Why America needs Obama, by Deval Patrick

[jefferson_dem]

Why America needs Obama
By Deval Patrick
January 5, 2008

I AM proud to be a Democrat, but sometimes Democratic politics can be tiresome.

For years, candidates have appealed to voters by arguing how they can win or why any Democrat would be better than any Republican. They miss the fact that voters are more interested in why Democrats should win than how we will. They mistakenly believe that discontent with Republicans will assure a Democratic victory, when in truth most of us aren't buying 100 percent of what either party is selling. So, election after election, we end up with the same old debate and commentary about competing electoral tactics rather than a vision for the future.

We have a chance this time to choose a different kind of candidate, a different kind of president.

Barack Obama is the only candidate in the field who has demonstrated the ability to unite people across differences around common cause.

From his work in Chicago neighborhoods, to the Illinois Senate, to the US Senate, to his success in campaigning for other candidates in so-called red states like Missouri, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Virginia, Obama has shown an uncommon ability to work across differences and get meaningful results. Applying that talent to a vision for a better, safer, more just, and more prosperous American future could not come a moment too soon.

We face profound challenges. The Bush administration has been ineffective in foreign policy and absent in domestic policy. While our troops are performing well abroad, their mission was poorly conceived and their exit strategy nonexistent. At home, the poor are in terrible shape and the middle class are one month away from being poor. Healthcare and college costs are getting further and further out of reach, roads and bridges are in disrepair, and a lot of the people in power have spent more time denying climate change than trying to defeat it. Everyday people are anxious, and their anxiety knows no party.

America needs Obama.

He has comprehensive plans to end the war in Iraq, provide universal healthcare, lift up schools, and to save the planet. I like many of his ideas. But frankly most candidates in the race - Democrat and Republican - have a couple of good ideas. What I want, and what I sense the American people want, is more than good policy. We want great leadership.

This is where Barack Obama rises above the field. Instead of calculation or connections, he has risen on convictions. Instead of stoking partisan anger, he calls on our common aspirations. Instead of the right and the left, he is focused on right and wrong. At a time when so many of us - Democrats, Republicans, and independents - are tired of petty division and desperate for change, Obama makes a claim on all of us to join in restoring the American dream. His leadership is about articulating a vision and motivating others to reach for it.

That is why Obama consistently polls higher with independents and Republicans than any other Democrat. That is why he is greeted by crowds made up of every kind of person, from all kinds of backgrounds. That is why he won the Iowa caucuses on Thursday. That is why he has received more than 750,000 donations, mostly from small donors, and signed up a half-million supporters from all age groups, states, races, and political affiliations - many of them involved in the process for the first time. When people try to imagine the kind of leadership they want and know we need, the image that comes to many minds is Obama.

<SNIP>

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/05/why_america_needs_obama/

[Mythsaje]

1. First of all, it's NOT "petty" division.

On one hand you've got people who've been cheering the systematic dismantling of the Constitution, the deliberate scapegoating of whole classes of people, and folks who see nothing wrong with destroying another country to allegedly keep "us" safe. People who think it's okay that the oil companies are making record profits while alternative energy research is being terribly underfunded and we're paying over three bucks a gallon at the pump. That don't take issue with us borrowing billions from China and leaving the bill for our children and grandchildren.

On the other hand you have people dedicated to the preservation of human rights, dignity, and economic justice.

Anyone who calls these "petty" disputes is a fucking jackass.

[candymarl]

2. You nailed it!

As you said, it's not "petty" to take a country into war based on lies. Or to illegally spy on American citizens. Or to pass a law ending habeas corpus. Or to sign off on torture in violation of the Geneva Conventions and US law. Or to steal two elections. Or to... The list is way too long. But thank you. I too, am tired of some people being dismissive of these things. These are things that can slowly destroy a democracy. It's going to take more than hope and bipartisanship. Particularly when the other side has no intention of keeping its word. There's one thing I do agree with Hillary about. I don't think Senator Obama has any idea how vicious and unrelenting the other side can be. I think that's the experience she keeps alluding to. You're exactly correct in your view. I just wish some folk would get it.