To Vilify Obama for his Ability to Inspire is to Ignore the Principal Lesson of the Last Three Decades of American Politics

It's one thing for supporters of Hillary Clinton to make the case that her experience in Washington politics would make her a better president than Barack Obama. But it's quite another to actually vilify Obama's ability to inspire as a "cult of the personality" or "nothing but words."

It is particularly disturbing when serious progressive writers who should know better repeat this attack on Obama's inspirational abilities. It demonstrates a failure to grasp the principal lesson of the last thirty years of American politics.

In fact, it is precisely the absence of inspiration in progressive politics that has kept Progressives on the political defensive for decades.

That's because to inspire people, Progressives have to appeal to something much more important than endless lists of policies and programs. To inspire people, Progressives have to appeal to our values and to our vision for the future.

John Kerry did not lose the presidency because he lacked solid, progressive policies and programs. His campaign rolled out new ten point programs practically every other day. He lost because the Republicans erroneously convinced a significant number of persuadable voters that John Kerry lacked core values -- that he was a flip-flopper.

Right after the last election I struck up a conversation with a New Jersey cab driver. I asked him, "What do you think of Jon Corzine?" "Good guy, tough guy, stands up for what he believes," came the reply. "What do you think of George Bush?" "Good guy, stands up for what he believes," he said. "What do you think of John Kerry?" I asked. "Phoney... a flip-flopper," he responded.

His evaluation of these political leaders had nothing to do with positions or policy papers. The Republicans had convinced him that Kerry didn't have core values.

From 1932 until the mid 1970s -- at least in our domestic politics -- progressive values provided the dominant frame for mainstream political debate. They defined political "common sense." By 1980, the Reagan revolution had changed that -- and rightwing values have framed the American political debate for the thirty years since.

That's largely because Progressives went into a "defensive crouch." Our candidates advocated "Republican-lite" positions. We refused to debate the fundamental differences between the progressive and radical conservative values. Chief among these differences is the central question of whether we're all in this together, or all in this alone.

Often our leaders retreated to the discussion of small, incremental policy initiatives that presumed the right wing's assumptions about the primacy of "private markets" over people, and the innate inferiority of democratically elected governmental institutions compared to corporations that are in fact unaccountable to the public interest.

Beginning in 2005, our successful defense of Social Security, the obvious failure of NeoCon foreign policy, and the spectacle of Katrina -- began to change that. Progressives began to emerge from their defensive crouch and stand up proudly for progressive values once again.

Then came Obama, with his ability to inspire Americans to devote themselves to our values in a way that resonates with average people. His self-confident appeal to hope and possibility -- his "yes we can" -- have captured the imagination of millions of Americans. His ability to inspire has allowed him to simultaneously engage swing "persuadable" voters and the millions of stay-at-home "mobilizable" voters who would support progressive candidates if they could just be motivated to vote.

People want to be inspired. Inspiration is about making people feel empowered to be more than they are. They want to be inspired because they desperately want meaning in their lives. They want to be part of something larger than themselves and they want to feel that they can play a significant part in that larger purpose.

Meaning comes from being devoted to something outside of yourself -- to a cause, to a person, to a religion, to your art.

That's why "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" is so resonant -- so inspirational.

The Right has understood this need for meaning--and has addressed it -- with calls for devotion to the "Conservative Movement," to fundamentalist religion, to xenophobic nationhood.

For three decades, Progressives have often tried to compete by offering the bloodless alternative of a "policy agenda" -- and many times a timid one at that.

For thirty seven years I have devoted much of my professional life to campaigns to implement progressive policy initiatives. So I certainly agree that we need sound, bold policies. Once in office, a new president must in fact deliver on real, concrete policy.

But to change policy in a fundamental way requires more than good programs. It requires a progressive realignment of the American political debate. It requires that we redefine the value frame for American politics. And that requires inspirational leadership that proudly affirms our values.

Just as important, it requires inspirational leadership that can mobilize millions of Americans to demand the enactment of a progressive program once a new president is in place. Frederick Douglass was right. "Power surrenders nothing without a struggle. It never has. It never will." Progressives won't win legislative battles with an insider game.

