OBAMA TIME!

"It seems to me that the strongest case one
could make for an Obama presidency right
now is rarely articulated: it is his potential
to repair the broken relationship between
America and the world." So wrote Tom
Friedman in the NYT yesterday. He had
returned recently from Kenya, where Mr.
O. has extended family, and is a national
hero, with his picture taken by newspapers
posted widely in homes and offices.

Mr. Friedman added: ". . . I believe that what
has propelled his candidacy up to now --
more than anything -- is that many Americans
have projected onto him their hunger for
community, their hunger for a president
with the voice, instincts and moral authority
to make it so much harder for foreigners to
be anti-American or for Americans to be
anti-one-another."

If Friedman is right, that community is
what we are now seeking, then Obama is
our man. Community, local and world-
wide is what he is seeking too. And he
has specialized in it for years. He writes
about it in his new book: The Audacity of
Hope. Right out of college he went to
work as an organizer on Chicago's South
Side. David Moberg reports in The Nation
(4/16/07): "Interviews with people who
worked with him during that time found
few complaints --- virtually everyone
described him in glowing terms, such as
dedicated, hard-working, dependable,
intelligent, inspiring, a good listener,
confident but self-effacing. They admired
him as an organizer who trained strong
community leaders while keeping himself
in the background and as a strategist who
could turn general problems into specific,
winnable issues. Loretta Augustine-
Herron, a member of the DCP board that
hired him, remembers him as someone
who always followed the high road. 'You've
got to do it right,' she recalls him insisting.
'Be open with the issues. Include the
community instead of going behind the
community's back -- and he would
include people we didn't like sometimes.
You've got to bring people together. If you
exclude people, you're only weakening
yourself. If you meet behind closed doors
and make decisions for them, they'll never
take ownership of the issue.'"

Bringing people together. That's the over-
all theme of his new book. What comes
across is very much the person described
above. Plus he is intellectually gifted --
erudite, in fact. His chapter on the
Constitution should be standard reading
in every civics class. Obama taught
constitutional law at the University of
Chicago law school for six years, and
knows and loves his subject.

His chapter on politics is brilliant. It is
also fair and balanced. He refuses to
demonize the other side. His treatment
of the opposition is full of humanity and
humility. He reminds one of Lincoln in
this respect. He is mindful of human
frailty -- his own as well as that of others.

He has a great chapter on opportunity,
and another one on faith. Both are clear
and inspirational. As is the one on race.
I am reminded that Obama has M. L.
King's vision, idealism and eloquence,
and J. F. K.'s smarts and charisma!

His erudition and weath of life experience
really come into prominence in his
chapter on the "The World Beyond our
Borders." He lived in Indonesia for four
years as a child, and frequently visits
family in Kenya. He's an internationlist,
and studied international relations at
Columbia University. Before our excursion
into Iraq, he spoke prophetically (in Oct.,
2002): "I know that even a successful war
against Iraq will require a U. S. occupation
of undetermined length, at undetermined
cost, with undetermined consequences.
I know that an invasion of Iraq without a
clear rationale and without strong
international support will only fan the
flames of the Middle East, and encourage
the worst, rather than the best, impulses
of the Arab world, and strengthen the
recruitment arm of al Qaeda."

In this new book he writes: "Osama bin
Laden understands that he cannot defeat
or even incapacitate the United States in a
conventional war. What he and his allies
can do is inflict enough pain to provoke a
reaction of the sort we've seen in Iraq ---
a botched and ill-advised U. S. military
incursion into a Muslim country, which in
turn spurs on insurgencies based on
religious sentiment and nationalist pride,
which in turn necessitates a lengthy and
difficult U. S. occupation, which in turn
leads to an escalating death toll on the part
of U. S. troops and the local civilian
population. All of this fans anti-American
sentiment among the Muslims, increases
the pool of potential terrorist recruits, and
prompts the Amercan public to question
not only the war but also those policies
that project us into the Islamic world in the
first place."

Mr. Bush took office with the most
"experienced" crew he could find: the
Powells, the Cheneys, the Rumsfelds,
Wolfowitz, etc. Experience plus arrogance
and ignorance still add up to disaster!
Maybe it's time to try wisdom, knowlege,
common sense, humanity and humility,
in word affairs. Just for a change?

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net