Obama is the Best Candidate, and Here's Why
I think so often in life one desires to only show up when it is convenient or easy to do so. But maturity and character demand that we play when the situation does not favor us, that we play when we are not at our best, that we play when it is inconvenient, when it is tough, when we are challenged and put upon. I believe that the best measure of any person is how they perform when they are at their worst, not when they are at their best for it is in these moments of difficulty, in these moments of trial and tribulation that one's truest colors shine through.
If life were full of easy choices would it even be worth living? The hard choices matter most because they are what ultimately come to define our lives. The road less traveled stands as such a powerful metaphor in Frost's famous poem because it makes all the difference to travel where others have yet to tread. It is hard to diverge from the easy path well trod by others who passed before. We know not what the future holds, and it is therefore far easier to follow the paths set before us by those who passed before. But if history teaches us anything it is that the wisdom of the past is not dispositive as regards the the direction of the future.
We are set forth in our journey through life with plenty of guidance from the past about what the future will hold. The past certainly repeats itself. But the future looks beyond the past into yet unimagined territory, and speaks with little certainty about it. We, all of us, must understand that new pathways into the future must be opened up if we are to move beyond our present station. That is why in examining our leaders in this primary season voters must not ask simply where have we come from, but where do we want to go, and how are we going to get there?
I would argue that Barack Obama has shown the greatest capacity of any of the candidates on these two critical aspects of leadership to both point the country in the right direction, and to lead it in that right direction. On the most critical question this country has faced since Vietnam, Obama is the only candidate who showed the strength and the prescience to vehemently denounce the War in Iraq from the very beginning. Obama knew that the War in Iraq was "dumb", that it had the potential to splinter Iraq into warring factions, that it would likely cost the United States greatly in terms of lives lost, debts incurred, and reputation tarnished, and lastly that it was unlikely to advance America's strategic interests much if at all, and could very well harm America's strategic position in the long run.
On every one of these points he has been proved right. But that's still the past, what about the future? Here again I think Obama proves his metal by emphasizing the need to move beyond the divisive politics that have permeated Washington over the past 20 years. It's fine to have disagreements when the stakes are low, but America clearly stands now at a crossroads, and the stakes have never been higher. China and India are ascendant, American industry is faltering, the Middle East is looking increasingly unsettled, the baby boomers are set to retire, globalization is continuing unabated meaning that competition for just about everything is increasing exponentially. America may as yet remain a "super power", but that sure means a lot less than it did 10 years ago. It is clear that we can no longer impose our will on the world, in fact the world seems increasingly able to dictate terms to us.
These enormous challenges necessitate bipartisan cooperation. America doesn't just need a few solutions to these challenges, it needs thousands. We cannot continue to be tied up in knots over every issue that comes our way. That is why Obama is the candidate of the moment because he is able to broker compromise, to work both sides of the aisle to come up with solutions to the myriad challenges we will face going forward. He is a man built for a complex, difficult, international, divisive world because that is the environment he grew up in. At the Harvard law review he was the only person that everyone could agree on as the choice for editor because everyone knew he would listen to them and give them a fair shake. In troubled times, and these are certainly troubled times, unity counts for everything.
There is a right path, it is a difficult one, one that requires hard choices by Democrats and Republicans alike, but it will ultimately lead to a better future for us all and that is the path of bipartisan cooperation. Barack Obama is the only candidate with the capacity to lead us on that path to the future America deserves, a future in which America will still find itself an important leader in a world of increasing complexity, competition and promise.
If life were full of easy choices would it even be worth living? The hard choices matter most because they are what ultimately come to define our lives. The road less traveled stands as such a powerful metaphor in Frost's famous poem because it makes all the difference to travel where others have yet to tread. It is hard to diverge from the easy path well trod by others who passed before. We know not what the future holds, and it is therefore far easier to follow the paths set before us by those who passed before. But if history teaches us anything it is that the wisdom of the past is not dispositive as regards the the direction of the future.
We are set forth in our journey through life with plenty of guidance from the past about what the future will hold. The past certainly repeats itself. But the future looks beyond the past into yet unimagined territory, and speaks with little certainty about it. We, all of us, must understand that new pathways into the future must be opened up if we are to move beyond our present station. That is why in examining our leaders in this primary season voters must not ask simply where have we come from, but where do we want to go, and how are we going to get there?
I would argue that Barack Obama has shown the greatest capacity of any of the candidates on these two critical aspects of leadership to both point the country in the right direction, and to lead it in that right direction. On the most critical question this country has faced since Vietnam, Obama is the only candidate who showed the strength and the prescience to vehemently denounce the War in Iraq from the very beginning. Obama knew that the War in Iraq was "dumb", that it had the potential to splinter Iraq into warring factions, that it would likely cost the United States greatly in terms of lives lost, debts incurred, and reputation tarnished, and lastly that it was unlikely to advance America's strategic interests much if at all, and could very well harm America's strategic position in the long run.
On every one of these points he has been proved right. But that's still the past, what about the future? Here again I think Obama proves his metal by emphasizing the need to move beyond the divisive politics that have permeated Washington over the past 20 years. It's fine to have disagreements when the stakes are low, but America clearly stands now at a crossroads, and the stakes have never been higher. China and India are ascendant, American industry is faltering, the Middle East is looking increasingly unsettled, the baby boomers are set to retire, globalization is continuing unabated meaning that competition for just about everything is increasing exponentially. America may as yet remain a "super power", but that sure means a lot less than it did 10 years ago. It is clear that we can no longer impose our will on the world, in fact the world seems increasingly able to dictate terms to us.
These enormous challenges necessitate bipartisan cooperation. America doesn't just need a few solutions to these challenges, it needs thousands. We cannot continue to be tied up in knots over every issue that comes our way. That is why Obama is the candidate of the moment because he is able to broker compromise, to work both sides of the aisle to come up with solutions to the myriad challenges we will face going forward. He is a man built for a complex, difficult, international, divisive world because that is the environment he grew up in. At the Harvard law review he was the only person that everyone could agree on as the choice for editor because everyone knew he would listen to them and give them a fair shake. In troubled times, and these are certainly troubled times, unity counts for everything.
There is a right path, it is a difficult one, one that requires hard choices by Democrats and Republicans alike, but it will ultimately lead to a better future for us all and that is the path of bipartisan cooperation. Barack Obama is the only candidate with the capacity to lead us on that path to the future America deserves, a future in which America will still find itself an important leader in a world of increasing complexity, competition and promise.
posted by Tbone at
5:20 PM
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