Uninspired by Delaware Joe

Early on, when the Presidential race was between a person of color, a woman, and a white dude who talks about poverty, I was so excited I couldn't see straight. No matter what, I believed we could expect change, and it was gonna come in style.

Sunday morning, I had an anticlimactic email in my inbox from Obama's VP pick, Joe Biden. The subject line was "Hello." He mundanely thanked me for welcoming him to the campaign (which I don't recall doing) and he invited me to check out this very neutral video:

Biden said, "I know I'm known for speaking my mind, hopefully clearly and strongly, but I do it on behalf of the middle class, and I plan to continue that approach in the months ahead."

How did we get from "Yes We Can" and "change we can believe in" to Delaware Joe straight-talkin about the middle class?

I'm not interested in talking about the middle class right now, Joe. I don't know about you, but my hometown in East Tennessee is locked in economic segregation that too often falls along race lines. And San Francisco, where I live now, is increasingly becoming a place for the very rich and the very poor. They're the folks I wanna talk about.

At a house party for the Highlander Center this weekend, we were treated to the music of the Vukani Mawethu Choir and the Rockin Solidarity Labor Chorus, who brought down the house with a union/civil rights sing-along. One of the members of the choir also reenacted one of Dr. King's speeches:

Running time: 2 minutes, 32 seconds

"I call on you to be maladjusted to the evils of segregation, and to the madness of militarism, and to the inequalities of an economic system which takes necessities from the many to give to the few...I had labored with the idea of reforming existing institutions, but now I see things quite differently. I have come to believe that it does not make much difference to be able to enter an integrated restaurant if you do not have the price of a hamburger."

That, Dr. King, is change that I can believe in.

In this AP article, Ron Fournier claims "The candidate of change went with the status quo":

"A senior Obama adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his boss has expressed impatience with what he calls a 'reverence' inside his campaign for his message of change and new politics. In other words, Obama is willing -- even eager -- to risk what got him this far if it gets him to the White House."

Am I still supposed to feel inspired?

Comments

[ClaudiaJean]

I'm truly beginning to believe this is a generational issue.
'My generation' ... 'Obama promised'
Sounds a little childish, immature and like a brat having a tantrum.
Demanding the candidate. Insisting upon change for the sake of change. Buying into slogans and platitudes. No more dynasties - as if some of these people even remember life under Clinton? They were in elementary school...

I'm all for hope, optimism, faith and looking foward; but that isn't a right exclusive to whatever NYU student approaches me with a clipboard as I try to make my way through Union Square...
If you don't 'feel' the Obama wave... it doesn't mean you lack vision or hope or optimism or aren't accutely aware of the good and bad that government, politicians and candidates bring to the table...
It simply means... he's not my guy.

Obama is not the messiah. He wasn't/isn't my first choice as a Democratic candidate.
My first choice was Biden. But that choice was taken away from me.
But I will support the Democratic ticket and the party.

So I have more choices too - I can choose to vote for Obama and speak the truth: I'd prefer someone else be the Presidential Candidate. But... he'll be the candidate for my party and I'm voting to get the Democrats in the White House.

Monday morning quarterbacking and idealism -- they don't mix.

[JimR]

Did you know Ron Fournier almost took a job with the McCain campaign and consistently writes articles with a pro-McCain, anti-Obama bias? You might as well quote FOX News.

I thought Biden was a very good choice. One of the biggest knocks on Obama is that he does not have enough experience. Choosing a running mate with less experience would have been a big mistake and would have made the campaign more vulnerable.

This doesn't mean Obama is abandoning his change message. Not at all. But if he is to have any hope of effecting real change in Congress, he damn well better have someone by his side who knows the ins and outs of that body. And few people are as well-versed in the ways of Congress as Biden.

I think you can expect change, but it will be incremental. It took years to get us into the mess we're in, it will take years to get us out.

[XME]

I think that many who support Obama seem to expect far too much of him. Change, if we want it, can only come in baby steps, and Obama HAD to think of how to win the votes of some of those who are more fearful than enthusiastic of the "change" he might offer; the voters who believe that another Republican will be a disaster, but are leary of Obama offering more change than is "safe". I believe that Biden helps to win over some of those people, and in a race as tight as this, it IS important. Obama cannot win by making every decision based on what will make happy those voters who are excited by change. If he does that, he WILL lose, and those who may feel the VP choice falls short, need to look at the whole picture, not jut what THEY wanted him to do. Perhaps this is why younger voters are famous for being unreliable come November...they are too easily disillusioned and don't stick out the process (or with a candidate) through thick and thin. They want it all, or they don't participate.

Unfortunately, that behavior has only gotten us no change at all. Patience, they say, is a virtue, and the younger voters need to learn that you can't change things all at once, and that you need to do what you can, not matter how small of a change it may make. Baby steps are better than no steps!

[AlanBJ]

Kip,
You have a choice:

Accept John McCain and the destruction he will bring to the presidency and America, or continue to complain and find fault about O's pick for Biden as VP.

What will it be?

Biden is a done deal. Can't change it. So why waste white space, time, and air writing about things you can't change. Make the best of the Biden choice and move on. Otherwise, you'll find the space between rich and poor in your community widening even more, especially with the collapse of the middle class.

[Kip Williams - Huffpost Blogger]

Alan, I have more choices than you laid out in your comment. I don't have to choose between giving the election to McCain or accepting Biden. I have another choice, which is to support Obama, but to speak the critical truth.

I'm sick of selling out the poor. And when Obama stands next to Biden at the big business-sponsored DNC this week, it looks to me like that's precisely what has happened. Again.

