Endorsing Obama: Restoring and Fulfilling the American Dream

Bill Clinton deserves credit for leaving the country better off following his eight years in the White House. Incomes for working Americans were rising, the federal government was running a $236 billion surplus, and military readiness was at an all-time high. Enter George W. Bush: income gains have stagnated and even dropped, health care costs are soaring, the country has mortgaged its future by acquiring $ 3.5 trillion in debt, and the U.S. military is stretched to the breaking point. Even worse, America’s reputation is in tatters while the threats from nuclear proliferation, terrorism, an unstable Middle East, and a rising China have mushroomed exponentially. The United States has never been so isolated, divided, and drained. The next U.S. president must reverse this trend or America’s influence (and its standard of living) will continue in a steep decline.

The candidate most qualified to restore America’s image, articulate and chart a new course for the country, and offer the visionary leadership we so desperately need is Barack Obama. Put simply, everything I’ve seen from the senator from Illinois suggests that he has the character, judgement, and leadership abilities to move the country in positive and progressive direction.
George W. Bush has tarnished the American brand; essentially making the U.S. synonymous with imperial hubris, torture, pre-emptive war, and incompetence. Barack Obama is the one candidate who can transform America’s image from day one following his election. Restoring America’s soft power (its ability to persuade through ideals and example) is not a superfluous luxury. Rather, it is an essential pillar for projecting America’s values by inspiring other countries to emulate the American model.

For example, with the Bush administration’s hegemonic designs in ruins we are rapidly moving to a multipolar world where a rising China and the E.U (already an economic colossus) can check America’s influence and compete on equal terms. It is true, of course, that neither China nor the E.U. can compete with the U.S. militarily, but each can and will seek to extend its sphere of influence and leverage their economic clout to America’s disadvantage. Competition to acquire energy and natural resources from second and third world countries to fuel first world prosperity will depend on economic inducements and diplomatic suasion, proficiencies that have atrophied under the current administration. Put simply, the next American president will have to manage America in a way that suggests to the average second and third world citizen (be they in Africa, the Middle East, or South America) that the American way and an American partnership has more to offer them than competing models.

After eight years of the Bush administration this is a very tall order, but American prosperity cannot be sustained by America’s military power alone (as Iraq has shown). And America will be unable to sustain its military prowess without restoring its economic health (no, borrowing money to pay for tax cuts is not sustainable as the looming Bush Recession is showing).
The run-up to the South Carolina primary, which Obama won handily, revealed just how uninspiring, divisive, and even venal the Clintons can be. Hillary, if you will, is all prose and no poetry. Like her husband she is smart, competent, and part of the reality-based community. But like Bill, she is more of a policy wonk and a technocrat than a visionary statesman.

To be sure, we need leaders who understand how to operate the levers of government. But even more than that we need leaders who will chart a strategic vision for the United States that will revive our country’s long-term economic fortunes and shape an international order where the rule of law supplants the philosophy that has animated both al-Qaeda and the Bush administration: the notion that might makes right. Put simply, double standards and legitimacy are incompatible. And it is the Bush administration’s double standards – "we have the right to use force to impose democracy, launch preventive wars, and torture suspected terrorists" – that has discredited the United States in the eyes of the world.

Dynasties have a tendency to exempt themselves from the rules that bind everyone else. There is a sense of entitlement, of preordainment, and exceptionalism. These habits of mind are characteristic of political aristocracies. And they have proven fatal for George W. Bush. There is much evidence from Hillary’s campaign and character that she shares a mind-set in common with another heir apparent, George W. Bush: particularly an Us vs. Them mentality, a psychological need for enemies, a messianic self-certainty, and a congenital inability to admit mistakes.

Obama is the un-Clinton and the un-Bush. He is not a polarizing triangulator (Clinton) or a demagogic divider (Bush). Rather, his diverse background contains the seeds of a remarkable personal journey and psychological integration that somehow seems to reflect the collective need of our globalized age. It’s not "Us vs. Them" for Barack, it’s "We are all in this together." That’s the story of his life and what he represents. And it says a lot that the Clintons resorted to the Republican playbook to try and take Obama down.

Is America ready for an African American president? I believe it is and I hope so because I’m convinced he’s the best person for the job of restoring and fulfilling the American Dream.

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