In 1993 we had a Democratic President and Democratic Congress, but we lost the battle for universal health care. What we needed then, and what we need now, is a massive national mobilization to pass universal health care, change our labor laws, enact campaign finance reform, provide universal access to higher education and preschool, end global warming and change our foreign policy.

Leadership, more than anything else, is about mobilizing people into action. People take action when they feel empowered -- when they are inspired. They will not take action simply because they are "convinced" we are right. They will take action when they are motivated by inspiration to be a part of an historic endeavor.

Inspiring leadership is not just "another quality" that would be "nice" to have in a president. And it is certainly not to be assailed as a "cult of the personality."

America needs inspiring leadership to re-establish the preeminence of progressive values; to define a progressive vision for its future; to mobilize Americans to enact a progressive agenda -- and most importantly -- to convert this historic opportunity into generational progressive political realignment.

No one knows for sure what either a Clinton or an Obama presidency would mean for America. But I believe that Barack Obama presents us with a candidacy more likely to provide the inspirational leadership that we need, than any politician since Robert Kennedy's quest for the White House ended that June night in 1968.

Comments

[Dahveed]

Great column! Thanks, Robert! I especially enjoyed the great line about finding meaning outside of ourselves. That, I believe, has become our core problem as a people - too much selfishness, a mindset of scarcity, breeding our increasing fear, anger, and agression toward others - "I gotta get mine before someone else gets it, there might not be enough! Get outta my way! Me first!" Truly an unsatifying construct for living, where the goal has become "gimme more" and where "too much is never enough."

Those who characterize the excitement over Obama's ability to motivate others as "cultish" are perhaps victims of this narrow-fear based mindset. They suffer the cynicism brought about by the failure and corruption of our presidents over the past 20 years. They have become jaded, hardened to the point that they can no longer recognize opportunity when it appears. They have lost the ability to trust (and hope) that integrity, fairness, and creativity can succeed. That we Americans can have an inspired president, who in turn inspires us to grow as a people and as individuals.

I cannot wait to see Obama and his beautiful family walking the lawns of the White House.

[classof77]

Give me a break. Some of us are just looking for some substance, some willingness actually to discuss issues rather than deliver speeches, to answer questions, to participate in a debate (both literally and figuratively) and to see BO speaking ad hoc and in detail about his policies.

Looking for something "there" there, and haven't seen it yet.

[stoprollingover]

Here are two outstanding interviews­/discussio­ns with him, the first with editors of the The San Francisco Chronicle and the second at the Candidates@Google series in Mountain View, CA.

Both interviews contain many specifics about his plans and he get questioned pretty thoroughly:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/01/20/EDIAUHASH.DTL&o=0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4yVlPqeZwo

You will have to invest a couple of hours, though.

Hope this helps.

[6louis9]

Intangibles - hope, values, inspiration, change - will not end the war, put food on the table, make education more affordable or bring us universal healthcare. And please, Barack Obama is no Robert Kennedy nor is his spouse anywhere close to being an Ethel.

[2belinda]

Sen. Obama has
-utilized masterfully, modern technology
-assembled a team of advisors who know how to organize.
- managed a campaign that has shown fiscal responsibility.
He is
-a statesman and is able to maintain grace while under attack.
- able to inspire even the disenfranchised or cynical.
-intelligent and a hard worker. 3 words -
Harvard Law Review
He has
-built a coalition of citizens willing to work together with the goal of a better life for ALL Americans.
-restored the "audacity of hope" to so many Americans that we again believe our best days are ahead of us.
The time for a new way of doing things is now.
Americans are clamoring for change and Sen. Obama has the right stuff.

[Theresa22]

Obama's ability to move us, to call out the best in us, is the reason I caucused for him after John Edwards dropped his candidacy. This calling upon the deep democratic American dream is what his wife meant when she said she hasn't been proud for 25 years. I agree with her. He reminds me of King and the Kennedys. The time has come again.

[pizzmoe]

In regards to rhetoric, how can you top George Bush? No wonder people think Barack Obama is all talk.

[stoprollingover]

All talk?

