Obama and the Generation Conversation

The current Obama point is this: the national political conversation is stale. It's about time we started a new one.

Entertaining and profitable as it may for opposing limbs of the body public to endlessly demonize George Bush or liberals, wouldn't it be refreshing to just change the subject?

That is, unless you spend the majority of your time in the spit-shined Fox News studios or hanging around the clammy recesses of MoveOn.org all-nighters. If you are so entrenched, you may not even be able to conceive of turning the page. Today's dialogue is a Groundhog Day family dinner nightmare: two sides pitted against each other night after night, forever lobbing the same rhetorical grenades about the same issues for the rest of eternity.

The routine is bad for America. Energy that could be projected onto a fractious world is instead looped into a circular firing squad, knocking out the shining light on the hill. Jon Stewart spoke to this point in October 2004 as a disgruntled guest on CNN's Crossfire. Like the kid trying to stave off his parent's divorce, Stewart literally pleaded with Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala to stop fighting on national television. Four months later, and after 23 years, Crossfire was off the air.

Stewart made a strong case against the toxic theater of political vitriol. But even with Crossfire gone, the politics of anger -- of Sean Hannity and Bill Maher, of Ann Coulter and Michael Moore -- carries on. AM radio is pitched with savage voices, cable news is rife with caustic personalities and still the trend grows, the sponsors sign on and the fight goes another round.

Exhausting, isn't it?

If only we could do something.

Andrew Sullivan has an idea. In his pivotal Atlantic Monthly essay, "Goodbye to All That," the mixed-bag libertarian offers a clear alternative to this endless muck: President Barack Obama.

Obama can, Sullivan says, "take America -- finally --p ast the debilitating, self-perpetuating family quarrel of the Baby Boom generation that has long engulfed all of us." He alone among the candidates could end the "non-violent civil war that has crippled America at the very time the world needs it most."

Hillary Rodham Clinton, on the other hand...to the right, she is the anti-Christ, evil incarnate. Who better than president-elect Hillary Clinton to motivate even apathetic conservatives to the voting booths a year from now? For Democrats, she is the nuclear option, certain either to win or destroy everything.

Obama is a different story entirely. Because of his age (of no categorical generation), his background (international), his demeanor (calm consensus-building leadership), and his face (not your father's president), he is neither this nor that, us or them. He is emblematic of democratic ideals like pluralism and inclusion. In short, the best America has to offer.

This might be why conservatives don't like talking about Obama. And why Hillary hopes that he just goes away. For Rush Limbaugh, Hillary comes wrapped in a red bow. She is, in Obama's words, the "fight they are comfortable having." Once Hillary is nominated, the kryptonite, safely stored since '94, comes down off the shelf. But for him, there is no ready ammunition. (How many times can they make fun of his name?) Obama's voice, and certainly not hers, is the steady tone to muffle the shrill noise that surrounds us.

But Obama's greatest power, as foreign-policy realists are pointing out, is not on any one side of the culture wars between the Clintons and the Bushes, but in the far more real and crucial war against Islamist terror.

Sullivan says it like this: "The war of today matters enormously. The war of the last generation? Not so much. If you are an American who yearns to finally get beyond the symbolic battles of the Boomer generation and face today's actual problems, Obama may be your man."

Follow Michael Ames on Twitter: www.twitter.com/haikudose

Comments

[JGM]

Very thoughtful article. I agree - I'm tired of all of the negativity in today's press...it seems like what sells for entertainment is conflict, conflict, conflict. There is way too much media spin on all of the candidates and it wears me out trying to research and find what they actually said or stand for. Hannity and Colmes, O'Reilly, Limbaugh and especially venom-mouthed Coulter (and their left-wing counterparts who are equally as irritating)....they help nothing, do nothing productive, and are just noise that I wish would shut up.
I'm not naive enough to think it will just stop because we elect Obama, but I want a leader who has the goal of bringing people together for the common good, which has always been at the core of his message. I think one of our biggest enemies is our own cynicism that we are powerless and nothing will change, so we become resigned and settle for conflict as entertainment. Yesterday I watched on YouTube the entire speeches of Edwards, Clinton and Obama at the Jefferson Jackson dinner in Iowa. I found Hillary's message flat and just plain annoying (politics as usual). Although I like John Edward's passion, both his and Clinton's biggest message was about fighting, fighting, fighting....beating big business and the Republicans. I don't think big business is the bad guy. What would we do without them? Our country wouldn't be nearly as prosperous or stable, so it's hypocritical to claim that we must defeat them. And there are many Republicans who are wonderful, honorable people who I believe are also trying to do what is best for our country. Obama's message was great and filled with passion and had a core theme of bringing everyone together to solve our common problems. That is the kind of leader that I want to represent America out there in the world. That is the kind of leader we need right now. BTW, I'm a boomer.

