[+] Barack Obama: An Agent of Redemption, by William Raspberry
WASHINGTON America -- or at least that portion of it
tuned in to the Democratic convention last week --
fell in love with Barack Obama.
As they say, what's not to love? The guy is a bright,
handsome, charming and articulate embodiment of all
the good things America imagines itself to be -- and,
from time to time, actually is. I'm reminded of how
America used to love Colin Powell.
But I think there was something else in Obama's
message that turned people on -- even if all of us
haven't quite figured it out. His keynote speech
managed to take the hostile fragments into which we've
been broken by political operatives and the media and
start putting us together again. He reassured us that
we weren't the only ones to see the possibility of our
living together, not in political lockstep, but at
least as mutually respectful neighbors.
"The pundits like to slice and dice our country into
red states and blue states," the young U.S. Senate
hopeful said in one memorable passage. "But I've got
news for them. We worship an awesome God in the blue
states and we don't like federal agents poking around
in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little
League in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay
friends in the red states. There are patriots who
opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who
supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of
us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all
of us defending the United States of America."
The political marketers have become so adept at
finding America's fault lines that they have almost
convinced us that we are mindless elements of a jigsaw
puzzle, incapable of complex beliefs. If we take
religion seriously, then we must be undereducated
bumpkins with no appreciation of the Constitution or
science. If we believe the government has a duty to
protect the weakest among us, then we must be silly
tax-and-spend liberals.
Obama was saying: It's not that simple.
And my conservative Republican friend Ed Chinn was
saying from Fort Worth, Texas:
"My gosh! I so resonate to that. I hope his comments
catch on like a prairie fire through the land.
"I hate the imposition of the marketing paradigm on
our culture. We've segmented the audience into
demographics for the purpose of selling products and
ideas. But in the process of that, we're Balkanizing
the whole country. I despise the red-and-blue model.
"The more basic issue, though, is that we've become
blind to and are trampling the human treasures right
before our eyes. ... We're all in such a reactionary
mode that we never actually listen to anything or
anyone. We just race to the categorization of where we
think they're 'coming from' and then quickly accept or
dismiss them, based on our own bias."
The wonder isn't that Chinn -- Southern and white --
should find a sort of soul mate in Obama -- whose
roots are Kenya and Kansas and whose skin is black and
whose politics are left of center. The wonder is that
it should surprise us so that two men of principle
might find something to agree on (or at least to have
a respectful debate about).
Don't most of us live in communities, or move in
circles, or work in places where we have friends --
good friends -- of differing political persuasions?
Ed Chinn reminds me -- as Obama reminded the nation --
that our common humanity must be allowed to trump the
things that would drive us apart. Thus Obama could
express real concern for a poor elderly person forced
to choose between paying the rent and buying
prescription drugs, "even if it's not my grandparent."
And thus Chinn could say: "I personally don't care if
a person is liberal, conservative, Christian, Muslim,
gay or straight. Everyone carries God's signature
(even if it takes a while to find it). And everyone --
everyone -- is looking for the same thing: love,
forgiveness, security and a sense of personal worth.
If we could ever realize that, we could become agents
of redemption in a cold, cold world.
"Instead, we're slowly eroding our fundamental
humanity. We've become so merchandized that no one
even gives a genuine damn about people anymore. So I
say: Go, Barack Obama! I may even vote Democratic this
year."
[William Raspberry's column appears Tuesday on
editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is
willrasp@washpost.com].
Copyright 2004, Washington Post Writers Group
tuned in to the Democratic convention last week --
fell in love with Barack Obama.
As they say, what's not to love? The guy is a bright,
handsome, charming and articulate embodiment of all
the good things America imagines itself to be -- and,
from time to time, actually is. I'm reminded of how
America used to love Colin Powell.
But I think there was something else in Obama's
message that turned people on -- even if all of us
haven't quite figured it out. His keynote speech
managed to take the hostile fragments into which we've
been broken by political operatives and the media and
start putting us together again. He reassured us that
we weren't the only ones to see the possibility of our
living together, not in political lockstep, but at
least as mutually respectful neighbors.
"The pundits like to slice and dice our country into
red states and blue states," the young U.S. Senate
hopeful said in one memorable passage. "But I've got
news for them. We worship an awesome God in the blue
states and we don't like federal agents poking around
in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little
League in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay
friends in the red states. There are patriots who
opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who
supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of
us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all
of us defending the United States of America."
The political marketers have become so adept at
finding America's fault lines that they have almost
convinced us that we are mindless elements of a jigsaw
puzzle, incapable of complex beliefs. If we take
religion seriously, then we must be undereducated
bumpkins with no appreciation of the Constitution or
science. If we believe the government has a duty to
protect the weakest among us, then we must be silly
tax-and-spend liberals.
Obama was saying: It's not that simple.
And my conservative Republican friend Ed Chinn was
saying from Fort Worth, Texas:
"My gosh! I so resonate to that. I hope his comments
catch on like a prairie fire through the land.
"I hate the imposition of the marketing paradigm on
our culture. We've segmented the audience into
demographics for the purpose of selling products and
ideas. But in the process of that, we're Balkanizing
the whole country. I despise the red-and-blue model.
"The more basic issue, though, is that we've become
blind to and are trampling the human treasures right
before our eyes. ... We're all in such a reactionary
mode that we never actually listen to anything or
anyone. We just race to the categorization of where we
think they're 'coming from' and then quickly accept or
dismiss them, based on our own bias."
The wonder isn't that Chinn -- Southern and white --
should find a sort of soul mate in Obama -- whose
roots are Kenya and Kansas and whose skin is black and
whose politics are left of center. The wonder is that
it should surprise us so that two men of principle
might find something to agree on (or at least to have
a respectful debate about).
Don't most of us live in communities, or move in
circles, or work in places where we have friends --
good friends -- of differing political persuasions?
Ed Chinn reminds me -- as Obama reminded the nation --
that our common humanity must be allowed to trump the
things that would drive us apart. Thus Obama could
express real concern for a poor elderly person forced
to choose between paying the rent and buying
prescription drugs, "even if it's not my grandparent."
And thus Chinn could say: "I personally don't care if
a person is liberal, conservative, Christian, Muslim,
gay or straight. Everyone carries God's signature
(even if it takes a while to find it). And everyone --
everyone -- is looking for the same thing: love,
forgiveness, security and a sense of personal worth.
If we could ever realize that, we could become agents
of redemption in a cold, cold world.
"Instead, we're slowly eroding our fundamental
humanity. We've become so merchandized that no one
even gives a genuine damn about people anymore. So I
say: Go, Barack Obama! I may even vote Democratic this
year."
[William Raspberry's column appears Tuesday on
editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is
willrasp@washpost.com].
Copyright 2004, Washington Post Writers Group
posted by Rev. Rick Mitchell, PhD at 11:14 PM
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