You are so, so wrong, and your statement just serves to indicate your laziness to do any research. Put side by side, Obama has a better record than Hillary Clinton any day of the week. Go do your research and get back to us. In fact, I will help you get started:

http://www.womenforbarackobama.com/Obama_s_Record.html

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/barack-obama-101/

http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/compare-clinton-edwards-obama/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/us/politics/20070730_OBAMA_GRAPHIC.html

[classof77]

I was curious about Obama's stand on a few issues that are important to me, and I could not find any discussion of women's rights and reproductive freedom. Serious oversight, seems to me.

[englishprof]

I find it extraordinary that you compare Bush's rhetoric with Obama's. The latter has a center, and his rhetoric comes from his being. The former has absolutely no resonance and conveys insincerity, selfishness, and obtuseness at every turn.

[stoprollingover]

Not to mention that Bush fractures the English language daily.

[Brooklynindy]

Yes, Pizz, George Bush is such an eloquent, inspiring speaker. That deer-in-th­e-headligh­ts look and the inability to correctly pronounce words with more than two syllables pulls me in every time...

Obama has a strong platform as well, check it out...

[Mahavishnu]

"I wonder how many of those non-Democrats are former Reagan Democrats. Considering Obama got the majority of the under $50,000 in Wisconsin, it would be interesting to learn that." **********­**********­* Who knows? But I do know this. Is a Reagan Democrat going to vote for the most liberal Senator in the Senate or John McCain? I think the answer to that is clearly McCain.

[enoughalready]

I disagree that the non-Democrats in Wisconson will vote for McCain. We have open ballots here. Friends that claim to be Republicans, yesterday voted for Obama. Most of them told us the turning point is the war - McCain's statements about more war- 100 years in Iraq and on and on and McCain's flip-flopping on Bush's tax cuts and torture is troubling to them. He's appearing no longer as the "straight-talker", but rather just another politician that wants to be president.

We all know our country is in terrible shape after 8 years of Bush. Our economy is terrible, inflation is on the rise, our dollar down. Recession is on everyone's mind, especially when your paycheck is stretched so thin by the increased food and oil prices.

Our country needs a new leader that will lead us out of Iraq. Rebuild our military and protect our borders. We need to protect jobs at home and clamp down on corporate control of our government. The old lions like McCain and to some part Clinton will not get us there. Obama offers change, desparately needed in Washington. We also need a change in the line up in the Senate and House. Toss out those old GOP obstructionists and tell the Dems we expect change!

Obama offers leadership with our allies. I think he can make a difference. JFK was not a particularily good Senator but his leadership made him a great president. We need the Obama's of this world to get us on a new track.

Obama 2008

[DickTater]

Anybody who calls themselves a Reagan Democrat prob. cannot leave their house for shame.

When you have a problem...­.say a dam about to burst....d­o you want someone who is going to point to the ribbons on their chest, or pull out the manual and call up a committee.­......or do you want someone who can gather 20 people and leap into the breach with sandbags and shovels and has the bulldozers en route?

Leaders don't have to come with citations and merits and diplomas. Like many things, you know it when you see it. Hilary has given us PLENTY of glimpses into her style, her guts, her strengths.­...and she used those skills to feather her nest and launch her career and angle for the presidency. She did not fight for us these last 8 years.

[MikeDu]

Talk about "nothing but words", I was a bit offended by the heavy use of the term "Progressive". People who use that 'politically correct' word appear to be ashamed of being a "liberal". That insults me and insults my late FDR-supporting father. I'm done apologizing to the torture-camp Right for being a liberal. Unlike them, I have business ethics, I have prival morals and I have a social conscience. I'm a liberal.

About Obama's ability to inspire, if he turns out to be another empty suit like Deval Patrick I'm going to be pissed.

[terriw]

well he's using devals playbook, so prepare to be pissed.

[StephenJK]

I'll be right there with you. Torch in hand wanting the heads of the "highly educated" voters who put him there. His main demographics are blacks and "highly educated" rich white folks. Last time I checked "highly educated" rich white folks were republicants.