[Boadicea]

Very thoughtful. You make a lot of sense, and I'm beginning to think that Obama does, too.

[True]

very nice article. I have long observed that most of the democratic party (and the political system in general) couldn't care less about my generation Y butt.

I personally think younger generations are going to dissolve this whole government thing and move to a system more like a hive mind.

I would have preferred this transition be a harmonious process but it will probably come down to us saving the world from you freaking baby boomer dinosaurs.

(P.S. I know many boomers are wonderful, i'm just being dramatic.)

[TWOSHORT]

Freedom to some is just a word,But for other's living in America and around the world is a prize worth winning at all cost!OBAMA 08 FOR CHANGE

[jones]

Obama is more than just the man himself. He is symbolic of our need to change and TRUST or government again.

Barbara Jordon is smiling from heaven.
jonesy

[LeeFromVA]

PERFECT POST. Unfortunately politics has become like team sports, and there are too many out there that absolutely love the drama. I for one am tired of it. Can't we all get along??? Obama is so refreshing.

[RuthieM]

Right on! Great summation. He's the ONLY presidential answer. OBAMA '08!!!!

[dmc2]

One of the best summations of his candidacy that I've yet read. That is exactly it.

There's a lot of people out there who make their living perpetuating this rhetorical, symbolic civil war. Meanwhile, America faces fundamental, existential issues that don't get addressed.

Barack Obama's campaign is about bringing people together to get things done -- something that's sorely needed at this point in our history.

Whoever is fortunate enough to hear his message at some length and unadulterated by the media, i.e. his Iowa speech on Saturday, will come over to his side. Anyone who really wants to see America improve itself should take a good look at this guy. The only people who should oppose it are those with a vested in interest in continued partisan bickering and inaction in our federal government.

[Rosenbaum]

I'm one of the dreaded boomers- a hula-hooping,
bubble-gumming boomer. Hillary? Jackie Kennedy
would turn over in her grave. Obama is the only
chance this time around to get past the pearls
and poor policy positions we're surely stuck
with (boomer or not)if the Rod takes over.
I'm with you, Michael-let's give Limbaugh
something new to figure out.
Eva Kilgore

[CGrace]

Great blog. Andrew Sullivan is absolutely right about Obama. If the Clintons are back in the White House again, it will be the 90's all over again. Nothing will be accomplished. But Senator Obama will bring this country together and he will change the way the world looks at us for the better. No more Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton. And yes, his speech at the JJ dinner was the best since he announced in February in Springfield, IL.

Elect someone this country can be proud of - Senator Barack Obama.

Amen.

[altohone]

That a push is necessary to get beyond the old battles of the Hatfields and McCoys is a rather sad realization.

One would think the relevance of their arguments would have worn thin by now.

In my opinion, the script has been followed to create a false dichotomy of us versus them that hides how the two sides actually work together against the common good, and for their own enrichment.

The reality of the concentration of wealth by the very rich, the struggling middle class, and the persistance of the poor and working poor can be swept under the rug as long as the elites can maintain the focus elsewhere.

Obama's candidacy poses an existential threat to their power games since he's been able to challenge it from within rather than as an outsider that could easily be dismissed or sidelined.

He's my choice, and I hope his ascent brings a change that ends the careers of those stuck in the past.

[barackingthevote247]

great post, I also concur that the JJ speech was inspiring and lit a fire in me to get this man elected.

Obama
8

[SeanGardner]

This is a very thoughtful piece.

You're right about Obama: "He is emblematic of democratic ideals like pluralism and inclusion. In short, the best America has to offer."

This is why I am bewildered over posts from Taylor Marsh, John Ridley, and others who fail to see that its not JUST about Blue America, or JUST about Red America. This is about America in general. Yes, there are differences, but how do we bridge some of the serious differences that are clearly in the way of progress - and progress for the multitude who don't want an end to the culture wars.

It seems there is a cottage industry around opposing someone instead of a cottage industry around finding sesible, pragmatic solution to our problems.

Oh, and Michael, you need to righ on here more often. I am tired of the baby BLUE zealots who can't think beyond their own talking points.

[jeskiley]

The way you put it, I think he could do a great job.

[djarvis]

Excellent blog, Michael. And if you got to hear any of Barack Obama's speech Saturday in Iowa, you would understand just how convincing he can be in uniting America. One part of the speech in particular points this out. He said "I don't want to be President of the blue states, I don't want to be President of the red states, I want to be President of the UNITED States."

I think Obama's speech in Iowa Saturday was the best he has given this entire campaign. He showed passion and fire in outlining why he is in the race and talked about how he was able to get legislation passed in Illinois while he was in the State Senate by bringing Republicans and Democrats together. I think that if more people are able to hear what he has to say they will agree that Obama is the best choice for our country in 2008.