I became an Obama supporter during the primaries. It wasn't that he had extensive experience--though I was impressed by the people from whom he had sought advice--or that he had a crackerjack plan to offer. It was that he ran a clean, dignified campaign in spite of the provocation to do otherwise.
He focused on his vision, what he wanted to accomplish, and if he was light on details, at least the details he offered weren't designed to discredit his opponents through side issues. And while it won him my admiration, it cost him. The pundits said that he needed to "get tougher," that he could not win without resorting to dirty tricks. I hoped they were wrong.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Does Senator McCain advance the unpopular and to all appearances unsuccessful GOP solution--Big Money to Big Business--or does he prove himself once more a Maverick and propose something new, something different, something that resonates with those of us who live small lives? He--or his campaign managers, at any rate--have chosen a third option. They have stated openly that they are going to make the remainder of this campaign a battle of tactics--in other words, dirty politics, personal attacks, mud-slinging, and innuendo. I hate it. Senator McCain has built a reputation for being more than that, for being a man of integrity, principles, and ideas. To see him betraying those principles to win an election when he apparently has no workable plan for leading is more than saddening: it is frightening. Compounding the issue is his vice-presidential pick, a governor from a remote state who seems both provincial and satisfied to remain so. The "campaign of tactics" is taking a toll: The fact checkers have yet to catch Senator Obama in many "pants on fire" remarks--even the "barely true's" are comparatively uncommon, but he's learning, he's learning. Yesterday his campaign released a video high-lighting McCain's friendship with Charles Keating, banker and real estate developer whose looting led to the downfall of Lincoln Federal Savings and Loan, and documenting his meetings with banking regulators.The documentary aired the day after Governor Palin announced to a crowd at a rally that Senator Obama had been "palling around" with terrorists. She was referring to the fact that Senator Obama had served on the board of a charitable foundation years before with William Ayers, a founding member of the Weathermen Underground, and that Ayers had, in fact, hosted a party for Obama's political "coming out" in his home.My trusty online fact checker noted that while in both cases the accusations were "factually true," in neither case do we really have a way of judging the motivations of the senators, and in these cases, motivation is everything.
Senator McCain did have a personal meeting with Keating. His wife Cindy did invest in one of Keating's business ventures. The McCain's did spend time with the Keatings at their Bahamas retreat. Senator McCain did meet with regulators on Keating's behalf. The facts are true, just as are the facts that Obama did serve on charitable boards with William Ayers, does live in the same neighborhood, and was guest of honor at a political party Ayers hosted in his home.But here is where the irony becomes particularly biting. Both men were at the beginning of their political careers. Both had reputations for integrity and iidealism. Both had a vision for America that went well beyond party politics.
By all reports, Ayers had become a force for good in the Chicago area, sitting on charitable boards, advancing education, and in fact now a tenured professor of education at the University of Illinois, Chicago. I found no reports of Keating becoming a force for good, but hey, he's out of jail now. That's something.Both men became linked--in one case, but a common interest in philanthropy, in the other, by friendship--with men who are being used to discredit them now. In neither case is there evidence of wrongdoing by either man. Both Obama and McCain have denounced the actions of their former associates. They were young. they were idealistic. They were just beginning their political careers. Senator Obama accepted a small donation--and $200 is a small donation--and a launch party at Ayers' house. Senator McCain accepted considerably more: Vacations in the Bahamas (he eventually paid the airfare involved), as well as other gifts from Keating. When the question of impropriety was raised he refused to further use his influence on Keating's behalf.
Poor judgment? Yes. The same argument could be made for Senator Obama, if we credit him with the sort of omniscience that none of us have. The side issues have done their work well; they have diverted us from the fact that the Senator McCain still apparently has no comprehensive plan for bailing out anybody except for the Big Boys.
Yesterday the stock market fell 800 points. We just gave $700 billion to the mortgage industry, and it's still in crisis. Foreclosures have contributed to a skyrocketing homeless rate; in Massachussetts alone, during the month of September 550 families placed in hotels because there were already approximately 1,800 families filling the shelters. Many of those families were there because they had lost their homes to foreclusre. Osama bin Laden is still alive and well. Al Qaeda is, too. We have real issues to talk about. And the best we can do is dredge up questionable friends from twenty years ago?The real tragedy, of course, is what's happened to the two men running for office. Senator McCain has long been regarded as an honorable man, a reformer who held himself above party politics. Senator Obama has conducted himself and his campaign in a way that gave every indication that he was another. And now these two men, men with vision, men with reputations for integrity, are caught up in a situation that demeans them both. They are both better than that.
I find myself wondering if it is our election process itself that is broken. Has it become impossible for honorable men to remain honorable and still attain the presidency? I hope not. I hope that the vision Senator Obama articulated and exemplified in the primaries proves not to be a pipe dream, or his undoing. If it is, it will be a tragedy not only for America, but for the world. It will be proof that something fine in America has died.
I am one person. I am 47 years old. For the first time in my life I have seen a candidate who inspired me enough to not only register, but donate, and eagerly await my chance to cast my vote. Maybe I was naive. I hope not. I hope that when I look back on this, I will know that my faith in America, its processes, and its leaders, was rewarded.
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