The America That Can Be/The America That Has Been

President-elect Barack Obama's victory speech Tuesday night in Chicago.

It was The America That Can Be vs. The America That Has Been. The future won. Yet there is much in the past that is of enduring value.

I must say that this campaign, for all its excitement, its twists and turns, and its thrilling outcome, was something of a disappointment. In Barack Obama and John McCain, we had the two most compelling figures in the two parties, representatives of an emerging set of values and an enduring tradition.

In Barack Obama, the representative of an exotic multi-racial, multi-cultural future that repels and frightens many Americans even as it attracts more to a possible America.

In John McCain, the representative of a tradition which for most Americans, who increasingly never serve in the military and have no direct experience with it, is exotic in its coming from a storied past.

John McCain's graceful concession speech Tuesday night in Phoenix.

But, with tactics and attacks dominating our frenetic new 24/7 ADD media culture -- except insofar as Team Obama's steady focus carried the day to a sweeping victory -- we didn't get the sort of constructive debate between these traditions showing the value of each.

What we need to do is take the best of these approaches as we move forward.

Nevertheless, we ended up with plenty of clarity.

One of the pundit shibboleths is that America is a center-right country. I never bought that. This is a trope designed to keep politics safely within their conventional confines. Which have lately been an abject failure.

Even far right figures like talk show host/blogger Hugh Hewitt repeat this, pretending that his extremist politics are anywhere within hailing distance of the center.

Bruce Springsteen's musical introduction of the Obama family at a Cleveland rally of 80,000 on Sunday presaged not only Obama's capture of Ohio but the breaking of the old red state coalition.

But America is not center-right, it is center-left.

And America is clearly focused -- with Obama's decisive victory, 53% to 46% in the popular vote, 365 electoral votes to 173 electoral votes -- on the future.

Obama is the candidate not only of the future, but from the future.

He's always felt to me like a figure from 2150, the first major American politician with a global background, a product of Hawaii, America's polyglot paradise in the Pacific. His name like none other in the ranks of leading American politicians, amusingly almost combining the names of two of our greatest boogeymen. The first black president in a country in which a woman or someone of another ethnicity seemed far more likely to become first to seize the prize. A genteel Harvard Law Review head who's also a hardball Chicago politician. "A mutt," as he described his mixed racial background in today's impressive first post-election press conference in the course of discussing what sort of puppy his charming daughters will get as they move into the White House.

Obama leads with the New, starting with his face and name.

His political theme is "Change." His campaign is built on the New. New technology, new techniques, new players. And a new principal, in that Obama himself was an Illinois state legislator just four years ago.

Barack Obama is all about potential, about what can be.

John McCain is more about enduring values, what we have known.

McCain articulated these values best when he spoke at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis on April 2nd.

McCain's speech to his alma mater -- the alma mater of the four-star Navy admiral who was his father and the four-star Navy admiral who was his grandfather -- came in the midst of the Western senator's so-called "biography" tour. He undertook it because research showed that, while he is quite famous, most voters didn't know that much about him in depth aside from his having run for president in 2000 and 2008, being a Vietnam War hero, and having a reputation as a maverick.

John McCain laid out many of his enduring values in his Annapolis speech on April 2nd.

Ironically, McCain's Annapolis speech didn't get much coverage at the time. Of the cable news nets, only MSNBC, the most liberal of the three, carried any of it live, and then just a snippet. Fox News did not carry the Annapolis speech live at all, choosing instead to carry on with its usual right-wing morning chatfest.

It's unfortunate, because the speech captures much of the humor of the man and, more importantly, a sense of an enduring American tradition.

McCain noted that, while he ignored some of the Academy's conventions in the course of compiling near record numbers of demerits, he was

"careful not to defame its more compelling traditions: The veneration of courage and resilience; the honor code that simply assumed your fidelity to its principles; the homage paid to Americans who had sacrificed greatly for our country; the expectation that you, too, would prove worthy of your country's trust."

Few if any universities have such an emphasis on the history and valor referenced by McCain, much less an honor code which stipulates that midshipmen will not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate among them those who do. Most Americans are ignorant of military history, which merely makes up much of our engagement with the wider world, in many ways shaping it into what it is today.

McCain went on to discuss a pervasive cynicism that afflicts America:

"In part, it is attributable to the dislocations economic change causes; to the experience of Americans who have, through no fault of their own, been left behind as others profit as they never have before. In part, it is in reaction to government's mistakes and incompetence, and to the selfishness of some public figures who seek to shine the luster of their public reputations at the expense of the public good. But for others, cynicism about our country, government, social and religious institutions seems not a reaction to occasions when they have been let down by these institutions, but because the ease which wealth and opportunity have given their lives led them to the mistaken conclusion that America, and the liberties its system of government is intended to protect, just aren't important to the quality of their lives.

