Sunday, June 29, 2008
So now it's a sin to be open-minded?
Two more shows this weekend where "knowledgeable" commentators decry Obama's shifting position on various issues -- this time it was the 2nd Amendment -- and call him a flip-flopper. Is that a bad thing? George W. Bush rarely changes his mind in response to facts and events. Is that a good thing?
Very few members of the media and political establishment show any understanding of the reasons Barack Obama is so popular. Sure, he's an inspiring speaker. Yeah, we like his family. Of course, it's nice to see an African American go so far. All of those make up just a small part of why people like him. Here's the reason that we don't get the vapors when he revises a position he has held in the past:
It means he is listening. It means that, as a member of the reality-based community out here west of Washington, D.C., and east of Hollywood, he allows facts to sway him. It means that he is unlikely to formulate a plan without having the information he needs to make it work, and it means that if he comes up with a solution that solves nothing he might be willing to try something else.
The story from the 1990s on health care, for instance, is that the Clintons came in with a plan and refused to listen to objections or adaptations from those outside their inner circle. Some of the criticism of how that was handled is undoubtedly unfair, coming from people with 20-20 hindsight. One thing is certain, though, the problem was not flexibility.
I'm not even going to go into the Rumsfeld doctrine and Iraq.
Another criticism of Obama is that his record is too short for the know-it-alls in New York and Washington to be able to predict what he will do in unknown circumstances. But we do know. We know that he will remain calm. We know that he will gather facts. We know that he will handle situations with unreliable variables in ways that address those variables. None of us can predict that he will do exactly what we want him to do when he is president, but we trust his judgment. We trust him because his views and reactions are not written in stone, because he knows that every constitutional case and every diplomatic situation is unique.
Obama's ideology may be weak, but his intellect and compassion seem reliable. That is a virtue, and voters see it even if the political professionals do not.
Very few members of the media and political establishment show any understanding of the reasons Barack Obama is so popular. Sure, he's an inspiring speaker. Yeah, we like his family. Of course, it's nice to see an African American go so far. All of those make up just a small part of why people like him. Here's the reason that we don't get the vapors when he revises a position he has held in the past:
It means he is listening. It means that, as a member of the reality-based community out here west of Washington, D.C., and east of Hollywood, he allows facts to sway him. It means that he is unlikely to formulate a plan without having the information he needs to make it work, and it means that if he comes up with a solution that solves nothing he might be willing to try something else.
The story from the 1990s on health care, for instance, is that the Clintons came in with a plan and refused to listen to objections or adaptations from those outside their inner circle. Some of the criticism of how that was handled is undoubtedly unfair, coming from people with 20-20 hindsight. One thing is certain, though, the problem was not flexibility.
I'm not even going to go into the Rumsfeld doctrine and Iraq.
Another criticism of Obama is that his record is too short for the know-it-alls in New York and Washington to be able to predict what he will do in unknown circumstances. But we do know. We know that he will remain calm. We know that he will gather facts. We know that he will handle situations with unreliable variables in ways that address those variables. None of us can predict that he will do exactly what we want him to do when he is president, but we trust his judgment. We trust him because his views and reactions are not written in stone, because he knows that every constitutional case and every diplomatic situation is unique.
Obama's ideology may be weak, but his intellect and compassion seem reliable. That is a virtue, and voters see it even if the political professionals do not.
Labels: flip-flop, inexperience, obama
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And he listens to people with intelligence-smart people who actually study and know what they are talking about. What a concept. We may actually have a government that promotes knowledge and education.
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