There are some things in my own little world that I am known for...
* messy bedrooms
* drunken phone messages
* spelling mistakes
* soap opera love life
* inappropriate behavior
The list goes on... however - nowhere on that list would you find "passion for american politics". But my friends... its there. In fact, it over shadows my passion I have for the politics of the country in which I was born in, and of the one i now live in. I don't know why.
Don't get me wrong, I love that John Howard lost his job and that Kevin Rudd is running the country from his Queensland Veranda, I also think that Gordon Brown is in no way the right person to be running the UK, but there is something about the glamour and razzamatazz of US politics I find increasingly fascinating. And my friends... we are indeed in an exciting time.
As we all know, 2008 marks the end of George W Bush's hideous 8 years in the white house - and as the rest of the world sighs with relief that the "misunderstimated" cowboy will be packing his bags and riding off into the sunset, the focus now tuns to the big question of who will be the one to replace him? Who is going to clean up this mess that George will leave behind? After eight years of clumsy republican rule... the spotlight is of course on the democratic race... who will win the election for them? Now up until the past couple of weeks I simply assumed that it would have to be Hillary Clinton.
First female president, already spent 8 years in the white house and really... anyone who can be married to Big Bill must have the diplomacy skills to run the USA... No... she is not against the war, but has that polished and maticulously groomed vaneer that would win over middle america and get all the baby boomer wives out and voting. It makes sense... her man cheated, she stood by him... now she gets to run the world. (Of course, I am not whittling the race to run one of the most powerful countries into the world down to who survived their relationship troubles the best... but there are people out there who do...) And really to be honest... I love Bill Clinton's arrogance and bravado... and i love the idea of him being the first gentleman.
Big Bill playing his saxaphone, smoking cigars and terrorising interns while Hillary runs the country...(some would say that was what happened during his presidency anyway...) Its a two for one deal - vote for Hillary but get Bill as well. A modern twist on a nostalgic return to the way things were before the horror of 9/11 and this rediculous war. Who can argue with that?
I had looked at the other candidates a bit, but it just seemed pointless as nothing could really beat the formidable force of team Clinton...
But then something happened. Pretty much the only thing that could tip Hillary's popularity with middle America's female voters. Something that I never thought would actually ever happen.
And that something... was Ms. Oprah Winfrey.
Yup. The most influential woman in the world got up and had something to say. She had just two words... Barack Obama.
Now - if you know me well you will know of my love of all things Oprah. I think she is an amazing woman who is a formidable force and a fascinating person to watch. Her self made wealth, influence and power is truly something to behold and her micro managed image had never dared before go anywhere near the the world of politics in such a direct and partisan manner. Yes she interviews them, yes she pushed people to make informed voting decisions, but she has never openly supported a candidate to this extent. And like it or not... when Oprah talks... people listen.
So... I wondered what would make someone of her platform and stature make such a public statement of support and go on to actively campaign for his nomination? I did a little reading and folks... at this stage... I think she's onto something.
Think about it for a moment.... President Barack Hussein Obama. On a horrendously basic and watered down level, think of the value of this man's face. Consider the hypothetical. It's November 2008. A young pakistani Muslim, too young to remember a time before the bush years, is watching television and sees that this man is the new face of America. A brown skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. If you want the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama's face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can.
The logic behind the candicy of Barack Obama is not, in the end, about Barack Obama. It has little to do with his policy proposals, which are very close to his Democratic rivals'. It has even less to do with his ideological pedigree or legal background or rhetoric skills. Yes, as many profiles prove, he has considerable intelligence - But so do others, not least his formidably polished and practised opponent Hillary Clinton. He is, moreover, no saint. He has flaws and tics, often tired, sometimes grumpy. By record he is a surprisingly uneven campaigner. but to be honest, I have always been one to prefer people who show their true flaws rather than the ones with a well manufactured vaneer that does not entirely ring true. (Stand up Mrs Clinton....)You can see why many of his friends and admirers have urged him to wait. He could be be president in five or nine years' time - what's the rush?
But he knows, and acknowledges, that the fundamental point of his candidacy is that is happening now. Just like the theatre, in politics timing matters. And the most persuasive case for Obama has less to do with him, than the moment he is meeting. A moment of massive change. It has been a long time coming. So much has happened in America in the past seven years, let alone the past forty, that people can be forgiven for focusing on the present and the immediate future.
