Michelle vs. the Bubble Boy
Last night, Michelle brought down the house.
Of course, it was a political speech, with every word weighed and calculated. Nevertheless, what came through was just how real, down-to-earth and NORMAL she is, and the entire Obama family is, especially compared to the McCains -- with all their houses and all their privilege.
What has attracted many voters to Obama (especially younger voters) is the underlying sense that he is "one of us" - a guy who understands where people are coming from, and who has the ability to relate on a genuine level with all different kinds of people -- as people, and not as means to an end. That is the content, I think, of the notion of Obama as aiming to create a "post-political" movement, a personal kind of politics, rather than one of constinuencies and categories.
Michelle's speech, and just importantly, her sense of genuineness, highlighted by contrast how McCain is a kind of bubble-boy, one of these politicians (and they exist on both sides of the aisle) who has little real capacity to relate with everyday people -- because he has never related to them as anything other than a means to an end (as military personnel to be commanded or obeyed for the sake of the mission; and later, as voting units necessary to secure his power, rather than as neighbors - for lack of a better word).
Even his marriage to Cindy seems to have been motivated by a cold calculation: a "trading up" in order to secure money and a trophy wife, leaving behind the woman who faithfully loved him because she was now damaged goods and wouldn't look good at campaign events -- where the focus should always be on his injuries, his suffering, not hers.
The fact that the Obamas are the ones seen (for example, by HRC's demographic) as "elite" or "aloof" says more about the continuing power of the racial divide in this country, than it does about any of Obama's supposed failures to connect with voters. To be sure, Obama can and should do more in this regard (the recent 7 Houses meme and the pick of Biden are good signs). . . but he is fighting against a lot of interference that has nothing to do with his personality or the content of his character, and has everything to do with the color of his skin. Hopefully, 45 years after Dr. King's speech, we will begin to see that cultural barrier begin to dissolve.
Of course, it was a political speech, with every word weighed and calculated. Nevertheless, what came through was just how real, down-to-earth and NORMAL she is, and the entire Obama family is, especially compared to the McCains -- with all their houses and all their privilege.
What has attracted many voters to Obama (especially younger voters) is the underlying sense that he is "one of us" - a guy who understands where people are coming from, and who has the ability to relate on a genuine level with all different kinds of people -- as people, and not as means to an end. That is the content, I think, of the notion of Obama as aiming to create a "post-political" movement, a personal kind of politics, rather than one of constinuencies and categories.
Michelle's speech, and just importantly, her sense of genuineness, highlighted by contrast how McCain is a kind of bubble-boy, one of these politicians (and they exist on both sides of the aisle) who has little real capacity to relate with everyday people -- because he has never related to them as anything other than a means to an end (as military personnel to be commanded or obeyed for the sake of the mission; and later, as voting units necessary to secure his power, rather than as neighbors - for lack of a better word).
Even his marriage to Cindy seems to have been motivated by a cold calculation: a "trading up" in order to secure money and a trophy wife, leaving behind the woman who faithfully loved him because she was now damaged goods and wouldn't look good at campaign events -- where the focus should always be on his injuries, his suffering, not hers.
The fact that the Obamas are the ones seen (for example, by HRC's demographic) as "elite" or "aloof" says more about the continuing power of the racial divide in this country, than it does about any of Obama's supposed failures to connect with voters. To be sure, Obama can and should do more in this regard (the recent 7 Houses meme and the pick of Biden are good signs). . . but he is fighting against a lot of interference that has nothing to do with his personality or the content of his character, and has everything to do with the color of his skin. Hopefully, 45 years after Dr. King's speech, we will begin to see that cultural barrier begin to dissolve.
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