Who is Barack Obama? Atticus Finch.
For most of the year, Republicans have tried to negatively define Barack Obama. They compare him to the most empty aspects of our own society and the most violent aspects of global society. They twist everything, and lie about anything, and in doing so reveal exactly who and how desperate they are.
In the face of these attacks, Barack has remained calm, articulate, resolute. His anger, when it comes, is not the anger of a man with a hair-trigger temper, like John McCain, but the righteous anger of someone who knows that not only he, but our entire system, is being wronged.
And it got me thinking about who this reminds me of.
We know how John McCain defines himself -- as a maverick -- but anyone who's been paying attention knows how empty that slogan is. He's a follower at this point. He's following the lead of Steve Schmidt, his campaign manager, who once followed the lead of Karl Rove. Whatever smear works, whatever lie works, no matter how sleazy, that's what they'll do. So regardless of what John McCain once was, he has now been reduced to the role of a not very bright man surrounded by extremely malicious people. The same malicious people, I should add, who have surrounded another not very bright man, George W. Bush, for the last eight years.
But they keep pumping out the myth. The chest-thumping, Paul Fistinyourface myth of the stupidly aggressive American. In a magazine interview, John McCain even compared himself to TV hero Jack Bauer of "24," until he was reminded that Bauer's main (and suspect) means of gathering information -- torture -- is what John McCain suffered under for five years. But I guess torture is good as long as we're the torturers. I guess bullying is good as long as we're the bullies.
Barack, it's true, is no bully. When the Republicans mocked him for being a community organizer, he spoke eloquently about the relevance, particularly in troubled times, of "setting up job-training programs in areas that have been hard-hit when the steel plants closed," and then turned the question back on the Republicans: "The question I have for them is 'Why would that kind of work be ridiculous?' Who are they advocating for? Who are they fighting for?"
When Gov. Palin suggested that habeas corpus doesn't matter, he responded with a strong defense of both habeas corpus and the U.S. Constitution:
It's the foundation of Anglo-American law, which says very simply that if the government grabs you, you have the right to at least ask "Why was I grabbed?" and "Maybe you got the wrong person." ... The reason that you have this principle is not to be soft on terrorism, it's because that's who we are. That's what we're protecting. Don't mock the Constitution! Don't make fun of it! Don't pretend that it's un-American to abide by what the founding fathers set up, it's worked pretty well for over 200 years.
So who does Barack remind me of? He's a civil rights lawyer who taught Constitutional law and is bringing up two girls the right way. When bullies gather, he stands up for what's right, he stands up for the rule of law, he stands up. He's someone who can make friends out of our enemies rather than -- as the Republicans keep doing -- enemies out of our friends. He's an honorable man running an honorable campaign.
You've already read the headline so you already know my answer. Barack Obama reminds me of Atticus Finch, the hero of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and, according to the American Film Institute, the greatest hero in American movie history. (Barack actually seems tougher than Atticus, as anyone who's read Ryan Lizza's New Yorker piece would agree.)
Here's Scout on Atticus: "There just didn't seem to be anyone or anything Atticus couldn't explain." Here's Atticus to Scout: "If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."
This is the very lesson that chest-thumping Republicans have mocked for the last seven years. And where has it gotten us? Wasting billions pursuing the wrong people in the wrong places.
Republicans aren't interested in understanding people. They're not even interested in talking to people. You can almost imagine this bit of dialogue between Atticus and Scout taking place between Barack and a certain Republican vice-presidential candidate:
Atticus: Scout, do you know what a compromise is?
Scout: Bending the law?
Atticus: Um, no. It's an agreement reached by mutual consent.
We're still in this midst of our own mythic internal struggle, aren't we, between the violent and often lawless aspects that John McCain represents, and the tough but ethical rule of law that Barack Obama represents. I would've thought this battle was over by now. I would've thought rule of law triumphed long ago. Apparently not.
Even Atticus, that great hero, lost his case. He proved his case but the trial was rigged from the start by our own overwhelming prejudices, by our need to see things as they are not, by our need to buy into the lie.
Are we a better country now? Or do we still need to see things as they are not? Do we still need to buy into the lie?
That's up to you.
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Please. He's aware of a vast smear machine set up to destroy a fine American woman. That's Finch? This guy is a bully.
Knew this was coming. Surprised it took this long. He loses his case at the end... how will you all deal when the real world analogous situation occurs? "Stand up...Barac
Now really...y
The term metaphor is lost on you allsogreat isn't it?
