Obama – Inspiration, Hope and Substance
If the voters in Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana and the US Virgin Islands are any indication, inspiration and hope are definitely factors when making a decision for a candidate. Still, I see the same old comments every day about how Obama is untested, not substantive, hasn’t been specific about how he would lead, what his policies are, or what he would do.
Plain and simple, the folks who say that aren’t reading. Or more to the point, they aren’t watching, because if they were, they’d understand exactly what his positions on the issues are, exactly how he plans to organize his Presidency, and they’d have a clear idea of whether he would be nothing more than a tax-and-spend fiscal liberal or a progressive thinker with ideas and concrete plans for how to turn around the economy and direction of this country.
Some examples:
- A campaign financed by small sacrifices by many people, ordinary people, $25 at a time. After Super Tuesday and before Hillary Clinton’s announcement that she had loaned her campaign $5 million out of her own pocket, the Obama campaign had already raised $3 million. After the Clinton announcement, the fundraising went mad, with nearly $8 million raised in 24 hours. Most of those donations were between $10 and $400. Small sacrifices made by many people.
- Campaign ad spending which maximizes the reach of the ad (e.g., the SuperBowl regional ads), leveraging the buy for maximum impact.
- Outreach to individuals to step up and ACT in even the very smallest way (writing a blog post, making a few phone calls, putting up signs in their neighborhoods, etc), giving them ownership in the election process and their candidate.
- Maximum use of Internet resources, including email, YouTube, social network aspects of the site itself (groups, friending, blogs, news), and Flickr, as well as placing detailed position papers on the site for anyone to see (no registration required), and actively blogging and communicating with everyone on a near-constant basis. While other candidates also make use of the Internet, no campaign is as effective as the Obama campaign at leveraging Web 2.0 for their benefit. Out of that come the interesting mashups like the will.i.am “Yes We Can” video.
If you want to know what kind of President Barack Obama will be, look at what kind of candidate he is — a good steward of the funds individuals are contributing, a hard worker, a listener, and an inspiring person. It’s the inspiration part that gets the cynics in a twist. They’re the “can’t” folks, the so-called realists who have a vested interest in politics as usual in Washington and across the country. They’re Democrat and Republican alike, and they have definite reasons for wanting no change other than a power shift.
If Barack Obama were placed into any other context besides politics, he would be held up as a visionary leader. Because the political process is one which is traditionally dedicated to the tearing-down of all candidates, his message of hope and empowerment is pooh-poohed by the skeptics as air, fluff, insubstantive and unworthy of consideration. That attitude is a lazy one, one that chooses to dismiss someone on the basis of a gift rather than a difference of opinion. There are many who disagree at the core of their soul with the positions that Obama takes, and I have no argument with them. They’re entitled to their opinions. The ones I take issue with are the ones who simply dismiss him as a pretty boy with a flair for oratory without considering the amazing accomplishment of a candidate who has shown himself worthy in debate, speech, and substance enough to be seriously challenging Hillary Clinton’s considerable political clout and name recognition for his opportunity to run for office.
My suggestion is that those who are undecided about their primary vote should evaluate how each campaign has been conducted, look at who has made missteps and who has not, look at the source of campaign funds, look at the willingness to be transparent and honest with the electors and then decide. But don’t just dismiss him because you don’t believe there is hope, or that inspiration should be discounted, because they are certainly a part of any formula for leadership, including the Presidency.
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