A few months back, in a conversation with a friend, I mentioned my belief that if Barack Obama were to receive the Democratic nomination to run for President, we can expect a flood of nasty innuendos, playing on the worst stereotypes of African Americans as race baiting and drug dealing, as well as the false view that anyone with a foreign sounding name is not really American and may somehow be related to the events of 9/11. I thought it would happen, if it did, during the general election. I never expected it to come during the Democratic nominating process.
In today's NY Times, Bob Herbert has some pointed Questions for the Clintons about their role, and the role of their surrogates, in defaming Sen. Obama. It is worth a read.
I was weary of Bill Clinton before he began to play such a large role in his wife's campaign. And, their slander and controversy reminded me of yet another reason I pray Hillary Clinton is not our next President - I am scandal-weary.
The Bush Presidency was a time of great political change for me. I was, as most of you know, once a proud political operative in the Republican Party. The invasion of Iraq, the huge mounting deficits and the Terry Schiavo incident forever severed me from a group of people that are clearly not committed to traditionally conservative, Republican beliefs.
In the process I have become something other than what I once was. I would hardly call myself a flaming liberal these day, but I have instead become much more of a political free agent. And, I am becoming someone committed to dreaming together about the possibility of a transformed world and working together to make that dream a reality.
Perhaps that is why I have such hope for an Obama candidacy. And I am not alone. Another interesting piece from today's NY Times, U.S. Race Captures World's Eye, discusses the hopes that many around the world hold for an Obama presidency. Outside this country, people have been shocked by the last 7 years and want to believe once again in the American story of tolerance and opportunity.
I left politics around the time that Bill Clinton came into office. In 1994, when I bowed out, I had imagined that the election of a Republican Congress would usher in an era of morality in our nation. It seems silly and naive now, but that was my view at the time. I then watched both the Republicans and the Democrats melt down in a series of moral and political failures. I remember the philandering of Newt Gingrich and Bob Livingston. But I also remember Whitewater, Travelgate and all the many controversies the Clintons brought with them to Washington. Although I did not realize it at the time, my emotional break with politics happened as a reaction to both sides of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, an event that now seems positively tame when compared to the deaths of thousands of Iraqi children brought about by the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation.
I have continued my disillusion with politics as I have watched the Bush Administration trample on the Constitution and mortgage the future of generations to come on an ill-conceived war for which there was ample evidence even at the time to prevent. Rather than foster Christian virtues, the Bush White House has trafficked in greed, condemnation and anger, the antitheses of temperance, forgiveness and love.
But, I am tired of being outraged. Maybe it is my age. At 43 the whole "angry young man" thing has gotten old. Maybe it is my community. As a person with an increasingly rich set of relationships in a locally grounded space, anomie is not my guiding metaphor anymore. But it is also possible that I reflect a larger movement of people that want to imagine a world beyond the scandal-plagued politics of the Bush and Clinton years.
What do I wish would happen? I don't want Hillary Clinton to bow out. Rather, it is my prayer that the Obama message of hope is stronger than the Clinton message of division. It is my prayer that the Obama message of dialogue is stronger than the Clinton message of slander. It is my hope that the Obama presidency will mark the end, at least for a time, of the politics of division.
Want to join me?
