Here are different aspects of the current phenomenon. I've inserted my own brief note between them because it focusses on a critical, missing dimension - in my opinion, perhaps the most important one. Ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/opinion/08herbert.html?th&emc=th Striding Past the Cynics By BOB HERBERT NY Times Op-Ed: January 8, 2008 Derry, N.H. Some of the people who showed up early to stand in the long line outside the field house of the Pinkerton Academy would end up waiting more than three hours to see the candidate. Barack Obama was running late, held back by huge and enthusiastic crowds at earlier events. Even people who were not planning to vote for him wanted to see him. When he finally arrived and took the stage, Mr. Obama told the audience, to boisterous cheers: "There's something going on out there. Something's stirring in the wind." The past week has been a bad one for cynics. For all the criticism of the presidential election process - that it lasts too long, that the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary have too much influence, that the news media's coverage is too much about the horse race, and so on - for all that, the early stages of this presidential race have been both compelling and heartening. Voters are excited about this election. They have trudged through snow and frigid air in enormous numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire to see and hear and question the candidates. And most of the candidates are working incredibly hard, fighting their way through exhaustion to attend the next rally or town hall meeting or community breakfast or debate. What is being fashioned in this process is nothing less than the face of early 21st century America. Debra Gable and Bill Laprade told me during a chat in a Dunkin' Donuts here that they had driven from Barre Town in central Vermont to get a closer look at Mr. Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton and maybe Senator John McCain. Mr. Laprade, who described himself as conservative, quietly expressed his disenchantment with President Bush and said Mr. McCain "sounded sincere and genuine." Ms. Gable said she liked Senator McCain as well, but she was leaning toward Senator Obama. "I dislike politics," she said, "because we focus on our differences even though we have so many more commonalities. That's what I think I'm hearing from Obama, so I want to see how he is in person." No one knows whether Senator Obama can sustain his remarkable quest, or whether Senator Clinton can untangle the snags that have hobbled her campaign, or whether Senator McCain can resurrect a candidacy that not too long ago was pronounced dead. But something new, not just in American politics but in the society as a whole, is undoubtedly emerging. The change is already under way. It would not have been possible to imagine even just a few years ago that a black man could come out of Iowa (and maybe New Hampshire) leading the charge toward the Democratic presidential nomination. There are plenty of racists still lurking among us, and they'll no doubt be agitated by the Obama phenomenon. But it would be hard for anyone to make the case that the U.S. as whole has not become less racially prejudiced over the past several years. Implicit in Mr. Obama's message of healing and reconciliation is the promise of further progress on this once intractable front. Senator Clinton's candidacy is also historic - and emblematic of change. Misogyny still permeates most aspects of society, but there aren't many people willing to step up and make the case that a woman cannot lead the nation. If there is a theme running through the nominating process of both parties, it's the idea that voters are fed up with the con, with the phony, plastic, programmed politicians who are obsessed with power and contemptuous of the real concerns of ordinary men and women. I think it's interesting that the people crying out for a new kind of politics are not the down-and-outers, but are educated, middle-class Americans who in some sense understand that they've been sold a bill of goods. They see the value of their homes decreasing and their personal indebtedness climbing to new heights. They know how much it costs to send a son or daughter to college. They are tired of the war in Iraq and concerned about America's standing in the world. And they are worried that the American dream that has sustained so many generations for so long won't be there for their children and grandchildren. When Barack Obama asks how many people in his overflow audience are still undecided and a third of the people raise their hands, it's a sign that there is a hunger for new leadership but that it won't be easily satisfied. Something is stirring all right. Voters are paying attention. Young people are coming into the process. The electorate is fed up and ready to invoke the prerogatives of citizenship to hold the leadership to higher standards. The textbooks tell us that's exactly how it's supposed to work. *** ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Pearl To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 7:21 AM Hi Steve. I'm a realist, deep down. Couldn't have survived at the Ash Grove without being one. I'm glad Kucinich exists and does what he does, but he'll never go anywhere as a presidential candidate. Obama is incredibly inspiring to the entire nation's young people, as was Bobby Kennedy, and his brother before him. Imperial intentions aside, JFK's peace corps was the training ground for Mario Savio, et al who then turned to civil rights activity and leadership, then empowerment (the FSM,) then anti-war, and on. That's reality. Obama is also riding the effects of Katrina and Jenna and the many now-disgusted voters of 2006. This could begin a tidal wave, whether or not he gains the presidency. He'd be hard pressed trying to shut down that force, especially black people. If I were a Democrat I'd have voted Kucinich, then Edwards, then, holding