Ellington

Sen. Barak Obama in a Daily Kos diary:

The bottom line is that our job is harder than the conservatives' job. After all, it's easy to articulate a belligerent foreign policy based solely on unilateral military action, a policy that sounds tough and acts dumb; it's harder to craft a foreign policy that's tough and smart. It's easy to dismantle government safety nets; it's harder to transform those safety nets so that they work for people and can be paid for. It's easy to embrace a theological absolutism; it's harder to find the right balance between the legitimate role of faith in our lives and the demands of our civic religion. But that's our job. And I firmly believe that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, or oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose. A polarized electorate that is turned off of politics, and easily dismisses both parties because of the nasty, dishonest tone of the debate, works perfectly well for those who seek to chip away at the very idea of government because, in the end, a cynical electorate is a selfish electorate.

Let me be clear: I am not arguing that the Democrats should trim their sails and be more "centrist." In fact, I think the whole "centrist" versus "liberal" labels that continue to characterize the debate within the Democratic Party misses the mark. Too often, the "centrist" label seems to mean compromise for compromise sake, whereas on issues like health care, energy, education and tackling poverty, I don't think Democrats have been bold enough. But I do think that being bold involves more than just putting more money into existing programs and will instead require us to admit that some existing programs and policies don't work very well. And further, it will require us to innovate and experiment with whatever ideas hold promise (including market- or faith-based ideas that originate from Republicans).

My dear friend Paul Simon used to consistently win the votes of much more conservative voters in Southern Illinois because he had mastered the art of "disagreeing without being disagreeable," and they trusted him to tell the truth. Similarly, one of Paul Wellstone's greatest strengths was his ability to deliver a scathing rebuke of the Republicans without ever losing his sense of humor and affability. In fact, I would argue that the most powerful voices of change in the country, from Lincoln to King, have been those who can speak with the utmost conviction about the great issues of the day without ever belittling those who opposed them, and without denying the limits of their own perspectives.

Previous Comments

ID

171740

Comment

I think Obama is right about our tone matteringóalthough we know how difficult it is when those who disagree with you ONLY deal in personal insults, lies and ugly attacksóand then have such thin skins if you strike back at all that they completely go off the deep end with more ugliness. I personally find that my detractors will obsess about me, my paper and my blog every day for a year, but one even veiled joke about the obsessed sends them into paranoid spasms. Truthfully, those spasms make them look terrible and hurts their efforts to disparage those they fear -- but, good Lord, at what cost? I guess what I'm saying is I find it a regular struggle to decide whether to throw such extremists a bit of red meat so that they expose themselves, so to speak, to their friends and neighbors or to simply ignore them and stay on the high ground, no matter what. And I'm honestly not entirely sure what the answer is, although I personally prefer the high ground any time. Who has time for idiots who are seem sure to sink themselves without your help? But I can certainly see the argument of people who say that the radical right is so extreme, and so capable of telling any lie or attacking even children if it "helps" them feel superior, that moderates and progressives need to take the gloves off more often. We have the evidence in all sorts of elected offices right now that ugly tactics work. And there is a certain point where people who prove themselves capable of true, true ugliness just need to be ignored (at least) and ostracized at worst. For instance, right here in Mississippi, we have a long habit of turning our heads away from people's blatant racist and hateful words. "Well, you know how people are." "He's old." "He don't mean no harm." And so on. Freedom is a constant struggle, that's for sure. Any thoughts on this push-pull between the high road and jumping in the gutter with the Ugly Ones now and then?

Author

ladd

Date

2005-10-02T09:36:41-06:00