[Nancita]

What you call vilification I call probing inquiry. It is quite reasonable to raise the issue of appearance when it comes to 'inspiring' politicians. So far I see Obamamania as another bauble for our consumer society. Obama is like the I-Pod - new, different, shiny and an unusual color and it offers endless diversion. I still don't own an ipod and am sure I am none the worse off for that. Nor do I want to own the consequences of yet another inspirational illusion. Being swept away by a man is nothing new and many know the sad outcome of that both individually (think diivorce) and collectively (think George Bush) So when I ask out loud where's the beef do not call it villification, call it probing inquiry by an intelligent consumer.

[stoprollingover]

Where's the beef? See my post above to find out where you can start your research.

[StephenJK]

His record is not unique. Other than the fact that he's so green. I don't mean environmentally sound either.

All we ask for is scrutiny by the press. That's all we want. Air his dirty laundry. The electorate deserves to know.

[Ruwa]

My probing inquiry to Hillary why didn't she makes some inspiration speaches, since words are cheap and will not cost her Millions dollars of her own. By the way, have Hillary filed the Tax return yet? Inquiry minds would like to probe.

[cowgirlblues]

I agree completely and find it to be more like american idol voting mania than a crucial presidential campaign, the inspirational thing is overdone,since i was actually inspired by the real-time bobby and MLK i think i know the difference. they rallied and inspired people not with speeches, but by their actions followed by their inspiring speeches. JFK was a war hero, bobby fought organized crime at a time when our country was in a choke hold by them,Martin L.K.,my personal hero, marched, was jailed, beat up and threatened every day...now here we have Obama, where has he actually put his butt on the line for someone else? I'm not cynical or disalusioned, I just know the difference between real heros and speech writers. I look at Obamas eyes and see no passion, i see someone reading a teleprompter. I figure Patrick Deval will be his VP. Look deeper...

[Shake-A-Spear]

Poor Hillary! She's a bird who can't sing. Her loud and shrill rundown of "solutions" grates on the ears. We don't want our high school teacher for president. We don't want a president who "works hard." We've already had Jimmy Carter. We want the confidence of an FDR, the inspiration of a John Kennedy, the poetry of a Robert Kennedy. And we don't need a pissing contest between Hillary and the belligerent, nasty, and misguided John McCain who's fixated on a century-long crusade against whatever Evil Ones his fevered brain sees. We need Obama to get us out of the rut we're in!

[BlueBoomer]

Another Jimmy Carter administration is EXACTLY what I fear we would get with Barak Obama in the WH...(pls. note that I was a Joe Biden supporter, not a Hillary supporter)­...

There are parallels:
After the travesty that was Nixon, the country went racing headlong into the arms of the nice, hopeful nice guy...(I was NOT one of them...'76 was the only time I ever voted republican, for Gerry Ford)...Wh­at we got was a disastrous ONE TERM administration of "hope" that culminated in the first direct Islamic attack against Americans, the Iran hostage crisis.

My fear with Obama is that he is either all talk and no walk, OR that he is the consumate (Chicago, remember) politician who has deftly used rhetoric and smoke and mirrors to camoflage his own self-ambition, and that what we see isn't necessarily what we'd get.

I dare say, at this stage I think I'd rather deal with the Hillary we DO know than with the OBAMA that we DON'T know...let­'s see what the debates bring (the media can't play the "ignore the candidates you don't want" game that they played early on, so maybe we'll learn something decisive) ...I hope they're both asked who they would like to have in their cabinets, wouldn't you?...Now THAT would be worthwhile.

BTW, you should have seen Chris Matthews' interview with a Texas State legislator who is pro-Obama.­.. Matthews asked him point blank to speak to Obama's legislative accomplishments, and the man would not BECAUSE HE COULD NOT... It was a sqirmy moment and very telling.

[Hawise]

My problem with Obama is that I have heard his song before, it always ends badly. The government has been broken, I would like to see it fixed, not patched with a pretty day-glo bandaid. FDR was confident because he worked really hard. JFK could inspire because he had dealt with being hurt and still doing the job. Robert Kennedy's poetry came out of his dedication to solutions. Inspiration alone was not what made those men great. That and I think that you underestimate your high school teacher, great presidents are made by the work that they did, not the speeches that they made.