my nose and breath, Obama. It's probably the best we're going to get out of all this, and it's a lot better than now, isn't it. If Edwards becomes VP and holds firm on his current anti-corporate politics, that would be a bonus. And don't be too hard on Dennis. He probably has the same analysis I do. Love, Ed *** The Hutchinson Political Report A hard hitting news and commentary blog on race and politics in America. The Hutchinson Report features weekly commentary on hot button national issues by political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson. MONDAY, JANUARY 07, 2008 What to (and not to) Expect from an Obama White House Earl Ofari Hutchinson A President Barack Obama will be the most scrutinized president since Abraham Lincoln. Ironically, the reason for this has less to do with race, though that will loom large in the lens of many, as it has to do with him. He's lifted public passions and expectations to the clouds with his soaring rhetoric about hope and change; the man who can repair the shambles of Bush's domestic and foreign policies. That's quite a cross for a Senator halfway through his first term, with a wafer thin voting record, little experience with foreign policy matters, and whose still fuzzy, or to put it more charitably, with a still work-in-progress program on affordable health care, education, criminal justice system reform, tax policy, and the housing crisis. A man who needs to pound consistency into his pronouncements that at times seem at odds with the other pronouncements he's made on winding down the Iraq war and the terrorism fight. The jury is still way out on just how many of those inflated expectations that he can fulfill. But there are glaring clues as to how much change he can or will even try to make. One is his record in the Illinois state legislature. At first glance, his votes and views during his days in the Illinois Senate on taxes, abortion, civil liberties, civil rights, law enforcement and on capital punishment give much comfort to those who crave for him to make the change he hints at. His stance on tax hikes marked him with some business and taxpayer interest groups as another tax and spend Democrat, and his views on social issues, marked him as an unabashed liberal. He's anything but that, and that's another clue as to what to expect from an Obama White House. He's a centrist Democrat who is fast replacing the Clintons with the Democratic Party's shot callers as the consummate party inside, their new go to guy. Corporate donors, Hollywood moguls, and through the back door with him, fat cat lobbyists with the quiet nod of Democratic Party insiders have dumped millions into his campaign. They don't shower money, favors, and promotional praise on a candidate unless they are comfortable that the candidate will not stray to far off the beaten political path and abandon the moderate, respectable approach to policy making. In the White House, Obama will move cautiously and do everything he can to ensure that the tag "liberal" won't be slapped on him. The majority of Congressional Democrats and Republicans are centrist to conservative to even ultra-conservative. They would instantly draw their line in the sand against him if he makes a quick push for big tax hikes for education and health care to a push for a quick withdrawal from Iraq which Obama does not favor. He will do everything he can to escape the fate that befell Bill Clinton the instant he touched a toe in the White House. Republicans waged a gutter wallowing personal and political stealth, and at times, open war against him and his policies, and Clinton made no pretense of being a liberal Democrat. Their attack arsenal included everything from personal slander to stonewalling his judicial appointments and his stab at health care reform. That forced Clinton to tip toe even further to the right on the death penalty, beefing up police power, gay rights, welfare reform, and reining in bloated military spending, while assuring that the Democratic Party would not pander to minorities and the poor. Obama's pro choice and abortion rights defense in the Illinois legislature earned him a perfect rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council. And he was a major backer of legislation limiting police interrogations and requiring police to keep racial stats on unwarranted traffic stops, and he supported strict gun control. These are three hyper sensitive issues for conservatives. If Obama puts White House muscle into big reform fights on these issues, he will draw instant fire from right to life groups nationally, police unions, and the NRA. It's not likely he'll risk that, it's not his style anyway. He got high marks from Illinois Senate Republicans precisely for his willingness to horse trade, deal make, and compromise on the touchiest of issues for conservatives. They praised him as a flexible politician and consensus builder who listened to the views of his Republican opponents. American politics demands that, especially of moderate Democrats. With Obama, corporations and lobbyists will be even more hawk like in guarding the legislative door to protect their interests, conservatives will tighter their perennial gate keeping against any effort to push abortion rights, and the defense industry will be even more vigilant against any effort at deep military slashes. Any president that bucks these dominant special interests risks being branded anti-police, anti-business, pro abortion, pro labor, pro-gun control, and a dreaded tax and spend liberal Democrat. That fear more often than not translates into even the best intentioned president caving in when the battle is on for crucial political and social reforms. That will include even one who has made hope and change his ticket to the White House. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House (Middle Passage Press, February, 2007). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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