Politics as Transcendence

Only once in a very long time does politics become more than politics, that is something more than partisan struggle, vote bartering, or arena of ambition. In ordinary times, ordinary political leaders suffice, more or less.

But on rare occasion, old arrangements and conventional wisdom come unstuck. This happens in periods of rapid if not revolutionary change. We find ourselves now in one of those periods. The forces of globalization, information, eroding sovereignties, and transformation of war ensure that traditional leaders and conventional politics can only muddle through at best and fail badly at worst.

But periods of upheaval also offer opportunities, opportunities to change our methods, our ideas, and our leaders. The rare leader capable of transforming threat to opportunity is one who welcomes transformation and sees it as a chance to abandon tradition and convention, to transcend that which is stale, unprofitable, and ineffective.

Periods of transformation require experimentation, innovation, and daring. America is a nation much more conservative than it thinks itself to be. Thus, its default position is to resist a forward leap even while applauding itself for its creativity. Al Capone said it best: "We don't want no trouble." But transformation is trouble in the best sense of the word, trouble that causes us to adapt to new conditions and circumstances and create new ways of governing.

Through some miracle of timing, luck, and good fortune Barack Obama has seized the moment. His mantra of "change" has been largely co-opted by lesser figures. He is in fact an agent of transformation. He is not operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians, and this makes him seem elusive to the conventional press and the traditional politicians. His instinct for the moment and the times is orders of magnitude more powerful than the experience claimed by others. Experience in the old ways is irrelevant experience.

In an age of great transformation, experience of the past is worthless because it is a barrier to the breakthrough gesture, the instant response in crisis, the instinctive bold decision in the face of totally new circumstances.

Some see Barack Obama as the long awaited champion finally come to slay the awful dragon of race. And they are right. Some see him as a new start for the Democratic Party and national politics. And they are right. Some see him as the walking embodiment of internationalism, ready to restore an honorable and respected place for America in the world. And they are right.

I see Barack Obama as a leader for this transcendent moment, the agent of transformation in an age of revolution, as a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st century and to convert threat to great new opportunity.

Comments

[WillBFair]

'Instinct for the moment', 'transforming threat to opportunity', 'siezed the moment', and 'not...on the same plane'. Thank you, Senator, for the high flown abstractions. I'm sure they'll work with people who don't know the difference between logic and rhetoric.

[Destardi]

So, what's Gary Hart doing nowadays, anyway?

Sorry Mr. Hart but "old ways" of politics will always be in play. Sure there will be new media, new communications ability...­but the same mechanism of politics will always be in play...bac­kroom dealing, negative campaigns, you scratch my back, I scratch yours.

Why?

Mr. Hart you can't be serious...­any endeavor that requires 1 million dollars a day will not be won because of "a new way of politics."

It will be won because...­the old way is the only way, at least in America. Obama is nothing new...he speaks well, he delivers lines from his speeches (written by someone else) flawlessly; thinking on his feet and taking a STAND ON SOMETHING IMPORTANT not so much.

[cheforacle]

You sound like the monarchists of the 1770's, the aristocrats of antebellum South, the monopolists of the 1890s and the laissez-faire bankers of the 1930's. America is the story of innovation and improvement. 40 years ago many blacks could not vote, could not get good jobs and lived in drastically inferior accomodations. Someone who said that "the old way is the only way" would have been proven very wrong. Obama is completely new. Name one politician who, on a daily basis, fills coliseums with 20,000 people. I defy you.

[schmuckwithearlaps]

Here's one for you! Obama is the trophy wife of the Democratic party. He looks good, he's young and you can show him off in public. The other candidate put you through college, raised your children etc but who gives a fuck when you want to live in a dream world. America had better get out of its mid-life crisis in a hurry or in eight years we will be calling Scalia the lone liberal dissenter on the Supreme Court.

[daveny]

I get so sick of the "cult" attacks on Obama's campaign. You wanna talk about a cult, how about the "cult" of FDR, or the cult of Gandhi, or the "cult" of JFK.