"I'm a conservative, and I believe it is a very healthy thing for Americans to be skeptical about the purposes and practices of public officials. We shouldn't expect too much from government - nor should it expect too much from us. Self-reliance - not foisting our responsibilities off on others - is the ethic that made America great.

"But when healthy skepticism sours into corrosive cynicism our expectations of our government become reduced to the delivery of services. And to some people the expectations of liberty are reduced to the right to choose among competing brands of designer coffee."

Then McCain discussed patriotism.

"Love of country, my friends, is another way of saying love of your fellow countrymen--a truth I learned a long time ago in a country very different from ours.

"That is the good cause that summons every American to service. If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you are disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. I hope more Americans would consider enlisting in our Armed Forces. I hope more would consider running for public office or working in federal, state and local governments. But there are many public causes where your service can make our country a stronger, better one than we inherited. Wherever there is a hungry child, a great cause exists. Where there is an illiterate adult, a great cause exists. Wherever there are people who are denied the basic rights of Man, a great cause exists. Wherever there is suffering, a great cause exists."

Unfortunately, this is not the John McCain we saw through much of the general election campaign.

I never thought McCain had more than a 40% chance of beating Obama, and I told his campaign leadership that. But the siren call of victory and power can compel campaigns to make moves that they might not otherwise make.

Now we move forward with the avatar of the new, President-elect Barack Hussein Obama, while we hopefully hang on to the best of the old.

Barack Obama speaks before 100,000 people Monday night in Manassas, Virginia, site of the first major land battle of the American Civil War. The Confederacy won that one.

It's been a very long campaign, beginning two years ago with the dramatic Democratic victories in the 2006 congressional elections and the plunge in popularity of the the Bush/Cheney Administration. Now what may be even more interesting has begun.

It was about 22 months ago that I decided I had better check out this fellow Barack Hussein Obama. I'd seen him give a great speech keynoting the 2004 Democratic national convention. I had his latest book which was sitting in a pile. But there's more to running for president than being a great speaker and a fine writer.

So I traveled to several cities to scout Obama at his appearances, meet him, spend time in the vicinity, and study it all. He was pretty tentative at first. I filmed him bombing in a candidate forum in Las Vegas. But the thing was, he kept improving. He had a strong and very smart campaign organization. He had policies in the center-left groove where most of the country lives today. In other words, he had what it took to win the presidency.

Now we'll see if he has what it takes to be the president. I expect him to be very good indeed.

You can check things out throughout the day on my site, New West Notes.

Comments

[TRIATHLON]

TWO SIDES TO EVERY COIN! (END PART)

There are two sides to each coin minted, The Gay Rights and Black Civil Rights Movement see an attack upon them by the (LDS) Church, why shouldn’t the (LDS) Church see themselves under an attack planned, orchestrated, and put into operation, by the United States Government using the Black Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Movement as surrogates?

[BottomLine2008]

Uh, because it's not true?

[RockySoldier]

I gotta say, thank you to John McCain. Though your campaign disappointed me (greatly- I was a great admirer of you for a long time before this year), you truly rose to live your true American hero status with your concession speech. It's your supporters who should be ashamed of themselves. You, sir, went out a hero and you deserve to be commended for understanding the history that you were a part of. Thank you for your graciousness in defeat.

[TRIATHLON]

BACK TO THE FUTURE ADMINISTRATION!

By his appointment it does not look like a forward looking administration, but more like a Clinton III administration. Bill Clinton defined himself as the First Black President by his support of Black Issues, and Obama has defined himself as the First Gay President by his support of State Civil Rights Same-Sex-Marriage Over Relgious Freedom Rites. Rather than a uniting administration even before taking the oath, the nation is being torn apart along Right Vs Rites lines with Obama on the side of State Rights over Religious Freedom Rites. The Gay Community seeks the ending of tax exemption if The Holy Roman Catholic Church, Islamic Mosques, or others will not preform Same-Sex-Marriages, teach about them in school, or provide areas for Gay activies if requested as other organizations have access due to the tax exemption, it all on the Huffihgton.Post Blogs.

The Gay Community see's only a (24) month window, before the next election and as Bill Clinton lost Congress in (2) year never to retain it, so to shall Obama, for the same reasons Bill did, going to far Left., and a possible one term wonder presidency.

