There's been a flurry of bloggers weighing in over the last few weeks, playing at being Armchair Campaigners by offering their unsolicited advice to Barack Obama and his "peeps" about how best to respond to the unprecedented Sleaze Fest that has become the McCain campaign. Obama should be tougher, more outraged, quicker to respond, he should say this, say that, tell lies like his opponent and break out the big guns, because this is war, goddammit, and who cares about playing fair?
Frankly, the whole mess has been getting me down. It saddens me to live in a country where good men are asked to sacrifice their sense of decency and honor because "winning is all that matters." I happen to think how you play the game is just as important as winning -- at least if you're serious about effecting meaningful change. To my mind, the fault lies less with Obama -- who I admire for sticking to the issues as best he can and showing tremendous grace under fire, even as his "supporters" lose faith and crack from the pressure -- and more with us.
We say we want things to change -- until things get tough and we realize there is a cost to upholding one's principles. We decry the lies perpetrated by the McCain campaign, yet we are all too quick to repeat them while expressing our outrage -- thereby playing right into their hands by giving valuable airtime to sheer nonsense. We complain that the system is broken and should be fixed, yet we are unwilling to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty to make the repairs. Everyone has an opinion about what the Obama campaign ought to be doing, but far too few seem to be taking much concrete action themselves.
I am as guilty of this as the next person, which is why I spent this past weekend volunteering (for the first time in my life) for the Obama campaign in Las Vegas, Nevada. I came away with some much-needed perspective, and a profound respect for the men and women who have been pouring their heart and soul into making an Obama presidency a reality against some seriously daunting odds -- people like Katie, the energetic young woman heading my "team" of volunteers, who hasn't been able to call one city home for two years, but wouldn't trade this experience for the world. (Katie could be one of the people featured in this YouTube spoof of the Broadway musical Les Miserables by Ultimate Improv -- except bad things happened to the idealistic people in that show, and we don't want the same fate for Katie.)
Let me be clear: I am not as good a person as Katie; I'm actually pretty selfish and lazy in comparison, and I've done my fair share of pointless armchair punditry. Going door-to-door in blistering heat, handing out flyers and voter registration forms, is not my idea of a good time, especially with the Vegas strip so tantalizingly nearby. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Most people were polite, if not exactly eager to chat, and only one woman slammed the door in my face in horror when the name "Obama" passed my lips. (Yes, ma'am, I'm walking around your neighborhood on a 100-degree afternoon because I hate America....) A couple of people invited us in for a few minutes to cool off, and one young 18-year-old black woman made my day with her enthusiasm over casting her first vote ever for Obama. I predict she'll run for president herself someday, and I hope I'm still around to vote for her when she does.
What did I learn from six hours spent trudging the streets of a Vegas suburb and talking to actual potential voters? Well, for one thing, most of the pundits and armchair analysts I've been reading/hearing don't know squat about what the American people are really thinking. Guess what? Obama is right. The voters are not stupid. They are not so easily manipulated as the pundits would have us believe, and they do see through many of the political machinations and shenanigans that have been taking place. The problem is that the vast majority have given up on any hope of change and opted out of the system entirely. They never bother to vote at all, because they've decided it doesn't make any difference. If we've failed to convince them of anything, it is that.
This became abundantly clear in my conversation with one young (non-partisan) man in his late 20s or early 30s, who was quite friendly, but simply announced he wasn't going to vote at all because "they're all the same." His buddy was a member of the Libertarian party, and both felt that the two-party system in this country does not serve the American people well. I happen to agree -- it's why I'm an Independent -- and said so, although I don't think setting up splinter parties is the solution (sorry, Greenies and Libertarians).
I suspect there are lots of people out there who feel the same way, and to you, I will say this. There is very good reason to assume that all politicians are the same, and that voting in elections doesn't matter. I still try to vote, because hundreds of thousands of men (and women) have died for America over our 230-year history, and not voting seems too much like dishonoring their sacrifice. Furthermore, I drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and spent six hours canvassing the streets because I genuinely believe THIS politician is different, and THIS election really does matter.
I admit it: Barack Obama has softened my cynical, hardened, apathetic heart and made me want to believe in our political system again. Yes, it's broken, perhaps irretrievably. Maybe we can't change it, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Some battles just have to be fought for their own sake. Maybe we can't all be as committed as Katie and the thousands of campaign organizers like her all over the country, but we can each offer a few hours out of our busy lives between now and Election Day -- or even just offer to drive folks to the polls on the day itself -- to actively participate in this thing we call democracy. It's not just a right; it's a privilege. Too many of us have forgotten that.
Ultimately, it's not about Democrats vs. Republicans, people. Those sorts of arbitrary labels just obscure the issues, such that people end up treating elections like sporting events, rooting for their chosen "team" and vilifying the opposing players. We persist in making it all about "winning," with no regard for sportsmanship and fair play. That's a big reason why we've had eight long years of folks who know how to win campaigns, but don't know how to govern, and the country is in a godawful mess because of it. Change is never going to happen if we continue to behave in such a way that merely perpetuates the status quo.
And yet here we are, teetering on the edge of four more years of the same failed policies that landed us in this pickle in the first place. Until the American people start holding their elected officials accountable for how they govern -- and for how they run their campaigns -- we will continue to get more of the same.
I don't have to agree with Obama 100% on all the issues to know he is the sort of bona fide leader who comes along maybe once in a generation. But a leader is not the same thing as a savior. Obama is not the Messiah, he's just one man. All he can do is inspire us and show us the way; it's up to us to do the hard work of making our vision for this country a reality.
And to those who criticize his handling of the attacks: Barack Obama is not "weak." He is paying us the tremendous compliment of treating us like rational adults, trusting that in the end, we will see past our petty infighting and blind partisanship, and choose a candidate truly committed to effecting change, instead of settling for warmed-over politics as usual. May America prove worthy of that trust.