While it's good to read, I am more concerned with what we'll allow the Repubs to keep on doing to this country. We need to take action. Complaining is not going to help. We need bold actions to stand against John McCain and his dishonorable campaign staffs. Volunteer your time to educate voters, especially older voters. I was disturbed this morning to read that a group called Catholic Express in PA is trying again to ask parishoners to vote based on what they call the "unnegotiables" issues. I am a devoted Catholic who has witnessed priests and bishops asking voters, both directly and indirectly to vote for Bush in 2004. It's happening again this year. Also, we've heard about pushed polls being conducted in many rural areas. How do we work against those groups? The battle to win this election is too important to let any of these unfortunates go unnoticed. How can we help elect a true leader in Barack Obama, a man who has inspired me, and millions of others to involve in politics? Bill Mayer said the following yesterday "We, democrats, vote common-sense. Repubs vote with their party platform regardless of what that platform is. He said that's why Repubs administration have dominated the political governance of this great country more than the Dems. May be we should start breaking with that tradition of ours as Dems. Especially this year where this election is so important. All Dems should vote for a democrat. Thank you
The people that need to be reached by this piece have no idea who Atticus Finch is. Really, Obama had a better tack when comparing himself to Ronald Reagan. But that little escapade put the far left in a tizzy. I would remind them that even though Reagan was profoundly wrong about a great deal, exploitation, through comparison, of the better parts of his nature could have gone a long way toward infiltrating the minds of the moderate Republicans.
Nailed it. i love Atticus.
Would Atticus capitulate on FISA and not only allow continued eavesdropping but immunize past law-breaking? Would Atticus pander to regional voters with promises of ethanol and clean coal? Would Atticus criticize a Supreme Court decision that took the Death Penalty off the table for convicted child molestors? Would Atticus join the 'let's drill for oil of our coast' crowd in order to secure a few votes? Would Atticus allow his proxies to allege racism and smear his political opponents?
Barack Obama is no Atticus Finch. I'll still vote for him, but he's no Atticus Finch.
I think you've nailed it.
Thank you, this is BRILLIANT and I totally agree.
Just wonderful. I raised my children on Atticus Finch.
Catherine Crier wrote a beautiful piece posted right here on HuffPo suggesting the same sentiment! I think you both are right!
WHEN YOU BUY INTO THE REPUBLICAN LIES YOU BECOME A CONSPIRATOR AGAINST YOUR OWN GOOD!
IT TAKES YOUR CONSENT FOR THEM TO LIE TO YOU !!!!!!!
IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND BY TURNING OFF OR VOICING YOUR ANGERY AT THE THOUGHT OF YOU BEING WEAK MINDED AND CORRUPT.
I wish the headline didn't contain the punch-line, because I think it would have hit me like a ton of bricks at the reveal without it. Maybe you want to alter the title to increase the effect; then again, I may not have been drawn in but for the comparison
Fabulous analogy!
My dad was also like Atticus Finch. When I was 13, he was appointed by the judge to represent a mentally retarded heroin addict who, at the urging of 2 evil heroin dealers who used him like a puppet, killed his own parents for the $40 in their till, and then killed 2 cops in my home town, the first cops ever to be killed in the line of duty in the town's 80-year history. The whole town wanted to lynch the guy, and people tried to shoot him through the jail windows. My friends at school stopped coming around my house, and when I asked them why, they told me their parents had forbidden them to associate with us because our family was considered satanic because my dad had agreed to defend the guy. Like Finch, my dad explained to us that everyone deserves a fair defense. My dad was able to negotiate for life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty. As it turns out, it was cheaper on the state than having to do all those mandatory appeals. And the guy learned how to make mosaic tiles and has helped build schools and public buildings, actually making a contribution to society from behind bars. I respected my dad a lot for standing up to the pinheads in our small town, and for the Constitution. I finally understood that the very time to defend it is the time you need it the most.
Your father was a true hero of the Republic. I can only hope and work that we might have a few more like him. It takes millions of such people to knit the broken bones of a great society. Thank you for sharing this.
That movie is in my top five, and the book is amazing, too. My daughter is adopted from a third world country. For me, part of the reason we brought her here to the US was that I wanted her to experience the glory of living in a country where the rule of law was followed. If Obama doesn't win in November, I wonder if I'll have that opportunity.
Great post. A portion near the end of your piece is what resonates with me the most. "We're still in this midst of our own mythic internal struggle, aren't we, between the violent and often lawless aspects that John McCain represents
I'm an independent who has voted for Ronald Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Ross Perot, Al Gore, and John Kerry, and what the GOP has become is simply frightening. Your analogy of Obama staring them down the way Atticus Finch stared down Bob Ewell and his lynch mob is an apt one, and one that I hope plays out to a better ultimate conclusion.
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