Please, Barack, Just Say It

By David Loy
david@davidloy.com

I hope that there is a reason beyond my scope of understanding that Barack Obama chose not to debate John McCain in Mississippi on Friday night. I love Barack Obama. I, like so many, watched the convention speech in 2004 and thought that finally the Democratic Party has a voice for the future; a man of passion and intelligence that could transform the political landscape in this country. He seemed able to reframe the debate away from petty bickering about the minutia of party platforms that were cut from the same cloth on most everything of substance. He didn’t look like the traditional power structure in Washington and he didn’t sound like it either. The skinny kid with the funny name was talking about hope and what we could look forward to and what we could all accomplish together. There were no hidden demons we had to be afraid of in caves in Afghanistan, in the “Red States” of America, in the halls of the Capital Building, or in the boardrooms of Wall Street. These were small inconveniences that could be swept away by passionate leadership and idealism, an actual political movement where we looked forward not back, Camelot for another generation. We would propel ourselves forward on the strong backs and open minds of a vibrant young America into a brilliant century for our nation and the world. In just a few minutes at the podium he made it seem possible, even inevitable, that that the United States could rise from the ashes of the Bush Administration and lead the planet into the 21st Century.

The man I saw on Friday looked the same. He spoke eloquently, as always. He displayed all of the brilliance and depth of understanding that is clear to anyone who chooses to pay attention. What he didn’t do was transcend politics. He didn’t show the fire and leadership potential that so many of us still feel he has. He allowed himself to be mired in the weeds of traditional American political debate, with John McCain framing the issues. Again, I hope he is doing this on purpose. Maybe his political handlers, pollsters, and strategists are telling him “you must appear Presidential, Barack. You’re ahead and there’s nowhere to go but down. I know you are dying to put McCain and his ridiculous campaign in their place once and for all, but you’ll look like an elitist picking on the poor old war hero and you’ll turn off the 1500 white women in Pennsylvania that can make you the President of the United States. Some people don’t want to vote for an angry young black man who thinks he’s better than them.” Has Barack Obama descended into the cynical defeatist morass that has defined the Democratic Party machinery for decades?

Barack Obama has my vote. I’d rather move to Mexico with Jesse Ventura than witness the continued destruction of this wonderful democratic experiment that the Republican party has brought to its knees in a few decades after it has been around for only a couple of centuries. Will history see us as a blip on the historical timeline with Thomas Jefferson at the beginning and Rush Limbaugh at the end? These people must be stopped. Watching this campaign is torturous to an actual progressive political thinker who looks at examples of functioning governments around the world and knows that we can do this too. We can have a government funded by reasonable tax policy and administered by clear-thinking civil servants who understand that they work for the people to provide basic services and protect our common rights and best interests.

Progressives around the country were screaming at their televisions all around America last night. “Say it, Barack! What are you waiting for?” John McCain is a Republican. I think we all get that he voted with Bush 90% of the time or thereabouts. But that’s not the issue. Barack Obama knows the issue and he won’t say it. It’s about ideology. The Republican Party is based on the concept that the function of government is to provide a climate for “economic growth,” which really means the enrichment of international corporations. The modern Republican Party has systematically destroyed the American middle class since 1980. Their mission is to redistribute as much money as they possibly can from the lower and middle class to the upper class. They talk about social issues to pander to their base and mire the political discourse of this nation in and endless loop of outrage and self-righteousness while they laugh all the way to the bank (which is often off-shore so it’s likely to still be open).

Barack Obama knows this. Many people know it, but for some reason the conventional wisdom is that you can’t win elections talking about it. John McCain was a sitting duck in Mississippi on Friday night. His campaign staggered south at the last minute, making vague threats about not even showing up because of the critical work that Senator McCain - a self-professed poor economic mind and very infrequent participant on Capitol Hill since the start of the Campaign - had to do on the current financial crisis. He then proceeded to hit the Republican talking points like the loyal Republican Party man he has truly been for almost 30 years in Washington, displaying his hypocrisies and poor understanding of every issue that came up and progressives around the country licked their chops.

Finally it was time for the voice of the Left to be heard. Senator Obama had been laying low since the primaries where he had to show the royal family of the Democratic Party the respect they deserved. How can you call out the “republican light” policies of the Bill Clinton who adopted Gingrich’s ”Contract with America,” NAFTA, welfare reform, massive military spending, etc. if Hillary is potentially the only thing standing between us and another four years of GOP war crimes and selling America to the Chinese at pennies on the dollar? Finally he was on the big stage, facing the current spokesman for the enemies of our nation; the true terrorists who govern with fear, the mass murderers who talk about “Iraq war casualties” as some number around 4,000, the thieving executives whose moral compass and outrageous sense of entitlement allows them to take 40 million dollars with them when they leave a job as the CEO of a company that they have run to the brink of bankruptcy. Obama was set to transcend politics and articulate fundamental truths that would cause a groundswell of political momentum, a true mandate to move this country forward and put the government to work for the American people and for the good of the world. It was going to be like a movie and there were going to be tears in our eyes.

