People look at a man like Barack Obama, and they see people flock to him, worried that people are not paying attention enough to who he is, and just following the media's soundbyte politics. In our country, we have become a nation of issues. What is his stance on abortion, on stem cell research, on the environment? We are driven by issues, and there is a pretty justifiable reason why. All of the soundbyte politics supports the supposition that we care only about the issues.
But there is something more important than just the issues. The reason people love Obama is not because he perfectly coincides with their stances on the issues. People love Obama because he is a leader. We have seen a strong drought of leaders in our times. And perhaps, there have been leaders, but all we get is their soundbytes. Obama has been dedicated to being who he is, and has been somewhat fortunate in succeeding, despite not playing the Washington game.
Why do I want Obama and not Hillary? Why do I want Obama and not McCain? It has little to do with issues. It has to do with leadership, inspiration, and honest intelligence. Obama tells me the truth. He believes that honesty still means something in this country, and that you don't have to be calculating to get to be president.
The irony is that I think Hillary and McCain, and many of the other candidates, contain that potential, but their time in Washington has shown them that straightforward honesty and true leadership is not valued by the nation.
I want to send Washington a different message. My goal in making this blog is to present events in Washington as they really are -- the day in and day out, and not just the soundbyte politics that so many are guided by, because it is the only access we have.
I haven't quite figured out how to meet this goal. I live in Utah and not in D.C., so it may be harder for me to access things. Probably the best way to start is just with the senate. Each week I'll release a post about the senators, as much information as I can find, their voting records, but also their views on their votes, things that I think are good and bad about them. My first week will be Obama, and then the next week Hillary, then McCain. From there, I will move on through, trying to make sure I will hit all of those who are seeking re-election this year before elections, and then on to the rest.
My goal is to present senators in their success at leadership, and not just their views on issues. I think few of us today would say we wouldn't vote for George Washington because he wasn't against or for abortion. We would look and want to see his reasoning, and still perhaps disagree with him, but think his leadership more important than his stance on one certain issue.
2 comments:
The sad part is that I think, as a whole, Americans probably -would- be unlikely to elect George Washington, due to his stance on petty issues. That's the kind of issue driven, two side only political system America has grown into. As such, I think you make an excellent point in telling people to look past the issues; had Washington not been elected because of his stance on taxing fieldowners or whatever, America would be missing a skilled leader and a key element in her expansion to a great country.
I don't know how often I will post, but it's a start, right?
Stefan I think you address really what I am trying to do with this blog. People seem to in a way know too much in our day and age, because they know all the stances and whatever, but they never really look at who the person is, and whether they have good leadership. I think it is also the fault of politicians, because they live so much by what people say in polls. Because I think a lot more Americans would have been likely to vote for Gore if they knew that he was so passionate about the environment, but his campaign advisers told him to not talk about that stuff, because people didn't show in the polls that they cared about it. Which brings me back to something I adressed in my post about McCain, that part of being a leader is caring about the things that need to be cared about - that they need to let everyday Americans care about what matters to them, but they may need to care about different things. I don't really need to care about what weapons are being developed for the military, but I sure as heck want a president who at least cares somewhat about that.
I suppose I would like to be able in some way restore not only everyday Americans faith in politics, but politicians faith in everyday Americans too. I want to show politicians that people do care about other things besides the sound bytes, and just their stances on issues.
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