Why I Donated $500 to Barack Obama Today
I'm in a horrible mood today. It could be the September 11th memorial going on right outside my office, but I'm too self-centered to let that get to me too much.
A quick scan across the rest of my life isn't yielding answers either. I'm working, I'm exercising, I'm reading, I'm hanging out with friends. No calamities there.
The only thing getting to me lately has been the American political scene. It's been so ugly, and worse, I've found it to be addictive. Every day there's a new commercial, a new speech, a new backlash, and ten thousand pundits (including me) pretending they can make sense of it all. I take it all in, and it's frying my brain.
What's bothering me the most, though, is the conduct of the Republican Presidential ticket, and the American public's reaction to that conduct. John McCain and Sarah Palin are propagating the nastiest, most gutter form of politics I can possible imagine, and it seems to be working. That disillusions me on so many levels.
John McCain is a hero. The word has been used casually, even by the press, as though there is no question about that aspect of McCain's biography. And I'll second it. I've read books about Vietnam POWs and what they endured in the service of our country. When the hype dies down, all of them, McCain included, will still be among my personal heroes.
That said, I don't want John McCain to be my President, and I don't want Sarah Palin to be my Vice President. Hero, hockey mom, whatever - they don't seem to have anything to offer the country beyond lies, pandering, and personality politics. They are an empty ticket.
From everything I've read, McCain is a decent man. But like Hillary Clinton, another politician I admire, he saw the Presidency and decided that he wanted it more than decency, more than honor, more than love of country. His choice of Sarah Palin, his vicious, vapid commercials - they are the equivalent of Hillary's divisive racial politics; they are a sign of shameful desperation, a willingness to do and sacrifice ANYTHING to reach that final goal. Frankly, I find it disgusting.
I am likely missing something substantive about these two. But it scares me that people will follow a man who does NOT promise a better future for America, simply because he represents something they know, even if it is not something they like. It scares me that people see a shrill, unqualified, power-hungry woman and want her a heartbeat from the Presidency because, for the moment, she is catchy like a Britney Spears song.
Barack Obama is not Jesus. I don't even think he's John F. Kennedy. He's not particularly experienced as a politician. I don't have a great sense of what he will do once he's in office, or whether he has the strength to make any specific policy changes during his 4 or 8 years. He's probably much more calculating and ambitious than anyone is giving him credit for right now. He seems squeaky-clean, but I would bet he has skeletons of some kind in his closet.
I look at him, though, and I see an honorable man, and beyond that, an honorable politician. I see a man who will look out for ALL Americans, not just those who kowtow to a Norman Rockwell ideal that never actually existed. I see a man with strong faith who won't attempt to legislate Christian morality on a diverse population. I see an intelligent, intellectually curious man who will do the smart thing and the right thing, not the easiest thing or the most shocking thing.
I see someone who will work towards a peaceful coexistence with the rest of the world, instead of rattling a saber at enemies who aren't even enemies anymore. I see someone who will be strong, but who won't start unnecessary wars that kill thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of foreigners. Spin that as weak, but I'll always call it responsible and humane.
Yes, our country is strong. Yes, it is a moral force in the world. But those words are only part of the story. I reject strength without humanity, and I reject morality without open-mindedness or compassion. In their fervor, the delegates at the Republican National Convention disagreed with me. I pray that when the energy of the last few weeks subsides, most Americans will embrace both facets of American greatness, not simply one.
Everyone has different views, and I respect them, but I will go to my grave believing that my views - many of which Obama seems to hold - represent the best idea of what America can stand for. And I believe that John McCain and Sarah Palin's vision for America, to the extent that they even have one, will drag us away from that realization.
John McCain will not be George W. Bush, and I don't think four years of McCain would be a disaster. But it won't simply be boring either. A McCain presidency, as I picture it now, would be downright depressing.
I see us trudging slowly in the wrong direction, the economy deteriorating, the Supreme Court growing more reactionary bit by bit, and our image in the world becoming more and more tarnished. Disaster or not, I don't want a placeholder President who's realized his ambition and then finds he has no idea why he's in the Oval Office.
In Obama, though, we have a candidate who can make America a more inspiring place. "Hope" and "change" are cliches, but we need them right now. Instead of standing for the same old garbage, I believe that under Barack Obama, America has the chance to stand for something great, here and around the world.
