derek gulbranson

Nothing But Words

To Vilify Obama for his Ability to Inspire is to Ignore the Principal Lesson of the Last Three Decades of American Politics

From 1932 until the mid 1970s -- at least in our domestic politics -- progressive values provided the dominant frame for mainstream political debate. They defined political "common sense." By 1980, the Reagan revolution had changed that -- and rightwing values have framed the American political debate for the thirty years since.

That's largely because Progressives went into a "defensive crouch." Our candidates advocated "Republican-lite" positions. We refused to debate the fundamental differences between the progressive and radical conservative values. Chief among these differences is the central question of whether we're all in this together, or all in this alone.

Often our leaders retreated to the discussion of small, incremental policy initiatives that presumed the right wing's assumptions about the primacy of "private markets" over people, and the innate inferiority of democratically elected governmental institutions compared to corporations that are in fact unaccountable to the public interest.

In 1993 we had a Democratic President and Democratic Congress, but we lost the battle for universal health care. What we needed then, and what we need now, is a massive national mobilization to pass universal health care, change our labor laws, enact campaign finance reform, provide universal access to higher education and preschool, end global warming and change our foreign policy.

Leadership, more than anything else, is about mobilizing people into action. People take action when they feel empowered -- when they are inspired. They will not take action simply because they are "convinced" we are right. They will take action when they are motivated by inspiration to be a part of an historic endeavor.

And, in the spirit of Dan Quayle, a few quotes from the campaign:

"I do not seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me."
-- John McCain (2/13/2008)

Uhh, yea, obviously not.

"All of our problems are interconnected, but we treat them as though one is guacamole and one is chips."
-- Hillary Clinton, speaking to a Latino audience (1/15/2008)

Way to get at the root of the problem, Hillary.

"A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive."
-- President Bush, after touring a genocide memorial, Kigali, Rwanda. (2/19/2008)

So, we should build more museums I guess. Museums really seem to get through to him.