I hoped for moral authority and leadership. Obama told me and my generation to expect better, and to get excited about it. I feel let down.

[Lemeritus]

"I have another choice, which is to support Obama, but to speak the critical truth."

Thank you, Kip. Supporting Obama does not abrogate our responsibility to nurture and promote a bigger (and better) agenda. And, hard as it may be for some to grasp, our discussion of the issues we value does not begin or end with Obama. Last week, David Sirota had this take on the process: "Though the media's horse race coverage and the Left and Right echo chambers 'win at all cost' psychology would have us believe that elections are ends unto themselves, our Founders envisioned them as means to ends -- instruments by which the people's will is debated, politicians are pressured, and a mandate is crafted."

[edwcorey]

Same old BS. Should Obama have picked a Martian as a running mate? As Roger Simon wrote in his piece on the campaigns (Politico): Change, according to the Obama campaign, is, first, "standing up to lobbyists and special interests who were drowning out the voice of ordinary people. Second, end divisive politics and bring the country together. Third, don"t tell people just what you think they want to hear, but tell them what they need to know." How will Obama do that by choosing a Martian to run with him?

[AmericanFool]

What did you want? You have enough skeptical voters as it is. Pile on and you lose them. Change is good, but you can't force it on people, and Obama himself represents enough of a change that I would say to you it's a mistake to go further in this election. Besides, Biden brings exactly what is needed: a route to the hear of congress. No President can impose his will on the country while Congress is in opposition. Maybe Biden appeals to me more because I'm not a liberal (utilitarian pragmatist might be the best description... fiscally conservative, but on other issues I tend to side more with the left), but whatever the reason, he resonates with me, and I think he was a brilliant choice. He's a cannon, loose or not, and if he makes a gaffe, well, he's not the lead on the ticket... whereas McCain's gaffes' are harder to write off (this is what needs to become 'the story' on McCain... not his age so much as his confusion - he goes counter-message often enough that at some point the protective media barrier around McCain could start to go, with huge consequences.) Obama-Biden 2008!

[MadFae]

Maybe you need to look up some clips of Biden on the Senate floor. He may be holding back right now as he's introduced to people, but Biden is not a boring man. Although he's been in Washington a long time, rather than becoming jaded and complacent with the status quo, he's been pushing for change and recognizes that Washington is broken. In other words, the man has evolved. He's the VICE presidntial candidate. We don't need two visionaries. There's only room for one, and he's running for president. Biden's job is to sing backup, not share the mike. I don't think his being in the VP slot is going to bring Obama's message of change and hope down. I think a lot of people EXPECT that, and are looking for it. Actually, the presence of a stolid, super-experienced running mate will give Obama more play to return to inspiring speeches, because people won't be scared that's all he's got. (I know, it's NOT all he's got, but some people are too lazy to look things up for themselves and have to have everything spoon fed to them).

Relax. Focus.

[KillTheMessenger]

"They're the folks I wanna talk about."

The very poor? You got it, man. Let's have a third Bush term and the middle class that Joe Biden is talking about is going to join your very poor sooner than later.

You want that? Give McBush another chance and you'll have it in no time.

And I think that prospect is something that should really inspire you. It's the GOP vet dream come true and we are only one term away from making it reality. I find that very inspiring, indeed.

[batspaul]

Well, yes frankly, you are (supposed to feel inspired). This is where YOU get tested, as well as your candidate. As he says, it's not about him.

So, please accept that it can't be union/civil rights singalongs 24/7. If you want your candidate elected, issues other than your own will have to be addressed, and the middle-class voters who, like it or not, have the power to decide this election, have to be wooed.

So if you can't get inspired by Biden, get over yourself, get on board, and get Obama elected. You trying to tell me you won't be inspired by that?

[MHR55]

Okay Kip, let me explain this to you. The only way you win an election and thereby get the CHANCE to effect change, is by appealing to the middle class. Just as you will never win an election by only appealing to the most liberal voters, you will never win focusing mainly on segregation and the poor. Now that may not be right, but it's certainly true.

[PixelMarx]

Hey Kip, you had me following you until you quoted Ron Fournier. Take some time out, read up on this right-wing implant that's pushed himself into the AP, and then come back to Obama and Biden. I guarantee you'll feel inspired.

[ProudLiberalDan]

Well, as a former Kucinich supporter, I lost my excitement a long time ago.

However, I only have to look at McCain's scary continuance of failed conservative and neoconservative economic, foreign and social policies to be scared enough to vote for Obama/Biden without reservation.

I may not be voting via inspiration, but I am no less motivated by the fear of the alternative.

How did we get here, you ask? It's simple, the Democrats are doing the same thing they always do. They run to the vacuous "center", afraid that if they stand up for progressive values, they might piss off a conservative or two, or god-forbid, corporate campaign contributors. It's the same failed strategy that lost 2000 and 2004.

However, as a progressive I never thought Obama was anything other than another DLC leaning Democrat who speaks well. As such, he picked a VP who is suitable for who he actually is, not for whom a lot of progressive projected their hopes and aspirations onto. McCain/Romney is unthinkable. Therefore, I am motivated enough to vote for Obama/Biden. But no, I am under no illusions about what I am getting. A vacuous "new politics" that may halt the trail of destruction that conservative has caused at home and abroad, but won't actually change the direction of the country. A major historical opportunity to realign politics leftward and forward is being squandered.

[JimR]

"A major historical opportunity to realign politics leftward and forward is being squandered."

Presidential candidates who ran to the left: McGovern. Mondale. Dukakis. They all got ANNIHILATED in the general election.

That opportunity is a mirage. Most of America is closer to the center.