[BottomLine2008]

Oh, Lord. Here we go.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

I've noticed that right-wingers who insisted Obama would never win and the polls were wrong and yada yada are seizing on the Prop 8 win.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Erm, wrong. Obama has not defined himself around gay marriage.

You really must get out more.

[TRIATHLON]

OBAMA VOTE NO ON PROP (8)

(1) A position of No on (8) as you should know claiming to be out here in California is viewed as supporting Same-Sex-Marriage (Em, Right) Actions speak louder than words.

(2) Personal attacks on the writer (Did I make a personal comment upon you or attack you?) or other posters? You seem to make a habit of it.

(3) This is one of your Huffington.Post Writers comments; Take it to the streets. Take it to the (churches). Take it to Orange county. Get out there and (fight). You have a (noble) and just (cause). Don't let anyone take away your rights. (Source: Bruce Tenenbaum). Is it the Huffington.Post position that their writers should attack posters and call for civil disorder? Or was it to be civil discussion, to stop civil disorder to find middle ground?

[MasterX]

In summary,

It takes one cynical politician, truly contemptuous of the American electorate to make that speech at Annapolis, take his slogan "Country First," and then picking Sarah Palin as his running mate. If you had any doubts about McCain, that should have put them to rest.

I rest my case.

[BottomLine2008]

Wasn't McCain just desperate when he picked Palin? And REALLY badly advised?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Yep.

I've already written about how that disastrous pick came about. More to come on the details. But that's not what this piece is about.

[CaptainStormfield]

I was under the impression that he had to make a deal with the Religious Right to get their support. They really dont like McCain cause he called Dobson and Falwell "agents of intolerance". The truth hurts I guess. Maybe Bill can shed some light on that choice.
Frontline had an excellent program on Obama and McCain, some backround stuff that I hadnt seen before. A lot more detail on McCain's 2000 run and his subsequent butting heads with the Bush administration. It also had some good stuff on Obama's early career,
interviews with Harvard Law students, getting started in Chicago politics, getting that State Senate seat. Ill have to watch it again.

[MasterX]

Continued from last post . ..



So please enough with the McCain Admiration Society, it is tiresome and most certainly undeserved and unfounded. You're a brilliant guy and a great writer, I would have thought you would have seen through the empty marketing chicanery.

And though I say all this, I in no way mean to diminish what he went through as a POW or deny him the honor he deserves for the heroism, honor and bravery he demonstrated at that time. Whatever qualities in his personality motivated him through those difficult years has simply not been in evidence since he returned, remarried, and began a political life.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for the compliment.

But I don't think you see the totality of McCain's life.

One can admire what the man has (usually) stood for while thoroughly disliking what his campaign became.

But my point is not about McCain per se, but the enduring values he articulated in that speech. The best of which we still need as America moves into the future.

I know it's hard to let go of campaign angers. God knows the Hillary die-hards kept commenting away on my pieces long past any relevance.

[MasterX]

Continued from previous post:

carefully choosing a few issues to oppose his party that offered him zero political risk (remember his constituents are Arizonans not South Carolinians), never challenging the party on issues that might have real impact on the American People or on the level of political discourse which his Party so cavlierly diminished. In fact, his careful crafting of his "maverick" brand seems in hindsight nothing more than a cynical ploy he thought could win him the presidency in 2000 and when it failed, he jettisoned it virtually hook, line and sinker. Have we sunk so low as a nation as to consider opposition to torture by someone who was tortured as something politically courageous, the actions of a true "maverick?"

Then there's the statement: "To some people the expectations of liberty are reduced to the right to choose among competing brands of designer coffee." This coming from the man who changed his brand virtually every day on his campaign.

No that speech doesn't reflect anything John McCain values or represents or represented, it is typical of his rhetoric panegyrizing the good, censuring the bad and hoping that by his rhetoric you will identify him with the opposite of what he really is. I needn't recite all the misdeeds of his campaign, but one should note that there was a clear running theme: Every time McCain accused the other side of some bad act, it became apparent that he was committing it.

Continued in next post . ..

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Well, obviously, you hate John McCain.

You are also generalizing tremendously from a period of several months.

[MasterX]

Why is it that so few seem to andsee through McCain. Instead of seeing the Annapolis speech as a sincere, graniloquent expression of McCain's beliefs, it was nothing more than a cynical rhetorical flourish touching on all the values which appeal to Americans' sense of pride, honor, and dignity which the McCain campaign assumed Americans' could be fooled into believing McCain embraces and personifies simply by virtue of his POW experience, which he never likes to talk about every chance he gets and which he has cynically used as his entre into Washington and at every step in his poligitcal career. In fact, every single thing he identifies as dishonorable in the speech actually is a reflection of who he is.