At its best, the Obama candicy is about ending a war - not so much the war in Iraq, which now has the momentum that will propel the occupation into the next decade - but the brewing war non violent within America. It is a war about war- about culture and religion and about race. And like it or not... this bleeds into the rest of the world. Into the UK and into Australia - who are so heavily influenced and effected by what goes on in the States. The trauma of 9/11, the war and hurricane Katrina, has tended to obscure the memory of an unprecedentedly bitter election, and its aftermath. But its legacy is still very much with us... made far worse by Bushs's approach to dealing with it. Despite losing the popular vote seven years ago, he governed as if he had won in a landslide.
With 9/11, he had a "reset moment" - a chance to reunite the country in a way that would marginalize the extreme haters and forge a national consensus. He chose not to do so. Instead - his chose to terrify and polarise his country - filling many people with paranoia. This is the critical context for the election of 2008. Of the possible candidates, Obama seems to be the one who can bridge a widening partisan gulf. It isn't about his policies as much as it is about his person. The war today matters enormously and for people who want to get beyond the battles of an older generation and face today's actual problems - Obama looks to be the man. He is the only candidate who who has been against the war from its out set - and more excitingly - against it for the right reasons.
I quote his speach from 2002 - five months before the war -
"I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war …
I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars."
He is not against the use of force - but is flexable in dealing with it. He is the among the first democrats in a generation not to be afraid of ashamed of what they actually believe, he does not smell - as some others do, of political fear.
What I also love about Obama is his approach to religion. Which is a massive part of any American political debate. He was brought up in a nonreligious home and converted to Christianity as an adult. But - he is not a "born again." His faith is a modern, intellectual christianity. A difficult balance to find in todays world that moves forward at a terrifying technological and scientific speed. One of my favorite quotes from him so far is that "faith does not mean you don't have doubts."
Now... there are some very clear reasons as to why he has called on the almighty Oprah to help him out a month before the democratic leader is elected. His weakest supporters are middle aged women and African Americans. A large number of whom are backing a white woman for president. Obama has been accused of "acting like he's white" by Jesse Jackson, that he has spent too much time trying to get white America to love him. Its a racial mine field this man is walking right now. But - with Oprah's recent and very vocal endorsement - it can be tip toed around.
"We can have a crime policy thats both tough and smart If you're convicted of a crime involving drugs, you should be punished. But lets not make the punishment for crack cocain that much more severe than powder cocaine when the real difference between the two is the skin colour of the people using them. Judges think thats wrong, Republicans think thats wrong, Democrats think thats wrong, and yet its been approved by the republican and democratic presidents because no one has been willing to brave the politics and make it right. This will end when I am president."
I like what this man is saying....
Now for all intents and purposes - a campaigning politician is all sound and fury - full of the promise of a first date. Like imaging mini breaks and couples dinner parties - Barack gives me reason to imagine a positive and exciting leader of one of the worlds most powerful countries.
There is nothing to prove that he will be the president I am dreaming of. His record in high office is space, his performances on the campaign trail are patchy, his chief rival Hillary has beaten him often with her relentless pursuit of the middle ground. At times she has even appeared more like able than the skinny, sometimes crabby and morose newcomer from Chicago. Clinton instills a sense of security along with the smiling nostalgia of her husband. The thing is that she makes more sense if you believe that times are pretty good - that the environmental, military and racial crisis are not deep ones. That the lingering trauma of the Bush presidency and the polarisation of beliefs he has left in his wake is an illusion - the the argument for Obama is not that strong. Clinton will do and a Clinton vs. Giuliani race will be the predictable end.
But I think, that greater danger lies ahead - that the choices we make now are the crucial ones. Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly - the greater risk is caution. We have had a white house filled with four years of Bush Sr, eight years of Mr. Clinton and 8 years of Bush Jr. As Oprah says... if we keep making the same choices... nothing is ever going to change.
I am not against Hilary Clinton for president - I would love a woman to be running that government... but i have to say... in light of my recent research... I don't think she's the one. I cannot vote in this election, nor can I tell any of my friends in the USA how to think or who to vote for. But I just think... this is an exciting time... and indeed an exciting opportunity in history.
There's hope for the future friends...
And now i will get off my soap box and go back to doing what i do best... messing up my room and drunk dialing my friends.
