Back to the West Wing

Last night my wife and I watched an episode from the second season of The West Wing. As we watched, I remembered that over the last eight years my expectations that a U.S. President should be articulate, thoughtful, able to appreciate the elements of truth in a wide variety of positions in a tough political climate, and strive to be a leader of all Americans was only realized on television in the person of Josiah Bartlet.

Now, after an election even more spectacular than the close of the electoral seventh season of The West Wing, I find myself buoyed by the promise of a President who will truly be a uniter instead of a divider and will have some chance of calling people to cooperation and shared sacrifice.

I am sure that President Barack Obama will make mistakes. I will not be surprised if he compromises in ways that I will find difficult to tolerate. But I am confident that the days of wedge tactics that divide American from American and the politics of fear that scapegoat "the other" are behind us.

Fired up! Ready to go!

Yes, we can!

Praying for Victory

This weekend a pastor gave the invocation at a McCain rally (before Senator McCain arrived) in which he prayed that God's reputation would be guarded by a McCain victory. The problem for God, according to this pastor, is that many non-Christians around the world are praying to their deities that Senator Obama will win. If Obama wins, they will think that their deities are bigger. Check it out at http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/11/speaker-at-mccain-rally-says-non-christians-want-an-obama-win/.

I suggest this pastor review the prophet Micah, who said, "[God] has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" [Micah 6:8]

Somebody has to say it

From the Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune: "Late in the town hall meeting, Gayle Quinnell of Shakopee called Obama "an Arab." Taken aback, McCain shook his head and, taking the microphone from her, said, "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."

Since when are "decent family man" and "Arab" incompatible?

This is appalling.

Yes, Senator McCain is intervening in a somewhat better direction, but think seriously about what this has come to.

Pyrrhic Defeat?

A Pyrrhic victory is one in which the victor has lost so many assets in attaining the objective, that it is no longer clear that the victory was worth the winning. I am wondering whether the McCain Campaign is engineering a Pyrrhic defeat.

The electoral map increasingly shows that it is now nearly impossible for Senator McCain to salvage a win for the presidency and the Intrade presidential market is now wildly in Senator Obama's favor.

The question is whether the McCain Campaign will begin to exercise leadership and do its best to reign in those in its camp who will have difficulty tolerating a President Obama.

In the face of impending defeat, it appears that the McCain Campaign has decided that it will now do its best to see that an Obama Administration will have a nearly impossible task in bringing us together to confront the real troubles that beset us.

The good news is that it is precisely those unifying skills that a President Obama will bring to the table.

Got hope? I do.

Catching our Breath

For the last couple of weeks I've been intending to sit down and write an entry here. But before I get to actually do it, some big news emerges and I decide that I'd better wait until I've had time to digest it before writing anything. Since it now appears that we may have this pattern from now until Election Day, I'd better just go ahead.

I do think that there was a great deal of anticipation towards last night's debate and now that it's over this is a time to catch our breath and think back to all that has happened.

I took a crucial moment in the campaign to be an incident that Senator Obama alluded to in the debate. On September 17, Senator McCain was being interviewed for a Spanish language radio news program. The interviewer asked him about a number of South American countries and leaders. Then she said that they were switching topics to Spain and asked him about the Spanish Prime Minister. I've listened to the recording and Senator McCain sounds like he does not quite understand the interviewer and gives a boilerplate answer that we will have good relations with our friends and stand up to our enemies. The interviewer tries to give him another chance but McCain resists and clings to his answer.

Now, one can talk about this as a a gaffe and use it as a gotcha moment. It sounded to me like the Senator's mind wandered or he couldn't understand the question because of the reporter's accent, or he just got confused. I think the temptation to take this as a sign that Senator McCain does not know where Spain is or who the leader is, is unfortunate. It is difficult to have a reasonable conversation about important issues under this kind of pressure.

BUT! The test of character and leadership is what one does when this kind of mistake happens. The next day, Senator McCain's national security adviser, Randy Scheunemann, said that his candidate knew exactly what he was saying. Further, he went on to emphasize the uncertainty of the relationship between the US and Spain under Prime Minister Zapatero.

Now the question is more seriously about the extent to which these guys will recklessly jeopardize foreign policy matters to save themselves embarrassment. Haven't we learned over the last eight years, that's a bad strategy? Or, to what extent will the neocons in a McCain administration take advantage of these mistakes to advance their own agenda?