Why I Really Like Obama

There are a lot of reasons, i think, to prefer Obama over Clinton. And Obama over McCain or Huckabee or Romney. Some are practical, some idealistic, some based on policy, etc. But, at the same time, I think there is a limit to how excited a rational person should get about any of this. No one can save the world. Everyone, even the president, is going to be constricted by a bunch of things. To put any candidate on a pedestal is, I think, very dangerous.

Yet, there is one reason why I really like Obama.

in my experience as a teacher of a rhetoric and a person, I believe that what divides most people most deeply is that they have different experiences of life which lead to different assumptions about life and different deeply held, animating values. When I use the word value, i don't mean Christian values or some set of static value principles -- I mean the verb value. Different types of Americans value different types of core principles. Some believe in some general concept of personal responsibility over all else. Some believe in collective responsibility, working for the least among us. Some value freedom of speech over all else. Some value loyalty to a cause. These are core principles which, in large part, cannot be altered and -- in large part -- have no inherent moral quality. They are all good in their own way. It's just that some of them preclude or take precedence over others. And which one's you value most effect how you feel about specific, seemingly unrelated, policy.

So -- we all don't like to be taxed but we all agree we need to be taxed a little. The argument is over how much is too much and for what purpose is worthwhile. Where most of us come down on that issue isn't a matter of any individual policy. It's a matter of what we value. And, let me reiterate, most of those values aren't inherently good or bad. They are simply particular to the life experience of the value holder. They may sometimes lead to what I consider to be bad results, but they were probably entered in to in good faith.

What does this have to do with Obama? When he talks about bringing people together, I think he's talking about this. I think he understands, and respects, the different basic assumptions that people make about their life, and I think he knows how to speak to those different values in order to rally people around a common good. When people ask how he will bring people together, they seem to want some kind of 10 step plan -- which to me indicates that they don't understand how to bring people together (of course they don't! They would have done it if they did.) Obama responds by talking about the common good, the things that tie us together (and by implication the things that keep us apart). This seems to indicate that he understands the essential point. the only point that can make it all work.

Also, his life experience implies that he knows this lesson intuitively. If you live in enough different worlds, as he has, it would make sense to have developed a flexible sense of empathy for the values of all different kinds of worlds.

Finally, I remember that at some point in 2005 or 2006, Obama went with Republican Senator Brownback to an evangelical megachurch and spoke about abortion. he acknowledged that a good many people in the ground were probably against it while he wasn't. Then he asked them to consider however whether their behavior in regard to their condemnation of abortion was the best way to acheive what they value. i don't remember the exact words but it was something like -- Do you want to condemn everyone for a mistake you think they have made? (I really wish I could remember the exact words instead of simply the way it led to a conclusion in my head.)

Just going to the church was, I think, a daring leader-like move but being willing to talk to people who are probably, in their way, good, nice, positive, want-to-do-right people and address an issue that incites anger in a way that presents world views rather than policy minutae.

This understanding and respect of the different perspectives, assumptions, rationales, world views, that people bring to an issue that seems to be the basic justification for Obama's campaign is complicated to understand but ultimately I think brilliant, appropriate, correct in practice, and what should be fundamental to anyone who wants to be a real leader -- though it rarely is.

So this is why I really really like Obama. I hope he wins. I hope if he wins that he can accomplish something. who knows? But who knows with anyone,so let's pick the one who seems to understand a diverse group of people best. Since ultimately politics is simply the way in which we all work out our interests collectively.