Why Obama?

I’ve been engaged in a simmering debate with my wife over the Democratic nomination; she’s a Hillary supporter who argues eloquently for giving a woman a chance to finally lead this country. When I talk about Obama’s ability to inspire, she talks about Hilary’s experience and battle-tested readiness and I hear the echoes of the current media obsession: Obamamania is a cult of personality. This brings me up short and I worry about potential naivete on my part --- and yet I persist in belief.

I’m too young to have really experienced the sixties politically, my earliest political memories are of Watergate and the end days of the Vietnam War (and I did proudly display a “Don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts” bumper sticker on my bicycle in 1973, even though you couldn’t possibly blame me, or credit me, I was in middle school during that election*). In many ways the events of those days continue to contribute to the current political climate of skepticism and distrust of political leaders. But for me, living through those times, especially as an impressionable young person whose older sibling was marching in the streets and participating in shutting down the administration of her university, it made me a believer in the power of collective action. We stopped an immoral war and we ejected an immoral leader. We, the people, stood up and said, “This is wrong, it has to stop.” and it did. That’s the way this country is supposed to work.

Sadly, it’s not the way it works anymore. Me, I blame Ronald Reagan, not so much for his policies as for his rhetoric. “Government doesn’t solve problems. Government is the problem.” Two whole generations of Americans have grown up believing that, being completely and utterly cynical about the power of government to fix our problems. Those folks didn’t live through the Depression and witness the electrification of rural America; the invention of the Social Security system, the nation-unifying struggles of WW2, and the construction of the interstate highway system. Government used to get stuff done, until the brilliant rhetoric of Ronald Reagan convinced a sufficient number of people that this was impossible. So, we turned government over to people who either are i) entirely cynical about the purpose of government, or ii) dedicated to its destruction, or iii) both.

So, for me, this election is really about one thing: getting people to believe that we can, if we work together, solve problems. See, the thing is, the American people fell for Reagan’s nonsense (I never did: don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts), but I don’t think the vast majority of us really, deep in our hearts, believe it. That’s why we’re flocking to Obama. Not because celestial choirs sing when he speaks, but because he can undo the rhetorical damage that is the real legacy of Ronald Reagan. He can make us believe again that government can actually solve people’s problems. He can make us believe that when people come together and work towards a common goal, the world can change. And, despite what Margaret Mead said about a small group of committed citizens changing the world, it really takes all of us, well, at least a majority of us, to make real, lasting change. People are hungry to believe again. People are begging for someone to step up and say, “The American experiment actually can work and here’s how.” Hilary can’t do that, Hilary isn’t even interested in trying.

* In the 1972 general election Richard Nixon carried 49 of the 50 states, all but Massachusetts (he also lost the District of Columbia), Massachusetts Democrats proudly sported the self-congratulatory I-told-you-so “Don’t blame me” bumper stickers as Nixon’s crimes became clearer.