Its Obama Time
As readers of this blog know, I supported John Edwards in his bid for the Democratic nomination. Edwards has now withdrawn from the race. It is now Obama time.
Like many Americans, even on the left, I was leery of Obama's candidacy for any number of reasons having more to do with his youth, inexeperience and optimism than his politics. Looking hard at my reasoning, it just does not pass the categorical imperative. If I were to apply the same reasoning I applied to Obama to every candidate, I would never vote for anyone who was broad minded, optmistic, generous of spirit, or young. I would fall into the spiraling loop of only voting for people I thought were saavy (in a Jack Palance type of way), people who had internalized the strange cants of our polical culture, and people who were bland enough to be electable. That is a miserable, hopeless place. That essentially cedes the battle to the Lee Atwaters, Roger Ailes and Karl Rove's of our times -- all men who told us that anything outside a narrowly proscribed "mainstream" and anything beyond the most brutal, Hobbesian society was a pipe dream. All men who told us that it was hopeless to try to replace the market with justice.
This democracy is not through dreaming yet. Run, Barak, run.
Like many Americans, even on the left, I was leery of Obama's candidacy for any number of reasons having more to do with his youth, inexeperience and optimism than his politics. Looking hard at my reasoning, it just does not pass the categorical imperative. If I were to apply the same reasoning I applied to Obama to every candidate, I would never vote for anyone who was broad minded, optmistic, generous of spirit, or young. I would fall into the spiraling loop of only voting for people I thought were saavy (in a Jack Palance type of way), people who had internalized the strange cants of our polical culture, and people who were bland enough to be electable. That is a miserable, hopeless place. That essentially cedes the battle to the Lee Atwaters, Roger Ailes and Karl Rove's of our times -- all men who told us that anything outside a narrowly proscribed "mainstream" and anything beyond the most brutal, Hobbesian society was a pipe dream. All men who told us that it was hopeless to try to replace the market with justice.
This democracy is not through dreaming yet. Run, Barak, run.
posted by Jack Reed at 2:26 PM
1 Comments:
Nice: the democracy is not through dreaming yet. Great post!
The Hobbesian fantasies of Karl Rove? Karl Rove sings like a locust and chews his matted hair. He breezes through harrowing suburbs until his cheeks cave in.
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