An American Evolution

Op-ed

By: P.H. Rolen

 

As I sat Monday and listened to Barack Obama speak, I had what is tantamount to a personal revelation. In a crammed packed Billings, Montana high school gymnasium, Senator Obama commanded what many have dubbed as a cult like presence. I can see where the comparison comes from. Kids with mohawks made the rock on goat sign as the great orator made his finer points. Overly medicated house moms swooned in a spirit filled manner as their post modernist, emasculated husbands cheered as they hadn’t since their last 10 step alpha male seminar. Rastafarian, Montana blacks did their best Bob Marley “Get Up, Stand Up” faces, and beaded children of the children of flower children tried their best to imagine that this was the year 1969. Obama began his speech as the great uniter “I know what it takes to bring this country together” he declared to the cheering crowd “The old ways of bitter divisiveness must end and I have a history of working with folks across the aisle to make that happen.”

At that point every Obamaniac in the crowd professed a look that evoked Zellwegeresque memories of Jerry McGuire’s wife bursting into tears with the famously cheesy line of “Shut up, you had me at hello.” Then something rather peculiar happened. Rather than build on the karma of goodwill and lay out the policy for uniting Amerca, the Senator paused, settled himself, and then launched into an anti-Bush, link McCain to Bush, diatribe that would eventually last nearly half of his speech. Give the Obama credit for understanding his crowd, at that point he could have said that he wanted the folks to streak for America and the vast majority in attendance would have aptly stripped their garments and given Billings the full Monty. He did not have to placate to petty notions such as intellectual debate and substance over style. The media had its daily sound byte, the crowd had its cup runneth over, and Obama was already thinking about traveling down the road to the Crow Indian Reservation for his next speech late in the afternoon.

It was somewhere between Obama’s line about McCain running for Bush’s third term and my chuckling at watching Fox News correspondent Major Garret type away on his Blackberry as if he were on his own planet rather than being part of a historical moment (I realize I just revealed the depth of my national political experience) that a thought began to formulate in my mind. I began to have a realization as to the depth of change that we are indeed witnessing within the broader American electorate. No it’s not the change that we can believe in that Obama has been spinning. From government subsidized healthcare, to free college for all veterans, to retreat from Iraq, to handing the big teachers unions the keys to the Federal Reserve Bank, Obama couldn’t be more to the left. The policies that he advocates would make Fredrick Engels gush and Che Guevara fawn but that is neither my point nor my realization.

The thought that occurred to me was that we are witnessing the last throes of the right wing conservative movement. Even the politicians who were elected by the right and tout right wing principles don’t abide by their own philosophy nor practice the restraints in which their doctrines are so firmly rooted. Likewise, the Bush Era has marked an end to the radical tax-and-spend politics of eastern elitist liberalism and the social expansion of the “Great Society” initiatives of the 1960’s such as the welfare state and other social subsidies. To put it frankly society has come to a stale mate. We are stuck in the middle between cut taxes and big spending; peace at any cost, and pre-emptive warfare. What we are seeing right now, the status quo of today, is the result of the social revolution of the 60s/70s counter culture as well as the backlash of the Reagan revolution all put together. This year marks the political culmination of the 20th century being brought to fruition. Put shortly, it is all over folks. The 20th century that is.

What is dawning ahead of us is in my mind a great opportunity for some of the most enduring and substantive bipartisanship that the United States has seen in generations. John McCain, the self proclaimed maverick Senator from Arizona has largely built his long political career on working across the center of the aisle and has alienated large portions of his own party in doing so. McCain openly advocates for the abolition of earmarks into spending bills which would effectively end the era of special interests ruling Washington. He also calls for a return to the federalist principles of state and local rights, which is in the modern sense conservative but hardly right wing since the principle would empower cities and states that choose more socially liberal stances to implement such without outside interference. Heck, the “Big Mac” has even called for a bit of Europeanization of American politics by advocating for congressional question and answer sessions with the President modeled after the British House of Commons. To make things even more interesting, the hot rumor inside the beltway has Senator McCain nominating none other than former Al Gore running mate Joe Lieberman as his own vice presidential candidate.

The dynamic of such a centrist ticket would greatly alter the U.S. political landscape and put a death nail in the era of vehement partisanship and the “Politics of personal destruction.” With a unity ticket would come a strong catalyst for cross party progress and it is almost certain that the gesture of goodwill would inspire politicians from all delegations to come together for real fixes in big problems such as social security, immigration, and private healthcare. The propensity also exists for such a unified moderate front to create a schism within the system that more legitimizes many third party views and empowers those third parties in becoming assimilated within the Democratic and Republican platforms. The candidacy of Ron Paul and consistent 10% draw of Ralph Nader can be used as evidence of an upward pressure for party evolution percolating just below the surface. Perhaps the most telling evidence of transformation lies in the data of recent polls suggesting that 80% of the nation feels that American is on the wrong track. In recent weeks partisan Democrats have been trying to spin this as evidence of the nation’s great dissatisfaction with Bush. That is only half the story. The citizenry is not only fed up with Bush’s lack of cross party communication and perceived policy failures, they are also sick of a partisan gridlocked congress with approval ratings at the lowest levels since polling was invented. We the people are sick of Democrats and Republicans.

The media brouhaha and blatant biased Obama slant has up until now permeated the public perception of Obama as a uniter; like I said we see it in the daily sound bytes. However, being there in person makes the Obama road show much different and while the man is patently wonderful to listen to as an orator, he is also patently left wing and partisan in his inner messages. In the coming weeks the general election campaigns will enter full swing and downward pressure on the numerous media outlets will bring Obama’s partisanship and far left policies into focus. Conversely, a McCain camp with a Joe Lieberman VP candidacy will begin touting real unity and it will become obvious to America where such unity is possible. Obama’s popularity has seen its pinnacle in the pre Reverend Wright days and my guess is that once his record is pressed things will only get tighter for him. Of course anything is possible between now and November and even though enormous progress has been made and troop deaths are way down, Iraq still remains a volatile issue with impact potential. However, what witnessing Obamania first hand has made me realize is that the Obama candidacy is basically the counter culture revolution’s victory lap. The 20th century is over and many of the changes that that generation wanted have been achieved. Here in the 21st century the citizenry is demanding real action; 80% of the citizenry in fact. The answer to those demands is simple for those who are really looking. It is not left nor right but straight forward…..down the middle.

P.H. Rolen is a political analyst and columnist from Billings Montana. He serves as a guest editor for NowPublic.com