[elkabong]

Those who would kill genuine, valuable inspiration have nothing Obama doesn't with which to replace it.



I say genuine (no matter who writes the speeches) because Obama is only responsible for delivering the message. Not all listeners are inspired but most are, genuinely.



I say valuable because if any candidate ever hopes to bring about the transformational change this country desperately needs, he/she had better be good at getting the electorate to stand up and take action, consistently.



Hillary's "give me your tired, your poor, your troubles and your woes, and I'll take care of it.", top-down, governing philosophy might move things incrementally. We don't need inrementally, we need what Obama can provide: Inspiration Inspiration to move; to call; to write; to march; to demand!



Maybe Obama won't be able to get it done but he'll sure be able to mobilize a lot of help in the process. That's inspirational. That's American. And our only hope IMO.

[kappa08]

The most articulate post to date on the reality of wheat this country NEEDS.

[kappa08]

spell check anyone? Obviously I didn't get enough fiber today.
WHAT this country needs is posters that can spell.

[elkabong]

"...poster­s [who] can spell."

[Arleang]

From this point on both John McCain and Hillary Clinton will attack Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. Hillary and Bill with partner with McCain. It stinks!

Obama recently said we need a 65% majority to govern this country, to get anything done, to fulfill the will of the American people. He is absolutely right -- a super-majority is needed to overcome the entrenched establishment . . . the politically connected, lobbying wheeler-dealers who currently run the show.

It doesn't matter if you lean left or right, if you want to see change in America, the people need to out-shout the power brokers. There is absolutely no reason we should be sheep led to the slaughter because the political/lobby class has decided that NAFTA, WTO, etc. are really good for us. What do you think? Have those trade agreements been good for you?

So winning is not good enough. Obama must carry the nation by 65%. I hope you are inspired to be part of that 65% because the alternative is a continuation of the petty politics that is killing this nation.

[stoprollingover]

Great post. Inspirational. He can do it. We can do it.

[Nancita]

To get 65% of the population to agree on anything will require a shift in collective consciousness. Unfortunately that is exactly what people hope Obama can miraculously accomplish. It ain't gonna happen! The minute the election is over, if O gets elected, the majority will still be unconsciuos and uninspired. Inspiration is not something you do to people, it comes from within. We live in a culture where I-Pods replace opportunities for self-awareness. TV will win out over action and agreement and we will have another bag of wind experimenting with humanity while the rest of the political machine continues to fight it out. The people will be at home, getting thru the day wondering what they are supposed to do now.

[NotMyPrez]

The Clintons are so last century...­.

[bauersox]

People aren't vilifying Obama for his ability to inspire. They are vilifying him because that's *all* he does. He's all hat, and no cattle (famous old saying, I didn't make it up).

[kappa08]

So I guess we should just "turtle up" because we don't have the guts to take a "risk" on something that we actually feel is right? That's just weak.

[StephenJK]

What's weak is blind support for an unproven candidate. Things get messy at the top. He's unproven and you BETTER have a LOT of hope when he gets there.

[bauersox]

"Feeling" that something is right, is the language of jerks. The idea is to know something is right, because you have the facts.

Sadly for our country, people like kappa08 can't be bothered with facts. Nevertheless their "votes" count as much as people who have taken the trouble to make their choice based on the issues.

[freecasey]

The greatest leaders are not the ones with the best campaign season nuts-and-bolts 10-point plan. They assemble the best teams, set a broad vision, and inspire and challenge them to create and innovate -- it's their 10-point plan we need. Obama understands this leadership style.

[zozosmom]

Isn't this what W promised us, too? Great advisors? Fool me once...

[thebeerdoctor]

Robert Creamer has it correct. For democrats the time has come for "no more white gloves with sand in your shoes doing a dance". Obama is trying to put some backbone into what has become a craven, spineless party, with very few principles. As for the empty rhethoric, how shallow is it when Obama calls for closing Gitmo, ending the war and ending the policies created by the North American Free Trade Agreement?
Does anybody remember when the Democratic Party was thought of as the people's party?
http://streetalker.com/