I've never donated money to a political candidate before. Anybody who knows me knows I would rather lose a lung than spend $500 on anything.
This wasn't a charitable donation. I didn't give Barack Obama $500 to save lives, because I don't think too many lives are at stake. I didn't give him the money just so my side could win, although I do want my side to win.
I donated $500 to Barack Obama because I believe an Obama presidency will take America in a better direction. An Obama presidency will help create a country I am even more proud to live in. I am a latte-sipping, arugula-chomping, Upper East Side-living Democrat, but I love my country, I believe in its greatness, and I want it to stand for something better than it's stood for over the last eight years. I'm self-centered. I need that good feeling.
Sometimes people just want to feel good about their country and the world they live in. That's important. John Kennedy was a mediocre-to-good President at best, but people still get starry-eyed thinking about his time in office. That 's not economic policy, or foreign policy, or a stance on abortion, but it means something.
McCain and Palin shoot for feeling, too. They brings crowds to their feet. People vote based on that feeling. It's been proven, over and over.
But when they invoke patriotism, the troops, and 9/11 so you'll vote for the candidate waving the biggest American flag, I call it condescension. When they elicit contempt for community organizers, or the French, or even Americans who don't live like they do, I call it divisiveness. And when they emphasize simplicity and xenophobia and call for us to fight, fight, fight, kill, kill, kill, they are appealing to a very real side of us - our worst side. It's brilliantly cynical, and it works if people let it.
Too often Democrats run on thoughts and ideas. But while I believe those are on our side, people don't vote based on thoughts - they vote based on feelings.
A candidate can certainly win by appealing to the feelings of hatred, superiority, and fear - but at great cost to our country, and to himself or herself. That's why I'd bet John McCain isn't sleeping too well lately. But a candidate can also win by appealing to the feelings of hope, and compassion, and genuine excitement that exist in all of us.
From everything I've seen of him, Obama will make us feel better about ourselves and our country while appealing to our better angels. And after eight years of grim, bloody, and uninspiring leadership, I gladly traded $500 for a shot at the substantive change and truly necessary hope that Barack Obama offers.
A quick scan across the rest of my life isn't yielding answers either. I'm working, I'm exercising, I'm reading, I'm hanging out with friends. No calamities there.
The only thing getting to me lately has been the American political scene. It's been so ugly, and worse, I've found it to be addictive. Every day there's a new commercial, a new speech, a new backlash, and ten thousand pundits (including me) pretending they can make sense of it all. I take it all in, and it's frying my brain.
What's bothering me the most, though, is the conduct of the Republican Presidential ticket, and the American public's reaction to that conduct. John McCain and Sarah Palin are propagating the nastiest, most gutter form of politics I can possible imagine, and it seems to be working. That disillusions me on so many levels.
John McCain is a hero. The word has been used casually, even by the press, as though there is no question about that aspect of McCain's biography. And I'll second it. I've read books about Vietnam POWs and what they endured in the service of our country. When the hype dies down, all of them, McCain included, will still be among my personal heroes.
That said, I don't want John McCain to be my President, and I don't want Sarah Palin to be my Vice President. Hero, hockey mom, whatever - they don't seem to have anything to offer the country beyond lies, pandering, and personality politics. They are an empty ticket.
From everything I've read, McCain is a decent man. But like Hillary Clinton, another politician I admire, he saw the Presidency and decided that he wanted it more than decency, more than honor, more than love of country. His choice of Sarah Palin, his vicious, vapid commercials - they are the equivalent of Hillary's divisive racial politics; they are a sign of shameful desperation, a willingness to do and sacrifice ANYTHING to reach that final goal. Frankly, I find it disgusting.
I am likely missing something substantive about these two. But it scares me that people will follow a man who does NOT promise a better future for America, simply because he represents something they know, even if it is not something they like. It scares me that people see a shrill, unqualified, power-hungry woman and want her a heartbeat from the Presidency because, for the moment, she is catchy like a Britney Spears song.