Politics at its best DOES inspire, and moves people to believe that they can do more, and we can all do better.

That's what we're SUPPOSED to aim for -- not just piddling, wonkish nitpicking!

[jorge999]

Who could have known,
at the very start,
'Unbeatable'
would falter?
That New Hope
would stir
an old Hart,
and the future
alter?
Who could have known
the future of Hillary
would be ancillary?

[FirstShirt]

I'm a republican and I find Obama's candidacy a thrilling testimony to our country. As is Hillary's. We should all be proud of this accomplishment and celebrate it...even if we vote against him come November.

[Groobiecat]

Not much of a testament if it's something that you ultimately vote against him. That's like saying "I've finally stopped smoking! Now I can get on with my life!" -- and then 10 minutes later, lighting up.

It's not real if we don't *make* it real. Otherwise it's just an interesting "celebration" that has no real substance.

Voting against Barack? Let's not and say we did...

[Bocababs]

Gary, no matter what happens in this contest and yes....eve­n if Hillary does pull this off with her "amazing traveling poltical machine", I am so happy that after 40 years, I lived to see this. I cannot tell you the times I had to take a deep breath before I voted Democratic but this time is different. Great Post.

[FirstShirt]

I feel the same and I'm republican and I too have sometimes held my nose. It is a special and historic time that has been earned in the streets and by the women and the people of color [and their white compatriots] who did good. Our country should be congratulated!

[kellygrrrl]

I, too, am so proud at this moment. My faith in humanity is slowly being restored. The fact that both of these candidates have managed to awake us from our collective National coma is amazing!

[CSE]

To truly get what you speak of would require a leader who is not isolated from the people - who is not beholden to the wealth that spirited him/her into position and understands that the consequences of actions affect us all and that there is no real benefit from mistaken decisions made in isolation skewed toward old ideas and no real reward in being last to suffer from such mistakes.

Your reply is an apt one for Mr. Wilson, who never disclosed whether he was up for a possible post in a Clinton administration. He failed to show that Hillary was duped - by her own admission - and that she believes in maintaining a presence in Iraq while also speaking of bringing troops home.

However, like Wilson's post yesterday inferred, you will ultimately be called upon to further delineate how "his instinct for the moment" trumps "experience". His "experience" is held in his advisers - and they are part of the body of the dragon of the status-quo.

[joyjak]

Kind of like Obama, but wonder if the only
person he defeated in election to become
Senator was ALAN KEYES

[cheforacle]

He is beating Clinton's butt all over the place and has eliminated Edwards, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich, Richardson and Gravel.

[Groobiecat]

And who, specifically, did Hillary defeat? Someone who really put her to the test? No, not really...

[marsgeek]

I am a late convert to Obama.
I am a Progressive and in him I actually see a chance to do the things to make this country better.

The same old shit isn't going to work.
Hilary isn't going to pass a health care bill in the present climate.
Her strategy of winning blue states and a couple swing states will not provide her any type of political will to do a thing.

She and McCain will essentially allow most of what Bush has done stand.

The tax cuts will stand.
The absurd increases in military spending will stand.
Finally and most importantly, the Iraq war and the NeoCon logic that led to it will stand.

Obama provides a vessel for Folks like me and Senator Hart to pour our hopes like a lot voters in.

Yesterday he convinced me that he gets it. He is the first candidate other than my man Dennis to even float the idea of "cutting" the defense budget. What a concept spend less on the Pentagon which has a Trillion dollars a year to waste and spending on "HUMAN RESOURCES" to make Americans healthier and more secure. I liked the broad outlines of his economic plan I heard Yesterday, and for the first time in a long time I actually had a bit of HOPE that at least one main stream politician might be getting it.

[Caniculus]

Here is the hope: that the moneyed corporate globalist interests behind Obama are better for the world than the moneyed corporate globalists behind McCain and Hillary.

Not all elitist forces are the same. My hope is that the catastrophe of the current administration has absolutely and irreversibly discredited the elite behind it. Perhaps America's plunge into fascism can be seen as the last desperate acts of a dying world view that will never -- can never -- rise again.