It didn’t happen. What about the economic crises? McCain: “I also warned about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac… A lot of us saw this train wreck coming.” Obama: “We need to look at the underlying issues… ten days ago, John said the fundamentals of the economy are sound.” Good one Barack, but how about - This train wreck was not an accident. There wasn’t a boulder on the tracks that rolled down off a mountain here. We can’t roll the boulder off with $700 billion and get this train rolling again. This horror show for the American economy and now apparently the taxpayer, that’s each and every one of you out there people, to the tune of around $10,000 per family this time or so I’ve heard, is the direct result of Republican economic philosophy. Ronald Reagan and supply side “voodoo economics,” deficit spending on foreign wars and obscene defense budgets, deregulation of the financial industry, elimination of tariffs on imports, Adam Smith’s invisible hand, “greed is good,” tax policy that allows and encourages the amassing of tremendous fortunes by a handful of families in America. Like your family, Senator, or at least your current wife’s. And certainly the Bush family. And I suspect the Cheney’s aren’t facing a home foreclosure any time soon. Now, granted, I’m not living in poverty here myself these days, poor people don’t get to come up here and debate, but there is money, there is real money, and then there is real real money and I think the American people know what I’m talking about. I know how many houses my family owns, the number is one, and Michelle and I paid the mortgage ourselves.

How is the Bailout going to affect what you can do as President? McCain: “How about a spending freeze on everything but defense, veteran affairs and entitlement programs.” Obama: “The problem with a spending freeze is you’re using a hatchet where you need a scalpel.” OK, but how about – A spending freeze? You know the problem with Republicans is they don’t believe in government. They break it and then say it doesn’t work. They underfund it and say its in-effective. They socialize private industry failure, this bailout for example, and privatize profits. Record profits for Exxon while the economy spirals down the toilet. Do you know that bonus payouts to executives who helped your retirement account lose 80% of its value last week are effectively compensated at rates that sometimes average to over $10,000 an hour? You should be very very angry about this ladies and gentlemen. It is wrong and we have an institution in place to try to maintain an economic system that has some relationship to social justice. It’s called the United States Government. We all chip in to pay for it and it’s supposed to be filled with people that we hire to watch out for our interests: financial, environmental, education, retirement security, law enforcement, maybe some arts funding like the rest of the civilized world. I don’t want to manage the people that manage my money. I want to put it in an account that is managed by professionals and regulated by the law of the land. I want the government to oversee and ensure that the laws make sense and are being obeyed. I want to work my job, help my clients and customers and keep my boss of my back. I want to call my friend and ask him how his father’s doing in the hospital and if there’s anything I can do. I want to help my kids with their homework. I want to go to church on Sunday and maybe catch a football game if I get home from church on time and the lawn doesn’t need mowing. You know, American life. I believe there is a role for government in our lives. It can be a good thing and often is. We focus on the abuses and the problems, but without a highly functioning, just, honest government we are not living in a modern society that can survive in the modern world. That’s why I want to run the government. I want to make it work for you. If Senator McCain wants to limit government revenue and spending so dramatically he must not understand what government does or believe in it. Why would you hire a man to run your government (we do get paid, remember) who doesn’t believe in it? And why would he want to be President?

How do you see the lessons of Iraq? Obama: “We have lost over 4,000 lives. We have seen 30,000 wounded… al Qaeda is resurgent, stronger now than at any time since 2001.” Barack, have you truly lost your soul here and become one of them. The most conservative estimates, that aren’t laughably transparent propaganda, place the Iraqi death toll at over 100,000 human beings. This is an unjustified “war,” entered into on false pretenses, that is now a straight occupation of a once sovereign foreign nation. This is might makes right bullying that brings our nation crashing down from any pretense of moral high ground to the depths of international disgrace. John McCain’s party is responsible for joining Osama Bid Laden’s quest for eternal religious warfare in a deeply cynical land grab for the dregs of the doomed oil economy; just squeezing a little more money out for the oil companies before the victors in Iraq all retire to the Caymans to join their money. The war is over, Bush and the terrorists must lose while there is still something left of our country.

McCain: “We will win this one and we won’t come home in defeat and dishonor and probably have to go back if we fail.” Barack: “No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they’re carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they’ve provided.” Fair enough, but how about - How dare you Senator McCain?! How dare you call out the troops and question their honor! Troops win and lose battles. Their honor is assured when they don the uniform and face down machine-gun fire on the battlefield. They are willing to die for America and many have - Republicans and Democrats alike. Governments win wars, Senator. Leaders win wars. They win with clear and achievable objectives. They win with accurate assessments of political scenarios, cultural realities and military capabilities. They know when their enemies have weapons of mass-destruction and when they don’t. Our troops are brave young men and women who end up as cannon fodder as your draft-dodging Republican administration pursues petro-dollars for their oil industry cronies, perpetual war for the defense industry, and a boogie-man to terrorize the American public into putting you in power all over again. I would worry less about the troop’s honor, Senator, and more about your own.

McCain: “You might think… that Senator Obama would have gone to Afghanistan.” Obama: out of time, no response but a gentlemanly credit to Jim Lehrer for tending to the debate format. Fine, but how about a quick little comment like – Well Senator McCain, I haven’t been around Washington for as long as you have so I haven’t mastered the art of photo ops and political grandstanding like you have. We all enjoyed your mad dash to Washington to save the economy yesterday and George Bush’s personal Brooks Brothers on the ground rescue efforts in New Orleans a few years ago.

