A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on March 7th, 2008 in Campaign News

There is no shortage of people telling Barack Obama what to do in order to regain the initiative in the Democratic primary. When I refer to this as “conventional wisdom“, I’m doing it in the derisive tone used by John Kenneth Galbraith when he coined the term. From “The Concept of Political Wisdom”:

As a consequence, in the interpretation of all social life, there is a persistent and never-ending competition between what is right and what is merely acceptable. In this competition, while a strategic advantage lies with what exists, all tactical advantage is with the acceptable. Audiences of all kinds most applaud what they like best. And in social comment, the test of audience approval, far more than the test of truth, comes to influence comment. The speaker or writer who addresses his audience with the proclaimed intent of telling the hard, shocking facts invariably goes on to expound what the audience most wants to hear.

In other, there is a lot of convention being passed off as wisdom that is really just carefully concocted rhetoric meant to assuage the ruffled feathers of readership/viewership. There are a lot of people who just don’t like Hillary Clinton – and that’s putting it mildly. Some just think she’s a bitch. Some think she is the incarnation of evil. Some just use her as a surrogate for her husband. Some just see her as an emblem of all things liberal. All of these positions are simply caricatures of Hillary Clinton, of course. But the little grain of truth in all of them perpetuates both the hatred and the caricature.

Personally, I’d like to see more of the old “I’m not standing by my man” Hillary – maybe she could change her campaign song to “I’m a Bitch” by Meredith Brooks. But I digress…

David Brooks has it right, in opposition to the CW crowd, in saying that the cure to more Hillary is more Barack:

The Obama people seem to have persuaded themselves they can go on the attack, but in the right way. They can be tough and keep their virginity, too. But there are more than five long months between now and the convention.

Unless they consciously reject conventional politics, the accusations will build on each other. The BlackBerries will buzz. The passions will rise. The Obama forces will see hints of Clinton corruption all around, and they’ll accuse and accuse again. The war will begin to take control, and once you’re halfway through you can’t suddenly surrender because it’s become too rough.

We – collectively – want our politics to be bloodsport because, well, we’re just too civilized to actually watch Ultimate Fighting Championships (right – that show went right off the air because no one would watch it). America doesn’t like wimps (ask George HW Bush). And being wimpy doesn’t mean you can’t fight in a war or even lead us to victory in one (again, ask George HW Bush). It means, actually, doing that “turn the other cheek” thing.

I’ve heard some of my conservative friends back in Texas explain that Jesus really meant “turn the other cheek” as a challenge. Show your tough. “Ok, Caiaphas, you get one free one. Now do it again and see what happens.”

Crackers.

Here’s the whole passage:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

If Jesus was a political consultant, he might say, “If someone goes negative on you, redouble your message of uplifting hope, compassion, and unity. But you might want to sprinkle in some factual anecdotes about how this will actually be put into practice.”

Or as David Brooks says:

Besides, the real softness of the campaign is not that Obama is a wimp. It’s that he has never explained how this new politics would actually produce bread-and-butter benefits to people in places like Youngstown and Altoona.

If he can’t explain that, he’s going to lose at some point anyway.

I think it would be beneficial to turn out that Democrats have majorities in both Houses of Congress and still can’t get some of their policies on the desk of the President to be vetoed. Even if a Democrat were in the Oval Office, he or she can’t sign any bill that gets hung up in Congress. Since Democrats are incredibly unlikely to pick up ten seats in the Senate and make their majority fillibuster-proof, how is Clinton going to deal with this? A President Obama might not be any more successful in navigating past that choke-point, but I sincerely don’t see a President Clinton getting past it at all.

What would she offer them? She couldn’t help them campaign. She couldn’t help them raise money. She hasn’t show any real ability to compromise with them on policy. I could actually see a President Barack telling the DNC not to target moderate Republicans and even showing up at a mid-term campaign event for one or two – heresy for many Democrats. Well, I’ve always considered myself an American first and a Democrat – well, not even second. Maybe sixteeth or something.

Hope is powerful. But hope that is easily shattered at its first set back was never really grounded on any solid belief anyway. It’s time to roll our that basis. It’s time to show that this is about leadership of more than the Democratic Party. If not, then there is no real hope anyway.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic primary, conventional wisdom, Hillary Clinton, David Brooks

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