[cheforacle]

You are ignorant of the fact that Obama has been receiving literally hundreds of thousands of contributions from individuals. The percentage of donations from companies are small.

[jbatch]

Barack's genius has been to be a blank slate upon which we may all write our most sacred dreams.

You have etched yours, now let us hope that he will live up to them.

[Purple Girl]

He was not my first choice, but he has my support against Hillary.
I resent the media painting his supporters as either long time "hillary haters' or 'starry eyed fanatics'.­...WE are not either
We are those who see the corp mafia shoes under the curtain pulling Hillary's levers during her time in the Senate and esp while on the Armed Services committee.
She should not be running for president- she should be prepare for her defense for Corruption, Fraud, Dereliction of Duty, and possibly Treason, War crimes and an accessory to Crimes against Humanity ( Blood for Oil for the last 4 decades)
She has not 'Caved' to this admin, she has helped "PAVE' the way for their (her) Corp. Sponsors. A true blue Corporatio­nist.No allegance to US, only the Corp/privirized, profit driven agenda.
She is dick in Drag!!
At least Obama has not been as Indoctrinated in this "Pinky an dthe Brain' agenda
Hand US the Dice! We've been on a losing streak for 40 yrs- let's move to a new table and try our luck their.
Corp'ist ahte Democracy and the Free Market - the back bones of our country.

[vippy]

So Obama got caught one time not placing his hand over his heart. I don't pledge allegiance
myself because I think it is silly in my opinion. How does a gesture mean anything when you see everything else in the country goes the opposite way? To circulate this photo is desperate. I think it is much more meaningful for Hillary to abstain from voting as the constitution mandates, our rights! The FISA Bill. Tell Bush to get a warrant, then it is legal!

[shades3]

It takes more to convince people of someone's love of their country than to be seen with their hand over their heart while pledging allegience, or being seen exchanging words with their pastor on Sunday on the steps of a church.
A righteous person is seen by their work and their life choices, not by ultimately meaningless gestures meant to demonstrate to others their patriotism or their piety.
Barack Obama is indeed a clean slate.
Americans desperately need a clean slate, not one that is already cracked by compromise, as is Hillary Clinton's.
By supporting the Iraq war vote, Clinton began to lose her credibility and it has been a downhill slide ever since.
She is not "owed" the nomination.
If Hillary Clinton manages, by some means, to become John McCain's opponent in the Presidential Election, look forward to four, or even eight more years of Republican rule, with torture and aggression against all those who oppose it.
The nightmare will not be over.

[Cybele]

Huzzah! to Mr. Hart, who has articulated what I've been trying to say to my friends who still support Mrs. Clinton because she's another woman. What brought me to Obama is that he talks about "we" and "us", involving everybody, while Mrs. Clinton says essentially "vote for me and I'll take care of everything for you from day one." In my view, this attitude makes Obama the natural leader that she is not.

[eddiestardust]

If I had a whistle:)

What can be said of a Presidential Candidate
who can't even put his hand over his heart
as the band plays our National Anthem?

Pictures too:

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2007/10/20/obama-no-hand-heart-pledge-either-will-msm-notice

I think there is something wrong here..

NO EXCUSES!

[prscnt1]

It is not whether the hand is on heart, what is in the heart and mind. Actually, I run from the show offs. Bushboy always put his hand on his heart, yet killed the country. Look up: he and fat bastard cheney came with a plan to launch a war, and they did. Just look up cheney/rumsfeld history and you will find they had very very long hands in the govt and politicos of the US to do this, while using the Constitution for asswipe, with hand on the heart all the time.

[ekwhite]

Oooh - he didn't put his hand over his heart during the national anthem - he must be a terrorist. Do you even have a clue how fascistic your post sounds?

[katheyquilts]

I've been an active Republican since Ford was in office.And I NEVER knew I was supposed to place my hand over my heart for a song..
any song...
especially when the last line is PLAY BALL!