He decries those who have profitted like "they have never done before," which aptly identifies a man who ditched his damaged wife for one worth 200 million. He has clearly shown the same "selfishness of some public figures who seek to shine the luster of their public reputations at the expense of the public good," choosing to identify with the party the party who has behaved shamelessly in its unfouded and unrelenting obsessive attack of Clinton through the 90s (not a peep from McCain as the Republican Party tore this country apart and divided it deeply);

Continued in next post . . .

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Well, I followed the McCain campaign VERY closely and that speech was a very good reflection of where McCain was through most of the campaign.

[Zerubbabel]

Bill you misperceive the view from the Right, you make McCain your straw-man. McCain never was a spokesman for conservatism. The current joke on the Right is that the next time McCain reaches across the aisle that he should just take a seat over there.

The distinction between conservatism and republicanism is growing ever wider.

[BottomLine2008]

The distinction between right-wingism and reality is growing ever wider ...

[CaptainStormfield]

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2008/11/sarah-palin-is-the-future-of-conservatism.html

You might find this of interest. And Joe's essay's on his redneck brethern are always good.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

I am pretty darn sure you don't understand this column.

[Zerubbabel]

This is the age of the death of the author. Perhaps I understand your column better than you. You posited McCain as the representative of these things:

“The America That Has Been … John McCain, the representative of a tradition … John McCain is more about enduring values, what we have known. … patriotism, history and valor, compelling traditions …”

If not describing conservatism, then what could these things describe?

[valhalladad]

I, too, expect him to be very good. The exciting thing about this particular election is the potential to be very good or there is the chance that it could be a disaster. Obama has the misfortune of following an administration that has for all intents and purposes, scorched the Earth in the form of complicated wars, economic catastrophe, and a seemingly waning energy crisis. "Good luck with that presidency thing ya'll!"
Never-the-less, Obama has the skills and, I believe, the mandate to right this ship. His main obstacle is going to be a headstrong Congress that may feel like the mandate is theirs. If they over reach in their electoral zeal then the backlash will surely be felt in 2014 and beyond. But if Pelosi and Reid can reign in their more rabid members and look out for the People's interests, they can enjoy another forty years of Federal control.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't think there's much chance that Obama will be a disaster. He's too smart, too cool, too curious.

[SailFree]

Clearly, there must be some value in liberal personality traits, for they have survived. It's hard to see what it is, sometimes, but the value must be there. The same can be said for conservative personality traits. Both must contribute something to the survival of humanity or, by natural selection, if one believes in such, one set of traits would have died out.

[Zerubbabel]

Conservation of the existing has been the timeless paradigm of human history. The Left is a new construct of the enlightenment. Being is the norm. Becoming is the exception. The perpetual state of becoming is an absurdity.

[BottomLine2008]

All life is change. Or hadn't you noticed?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Actually, we are constantly in a state of being and a state of becoming.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Don't read too much into Darwinism.

You apparently are unaware of the history of the liberal tradition. Which modern-day conservatives have perverted into a history of radical Marxism, hardly the same thing.

[TotoToo]

We've suffered through 30 years of hate, bigotry, hypocrisy, lies, division and greed; let's give unity and truth a try.

[SailFree]

On this web site? You must be kidding!!!!!

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Oh, you think this column is unfair to McCain?

[BottomLine2008]

Oh, let's not.

j/k :)

[BottomLine2008]

100,000 people at Obama's closing rally on the site of the first big battle of the Civil War! I love it.

And he won Virginia. The Cradle of the Confederacy.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Although not, actually, one of his better speeches, oddly enough.

[NoSillyName]

He was clearly exhausted that night. And grieving.

[BottomLine2008]

I like McCain's Annapolis speech. I don't remember seeing that guy this fall.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

He was apparently in witness protection.

[BottomLine2008]

I love Springsteen's introduction of Obama in Cleveland. Come on up for The Rising ...We are at the crossroads.

We were at the crossroads. We made the right choice.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

HuffPost's Pick

That may be my favorite video of the campaign.

[CaptainStormfield]

Well McCain had Hank Williams Jr. .... Obama had The Boss... :)

[BottomLine2008]

McCain's concession speech was very good. Notice how the Reps boo Obama. Sad people, really.