Friday, January 4, 2008
Iowa
As is the wont of commentators on the Left, Mark Shields tallied the identity politics scorecard on Lehrer and for once, rather than evoking a zone out, it gave pause. Shields pointed out that contenders for president include an African-American, a woman, a Mormon, an Italian-American — not too bad for a society some like to attack as racist. That said, let's leave identity politics back where it belongs now, amongst the hysterical, self-righteous and self-pitying — the cynical manipulators trying to guilt their way to personal advantage.
This is so far a celebrity campaign, with Oprah's appearance as a fairy godmother for Obama an early indicator. The media picked Obama and Hillary as the most interesting and ignored Dodd and Biden. Either Dodd or Biden would have been excellent candidates if given a chance. But the media likes newness and conflict and they have given aid to Obama in his battle with Clinton; Obama is a likable, bright individual, who is pretty much an unknown at this juncture. Huckabee, a man with no sign of urban edge, bitterness or deviousness, was elected by a narrow constituency of Evangelicals. How far that popularity will carry beyond Iowa seems a real question. As the spotlight narrows, and fewer candidates crowd the field of potential contenders, defects will be brought more sharply into relief — the ebb and flow of positive and negative feelings will become more pronounced.
We are just at the beginning, but most likely, when the new president is finally installed, it will be a human being with many flaws and a dubious history who will do what any of the other contenders would probably have done as well — there isn't that much difference in what they can do. The huge ungainly enterprise of the Republic has its own momentum.
Of course, a shift of emphasis from corporate advantage and religiosity in the public square; an attitude that allows science to be science and personal belief a private guide — separating into their natural domains — that would be welcome as real change. But if a new president loses track — that we are fighting a real war against a real and evil enemy — that it isn't ourselves we need to amend but those who deny the humanism that is at the core of hope, we will be cluelessly wandering into the wilderness.
As a country, we will continue to hope and try to be positive and support the frail being elected by us to face so many problems. We can only hope that this time the president will be a real leader. It is not so much “change” as cohesiveness and coherence that the country needs to feel.