I’ve pinpointed what it is that I find appealing about Obama. It’s his rhetoric of hope. I don’t like cynicism, exclusion and fear in my politics any more than I enjoy it in my personal relationships. It’s one reason why I fled institutional religion.
In his Iowa victory speech, Obama repeated one of his favorite refrains–that his campaign is about moving away from the tired old debates and divisions. “We are choosing hope over fear,” he said.
These words strike me to my core because they define my daily struggle. It’s easier to hide behind shades and iPod headphones than it is to strike up a conversation with a stranger and make a real human connection. It’s easier to trudge away in a secure but unpromising job than it is to pursue what truly makes you feel alive. It’s easier to have someone spoon feed you watered-down ambrosia than it is to strike out to find Heaven on your own.
Fear is easier than hope. The Bush Administration rules by fear. Most candidates in this campaign try to appeal to voters through fear. Given this context, there truly is an audacity of hope. And in this one instance, hope has conquered fear.
Here’s a few more excerpts from an earlier, pivotal Iowa speech:
This party…has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the American people when we led not by polls, but by principles; not by calculation, but by conviction…a party that offers not just change as a slogan, but change that America can believe in.
Lobbyists have not funded my campaign, they will not work in my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people.
I don’t want to spend the next year or the next four years re-fighting the same fights that we had in the 1990s. I don’t want to pit red America against blue America. I want to be the president of the United States of America.
I believe the American people are tired of fear and tired of distractions and tired of diversions. We can make this election not about fear, but about the future. And that won’t just be a Democratic victory; that will be an American victory.
That’s why I’m asking you to stand with me; that’s why I’m asking you to caucus for me; that’s why I am asking you to stop settling for what the cynics say we have to accept. In this election — in this moment — let us reach for what we know is possible. A nation healed. A world repaired. An America that believes again.
