Barack Obama in Salem, Oregon

Today I had a chance to see Sen. Obama at a stop he made in Salem, OR. Part of a few stops in various towns, Sen. Obama delivered a fairly basic stump speech, followed by about twenty five minutes of questions and answers. Unlike the "town hall" meetings of Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush during the last cycle, Sen. Obama's campaign did not invite only party members, did not have anybody sign loyalty oaths, did not kick anybody out for wearing shirts with "unacceptable" political themes, etc. Nope. It was an open engagement, in which Sen. Obama, after the de rigueur stumping, proceeded to call folks to a refurbished diplomatic discourse, to trust and believe in themselves as agents of change, and to recognition that the people can truly make a difference.

I've watched plenty of stump speeches, I've written about them, and I study them as part of my work. This was indeed a stump speech, but Sen. Obama sounded forthright and honest, and perhaps most importantly, he struck me as truly, fully, behind the philosophy of political change he espoused. In other words, he did not seem fake when speaking of how he sees political change happening, what motivates it, and how he would work to facilitate opportunities for such change. Sure you say, it sounds like every Mc-Politician in any election period, no? Not quite. Change is a perennial political theme, but my impression is that Sen. Obama articulated a clear distinction in how he envisions political change. While Sen. Clinton appears to have embraced an incremental coalition building, and negotiating compromise approach to fostering political change, Sen. Obama convincingly spoke of bottom up change, of social movement type change, of a change that would sweep the institutional assumptions, and deadwood. Upon being asked what differentiated him from Sen. Clinton, Sen. Obama articulated pretty much the same philosophy in this way (I'm paraphrasing liberally):

Sen. Clinton does not believe in bottom up change, in change driven by a movement, instead she believes in top down change, change drive by the same folks and institutions in Washington D.C. that are at the root of the problem -- and such top down approach is most decidedly NOT the real change we need. In fact it changes very little if anything.

Thus spoke Zarathusthra.

But... it was still a stump speech, full of promises, lacking in substantial explanation and rationale for all the change promised. That's par for stump speaking. The first half of the speech could indeed be described as full of the audacity of hope, albeit much of that audacity also has to do with all those promises. But hey, we have to aim for the stars, and in my estimation, of the three major Presidential candidates Sen. Obama is providing the best imaginary for our nation.

In sum, it was a neat experience. There were plenty of young people present, all very excited, the crowd was super glad to have had the opportunity to hear Sen. Obama, and it was evident that he still has plenty of momentum and energy, and that he is truly trying to motivate more than just change at the Whitehouse.

Comments

[Kendall]

You wrap it up beautifully, Nacho. May it be so. He can't do that brilliant Racism speech every day, so most days he does the stump speech. I agree he doesn't SEEM to be fake. He's the most exciting presidential candidate who has shown up in my lifetime. I do so hope he is what he seems to be and that--with our involvement--he and we can be the change we want to see.