What about Iran? McCain scare tactics, “second Holocaust,” and some mocking of Obama’s statement that he would speak to whatever that guy’s name is. Obama: Republican Guard of Iran is a terrorist organization funding other terrorist organizations. Iraq war strengthens Iran and terrorism in general and I won’t legitimize the rantings of Ahmadinejad. Better than McCain, of course, but the bar has to be higher. How about something about the “War on Terror” as a whole? You would have the progressives standing up and cheering again. What has terrorism come to mean, John? What does it mean to you? Anyone who doesn’t agree with us? That’s not with us but against us? Anyone who doesn’t think Middle Eastern nations should look more like Oklahoma? That the Christian God is the only god? That multinational oil companies should rule the world? That the Arab world has no legitimate beef with Israel, who has its own delusions of manifest destiny and who’s wall in the West Bank makes Berlin’s look quaint? Senator Obama, if we don’t reframe the debate on Islamic fundamentalism and real threats to American security away from George Bush’s elementary school level of understanding of international relations towards something that makes some sense in the modern world we are in deep trouble. And if you can’t make that case in this debate against a confused and desperate man who thinks Sarah Palin can run the country now and who apparently hopes that someday she will, who can?

“Russia goes to you, two minutes, Senator Obama.” Barack: “Their actions in Georgia were unacceptable,” and so on demonstrating a real grasp of the subtleties of the region and the nuances of American foreign policy. Good job and I’m sure the white women of Pennsylvania were impressed. But, just for me, sitting here in front of my TV hoping for a miracle, could you please point out - Watching YouTube video of our Secretary of State, Condi Rice, at a press conference that barely scratched the surface of the mainstream American corporate media, is too much. She is criticizing Russia for not acting like a civilized nation in the 21st Century by invading a foreign nation unprovoked and saying we won’t stand for it. It is the height of hypocrisy and the whole world knows it. John McCain is trying to quibble with me about the details of the tactics and strategy of what is hopefully the last stages of the most disastrous chapter in the history of American Foreign Policy. Did “the Surge” work? Who knows? Let’s look back in 30 years or 100 years and take a look at that region of the world and evaluate the details. Let’s learn from our mistakes. John’s war in the ‘60s was poorly conceived and poorly executed. It is very difficult to use military might to bring about change in a foreign nation when the change is really about social justice. You can’t fight an insurgency with machine-guns. You have to win the hearts and minds, in the ‘60s and today. That is a war we can and will win. We didn’t win in the rice paddies of Viet-Nam. But we won the greater conflict. The cold war evolved to its inevitable conclusion. The human heart craves liberty, and it is still possible that we can reclaim our role as the light of liberty for the world. The erosion of our constitutional liberties here at home is a loss in the war on terror. The Bush Administration and a potential McCain administration are allies of Bin Laden that he could only dream of. We must fight for liberty and freedom everywhere. We have military professionals to advise us on the details and we have endless hours ahead to build consensus on strategy and execution, but our vision must be clear and our goal of truth, justice and liberty must be at the forefront of our minds as we define the role of America as a leader in the world. John McCain’s party has severely hampered our ability to exert influence in the world at this time. Rebuilding American credibility on issues like the Russian invasion of Georgia will be a difficult task for my administration. It would be completely impossible for a McCain/Palin administration. The global community is well aware of what is at stake in this election and the moral quality of the American public will be judged. If John McCain is elected, continuing the outrageous, criminal, ignorant, arrogant, short-sighted, greedy path of the Bush Administration on the international stage we will be international pariahs and will likely go past the point of no return. In some ways it doesn’t matter who is standing next to me on this stage and, in fact, I feel bad for Senator McCain personally. He’s an American war hero who served his country without question 40 years ago. He should, and you should, examine more closely who he’s serving now. He’s been left holding the bag for the failed policies of his Party. This is 2008 and America must look forward.

Will another 9/11 happen? McCain: “We still have a long way to go before we can declare America safe” Obama: “I think we are safer in some ways… airports… securing targets. Let’s talk about nuclear proliferation and how we are perceived in the world” Fine, and the last point is a real breath of fresh air. Give us the details and let everyone know that you know how to take care of business on the security front, but we need to hear more from you about how we’re going to live, not die.

This was a Republican debate about Republican issues framed in a Republican way. Play defense when you have to, but reach for the stars again, Barack. Throw us a bone here. You’re an extraordinary political talent playing the ordinary political game. Again, you must win. But don’t let them drag you down to their level in order to do it. I know you’ve entered the real world of real politics and real problems, but the need for change is real as well, real change, including what we talk about and how we talk about it. You must rise above the fray and lead us to the world of ideas and a better tomorrow. The very function and essence of American governance must be discussed. Don’t be afraid of rhetoric and elite ideas. It’s what this country was founded on and maybe we can squeeze another couple of centuries out of this great experiment in democracy. America needs a leader to get this ship on course to the future, and it has to be you.