OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!

[sigerson]

"We can be better."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I LOVE THIS MAN

erm. That is to say, nobody--not one other speech I've ever heard or seen--has ever. Ever. Ever. inspired me this much.

I don't want to debate fine points of his plan, his strategy, his delivery. I don't even really want to discuss the speech. I just want to celebrate this cracking-open of my cynical political self, exposing the gooey nougat center of hope.

We can be something other than two angry, sullen half-countries smushed against each other, making snide remarks in bumper-sticker soundbites. We can be listening to our differences, rather than tossing them aside as automatically evil or stupid.

We can be better than we have been.

Yes we can.

Comments

[sanj.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES.

[kansas-dave.livejournal.com]

BTW, did you see the ad McCain released yesterday?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v_ioN5SyBM

[sigerson.livejournal.com]

Good for him! Doesn't change who I'll vote for, but good for him!

[g-me.livejournal.com]

agreed. !!

[ladymajor.livejournal.com]

God, I know. I KNOW!! He makes me so giddy and happy and hopeful. It is a strange thing being hopeful again after 8 years of political despair, with maybe a couple of days in there where I actually thought Howard Dean could make things happen, and an hour or so where I actually thought Kerry had something like a chance.

[wavyarms.livejournal.com]

Yay, gooey nougat center!

[2h2o.livejournal.com]

We can be something other than two angry, sullen half-countries smushed against each other, making snide remarks in bumper-sticker soundbites.

Maybe we can, but will we? I've yet to see anything from Obama that suggests willingness to reach across the aisle. And his supporters are even less interested. For most of them, this campaign isn't about new ideas, it's about crushing and shaming Republicans.

Clearly my gooey center is as-yet undiscovered (how many licks does it frickin' take?), but so far Obama's proposals have all felt like populism-as-usual.

(In case any of the Washington Post comments crowd is reading this, no, I'm not a fan of McCain either.)

[scottahill.livejournal.com]

1. Frankly, I think the Republican leadership are a bunch of crooks: not reaching out to them is the sensible thing to do. Reaching out to the Republican *voters*, on the other hand, is a good thing. They have gotten the shaft thanks to a number of corrupt politicians who claim to represent them while shamelessly manipulating them on tiny issues like gay marriage. Democratic politicians are no angels, but geez! No comparison.

2. Any policy of Obama's is going to sound populist in comparison to current policy, but that's because true left-wingers are hardly ever heard from. The left-wing version of Glenn Beck is standing on a soapbox in a park somewhere, not hosting a show on CNN. A large majority of Americans are pro-choice (not pro-abortion, mind) but that's not obvious from the media or our politicians. The definition of what's "center" has been shifted so far to the right that we're actually debating whether it's OK to torture people or spy on them without a court order: in that kind of environment, Richard Nixon starts to look like a populist (he did propose a negative income tax for poor people, and got the Endangered Species Act passed, after all).

3. "Populism-as-usual" is hardly usual; we haven't seen anything like it recently. And things have sucked as a result. Why not bring it back and give it a go? Or do you want him to come up with something completely new? A fourth dimension of politics?

That's my rant. :) It's my impression that Obama is serious about compromising with the right, much to the chagrin of us his liberal supporters, but I don't have the facts to prove it so I won't try.

[mindways]

I've yet to see anything from Obama that suggests willingness to reach across the aisle. And his supporters are even less interested.

...

The latter, I can certainly agree with, at least when one means "his supporters which got him the Democratic Party nomination".

The former, I'm not so sure about. It seems like half the articles I read about Obama these days are about how he's pissing off his more fanatical supporters by taking more centrist positions. Or sometimes even more nuanced positions, which don't necessarily fit neatly into the stereotypical left-vs-right spectra. (Both of which I applaud heartily.)

[sen-no-ongaku.livejournal.com]

I think you missed the point of this post.

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

Sing it, sister.

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

Your icon amuses me greatly and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Also, word to this post. Yes. Yes.