DENVER -- Clinton supporters aren't the only Democrats who aren't thrilled with the presumptive nominee. At a gathering today of Spiritual Progressives, a priest, a rabbi, a Muslim, and an evangelical Christian lamented Barack Obama's move toward the center.
"McGovern told me it was the same thing that happened to him," said Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun magazine. After the primary, the pros come in and advise the candidate to appear more like what people expect, a strategy Lerner believes is not only disingenuous but ineffective. "'Hey, I'm not really black. I'm just one of the good ol' boys from Arkansas.' People know they're being lied to," said Lerner.
Instead, Lerner urged Obama to embrace a strategy of "deep ethical and spiritual truth."
"Not, 'I can fight the war better than McCain,' but 'no more wars,'" said Lerner.
Among the dark suits, power brokering, and horse-race campaign talk that dominate the convention centers in downtown Denver, the gathering of Spiritual Progressives appeared a bit unlikely. About two hundred people settled into plastic chairs in a fluorescent-lit, wall-to-wall carpeted hotel meeting room. A third--if that--wore delegate credentials; I didn't see any other press there. In contrast, the Democratic Governors Association briefing I'd attended an hour earlier attracted about fifty media.
A man in a bandana played the guitar and led the group in a song, and the charmingly-named Father Dear began the meeting with a prayer.
Graig Mayer, a delegate from North Carolina, admitted later that he was initially put off by the scene. "I saw the guy with the guitar come out and thought, 'no wonder there aren't a lot of young people here.'" Indeed, most of the crowd was closer to John McCain's age than Obama's.
As the afternoon progressed, however, both Mayer and I settled into the scene, which turned out to be equal parts theology and politics. Lerner, the lynch pin of the event, outlined his vision for a Global Marshall Plan: to change trade agreements so people in other countries could sustain themselves and not flock to the U.S. as immigrants; to dedicate 1-2% of the gross domestic product to organizations with proven track records of providing aid, especially to women; and to institute a 'new bottom line,' in which money and technological development are not the
sole criteria for success, but considered in light of spirituality, ethics, and human relationships.
As Lerner sees it, there are two world views. The rational world view holds that we are born alone and others will dominate us unless we dominate them first. This, Lerner says, is the common view of politics in the contemporary world--an interpretation corroborated by the Democratic Governors Association, where most of the briefing was dedicated to how many seats the Dems could maintain and pick up in November. Any larger vision was confined to whether coal-gasification or wind, solar, and water would be a more worthy alternative energy source. (Not surprisingly, Joe Manchin of West Virginia put in a few plugs for coal, and Brian Schweitzer
of Montana claimed, "The Rocky Mountain West is the most important energy corridor in the world right now.)
In contrast, Lerner offered a world view based on caring. We come into this world through a mother, he said, and that initial "loving other" establishes human relationships of hope, love, and generosity.
"The fundamental truth of the 21st century is that we're all dependent on everyone else," he said. "Domination is not the way--it has not worked and it cannot work."
The Spiritual Progressives contend that Obama's departure from some of his earlier positions, such as negotiating with America's enemies without preconditions and not drilling off-shore, is costing him.
"It was so exciting at the beginning," said Lerner. "He was attracting all those Republicans. That has to be reignited now. Using language that affirms hope and possibility, rather than moving toward the center, is not just morally right, but the way to win."
The governors would perhaps disagree: earlier, Joe Manchin of West Virginia said, "You can't govern from the left of the right. Governors bring everybody to the middle."
And Obama himself appears to be on the fence. In a private meeting with Lerner, whose magazine Obama has read for a decade, Lerner said that the candidate conceded he agreed with the Global Marshall Plan. "'I'm 100% behind it,'" Lerner quoted Obama as saying. "'But it will never fly in Washington.'"
Update: Check out interviews with Lerner and Campolo over at BlueNC.
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