Organizing for America | Bruce H's Blog: It's the People, Stupid

It's the People, Stupid

By Bruce H - Feb 13th, 2008 at 2:59 am EST

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While Barack IS an "inspirational" orator, he does talk of things like hope and dreams and change and all that, there is a palpable quality to his approach that I knew I was going to see as soon as I read "Audacity of Hope" right after he declared he was running.

Here it is: It's the People, stupid.

He realized while running in Illinois that when he connected one-on-one with as many people as possible, looked in their eyes, listened to their dreams, their fears and their challenges, when he made sure they knew he heard them, they carried him to victory on their shoulders. He sees us as individual people. He listens to us, as much as possible above the clamor, as individual people. And we know this. We see this. We feel it. It's all most of us have ever wanted, really. To have a voice in our government. To know we are seen, heard, understood, cared about. And he sees us, he hears us, he understands us, he cares about us. We know this. The opposition can't understand it.

Hillary speaks to demographics, interest groups, categories and classes of people. What's missing is the empathy - the ability to see EACH person as more than, and more important than, herself.

McCain speaks to "America." It's an abstraction to him - a glorious principle, a glowing ideal. But he could no more connect to my personal struggles to survive in an economic system whose landscape is tilted against me than to the man in the moon. I am part of the faceless mob of all "Americans" who will somehow in a vague way benefit if "the Country" and "the Economy" and "the educational system" and "the work force" are on the "right" path.

They don't get it.

It's not the economy, it's not the war in Iraq. It's not morality. It's not security.

It's the People, stupid.

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