Barack Obama is not Jesus. I don't even think he's John F. Kennedy. He's not particularly experienced as a politician. I don't have a great sense of what he will do once he's in office, or whether he has the strength to make any specific policy changes during his 4 or 8 years. He's probably much more calculating and ambitious than anyone is giving him credit for right now. He seems squeaky-clean, but I would bet he has skeletons of some kind in his closet.
I look at him, though, and I see an honorable man, and beyond that, an honorable politician. I see a man who will look out for ALL Americans, not just those who kowtow to a Norman Rockwell ideal that never actually existed. I see a man with strong faith who won't attempt to legislate Christian morality on a diverse population. I see an intelligent, intellectually curious man who will do the smart thing and the right thing, not the easiest thing or the most shocking thing.
I see someone who will work towards a peaceful coexistence with the rest of the world, instead of rattling a saber at enemies who aren't even enemies anymore. I see someone who will be strong, but who won't start unnecessary wars that kill thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of foreigners. Spin that as weak, but I'll always call it responsible and humane.
Yes, our country is strong. Yes, it is a moral force in the world. But those words are only part of the story. I reject strength without humanity, and I reject morality without open-mindedness or compassion. In their fervor, the delegates at the Republican National Convention disagreed with me. I pray that when the energy of the last few weeks subsides, most Americans will embrace both facets of American greatness, not simply one.
Everyone has different views, and I respect them, but I will go to my grave believing that my views - many of which Obama seems to hold - represent the best idea of what America can stand for. And I believe that John McCain and Sarah Palin's vision for America, to the extent that they even have one, will drag us away from that realization.
John McCain will not be George W. Bush, and I don't think four years of McCain would be a disaster. But it won't simply be boring either. A McCain presidency, as I picture it now, would be downright depressing.
I see us trudging slowly in the wrong direction, the economy deteriorating, the Supreme Court growing more reactionary bit by bit, and our image in the world becoming more and more tarnished. Disaster or not, I don't want a placeholder President who's realized his ambition and then finds he has no idea why he's in the Oval Office.
In Obama, though, we have a candidate who can make America a more inspiring place. "Hope" and "change" are cliches, but we need them right now. Instead of standing for the same old garbage, I believe that under Barack Obama, America has the chance to stand for something great, here and around the world.
I've never donated money to a political candidate before. Anybody who knows me knows I would rather lose a lung than spend $500 on anything.
This wasn't a charitable donation. I didn't give Barack Obama $500 to save lives, because I don't think too many lives are at stake. I didn't give him the money just so my side could win, although I do want my side to win.
I donated $500 to Barack Obama because I believe an Obama presidency will take America in a better direction. An Obama presidency will help create a country I am even more proud to live in. I am a latte-sipping, arugula-chomping, Upper East Side-living Democrat, but I love my country, I believe in its greatness, and I want it to stand for something better than it's stood for over the last eight years. I'm self-centered. I need that good feeling.
Sometimes people just want to feel good about their country and the world they live in. That's important. John Kennedy was a mediocre-to-good President at best, but people still get starry-eyed thinking about his time in office. That 's not economic policy, or foreign policy, or a stance on abortion, but it means something.
McCain and Palin shoot for feeling, too. They brings crowds to their feet. People vote based on that feeling. It's been proven, over and over.
But when they invoke patriotism, the troops, and 9/11 so you'll vote for the candidate waving the biggest American flag, I call it condescension. When they elicit contempt for community organizers, or the French, or even Americans who don't live like they do, I call it divisiveness. And when they emphasize simplicity and xenophobia and call for us to fight, fight, fight, kill, kill, kill, they are appealing to a very real side of us - our worst side. It's brilliantly cynical, and it works if people let it.
Too often Democrats run on thoughts and ideas. But while I believe those are on our side, people don't vote based on thoughts - they vote based on feelings.
A candidate can certainly win by appealing to the feelings of hatred, superiority, and fear - but at great cost to our country, and to himself or herself. That's why I'd bet John McCain isn't sleeping too well lately. But a candidate can also win by appealing to the feelings of hope, and compassion, and genuine excitement that exist in all of us.
From everything I've seen of him, Obama will make us feel better about ourselves and our country while appealing to our better angels. And after eight years of grim, bloody, and uninspiring leadership, I gladly traded $500 for a shot at the substantive change and truly necessary hope that Barack Obama offers.