ushered in 16 years of Clinton and one more Bush. Of course, I
was wrong about Perot’s presidential chops, misguided by a dramatic
story. But Perot invoked a passion for politics into that race, along
with the other two candidates of ‘92 that has been largely absent
since. And ‘92 was nowhere near as gripping as the ‘08 race has shaped
up to be- and it’s far from over.
