Thursday, October 28, 2010
faith in america
Although I'm not sure that his use of the expression "bad faith" is appropriate -it seems like what he is talking about is "lack of faith"- I think he may be onto something. This piece by Shelby Steele may be about what is troubling this Obama voter.
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Very good article. C'mon people, we're AmeriCANs, not AmeriCAN'Ts!
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, I am one who had high hopes that Obama's presidency would be great, even transformational. I believed that Obama shared this ambition, and that this drive would move him to transcend "politics as usual." Lincoln was obviously such a president (with his team of rivals, the magnanimity he expressed toward secessionists in his inaugurals, etc etc etc etc). Obama's seeming idolization of some of these qualities of Lincoln boded well early on. I think Obama may still want to be a great and transformational president, and he may wonder what has happened to this program. This article may go a long way towards explaining that.
ReplyDeleteDespite my high hopes for what an Obama presidency could mean, I had a VERY hard time deciding whether or not to vote for him. I had a nagging sense that his hesitation to embrace American exceptionalism (another way of saying "bad faith"?) could lead directly to indecision that might imperil troops in harms' way. I really like Bill Clinton, but for the image of our boys' corpses being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993, I put the responsibility squarely at his feet -- the hesitant leadership of someone not confident in protecting American interests abroad and not confident in declaring and supporting missions of the American military. I mean, we had to borrow Pakistani armor to get the rest of our boys out of Mog. It was appalling and pathetic. In a time of war you cannot afford this kind of hesitation. On this I am very nearly a single issue voter.
The line "Our great presidents have been stewards" was particularly interesting. Suggests a perspective of unleashing American greatness rather than only of absolving American sins (and let's face it there have been some). For my money, Teddy Roosevelt was a great president, a great steward. I find his irascible American vigor (intellectual and otherwise) to be inspiring still, one century later. If we were to see his likes again, that would surely be something that could transcend the de rigueur party politics that usually drives the show.
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