New Politics, Old Politics

Why politics is politics, voters are voters, and liberals need to remember the big picture.

With the rise of Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign during the Democratic Primary there came a hope of a new kind of politics. This new kind of politics was supposed to be a politics without the negative attacks and without the political posturing. The problem is not that there is not a new kind of politics; the problem is there is not a new kind of American voter.

Despite how much liberals, like this blogger, would like Senator Obama to take a stand to the left on all issues and how much we would like him not to compromise that is exactly what Senator Obama should do. Ideological purity from any candidate is not practical; a practical leader is needed to achieve the changes that this country needs.

Most Americans want the best for themselves and the best for their country, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or independents. However, individuals are smart, people are dumb. Anytime you gather together a large group of people together, that mob mentality overtakes them and all common sense and logic is gone. Welcome to the American political system.

According to a USA today poll, 10% of Americans believe that Senator Obama is a Muslim. When looked at closer finds that “16% of conservative Republicans, 16% of white evangelical Protestants and 19% of rural Americans believe the Illinois senator is Muslim.” So, first we must reconcile the fact that one out of ten Americans believe something that is completely false, and second we have to reconcile the underlying bigotry of there being something inherently wrong with being a Muslim.

In a Washington Post article residents in Findlay, Ohio (also known as Flag City, Ohio) have their own concerns about voting for Senator Obama. According to the article there are persistent rumors among residents that Senator Obama was “born in Africa, [and] is a possibly gay Muslim racist who refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.” Despite all of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, people refuse to believe the truth.

The liberal commentators and bloggers have begun to criticize Senator Obama for some of his political postures, and seem to have this idea that Senator Obama can win the general election on liberal support alone. Liberals must refrain from become that which they despise: the political thought of the Conservative Right that as long as we have 50.1% to we do not need the other 49.9%.

I would never suggest that criticism is not needed, and that we should give Senator Obama or any other politician a pass. However, as much as liberals enjoy Keith Olbermann’s sharp commentary and Arianna Huffington’s memos, we much remember that although almost 80% of the country thinks that America is going in the wrong direction most of America is not as liberal as we are. Moving to the middle is not for losers, moving to the middle is how you win. The reason that Barack Obama is change that we can believe in is because he is also change that we believe can win. Without winning, there is no change.

Barack Obama’s central message is still change. But change does not usually come over night; it comes in painstaking slow steps. The Iraq War is going to take several years to end, even if the next president begins taking steps to end it on day one. Universal Health Care is decades away, but important steps can still be made. Civil Rights for United States citizens and others must be secured, but the damage must first be undone. As much as Americans desperately want change, they do not want the kind of change that some of wish could happen.

However, change can happen overnight. America is going to look a whole lot different on January 21, 2009 than it did on January 20, 2009. But that overnight change can only happen if Barack Obama is elected president.

As liberals, progressives, and Democrats, we all must remember to keep in mind one fundamental idea: The largest threat to our nation’s future is a Republican is in the White House past noon next January 20th.