08/28/06: Barack’ en Politics: Kenya Help Us?

Many today suggest that politics is broken. The “pollster – consultant – industrial complex” has strangled the life and soul out of our natural inclination to politic. Politics is a dirty word. Fewer and fewer want to participate. We feel uninformed and disconnected. (See Joe Klein’s brilliant new book Politics Lost: How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who Think You’re Stupid).

Our politics, we must remember, has always centered around personalities. Washington. Lincoln. FDR. JFK. Mere mention of these men have inspired us to act. These political icons somehow saved us. They provided something heroic. They stirred something deep inside us. They understood we all share something in common. We are all political animals.

19th century England looked to Disraeli in their time of need. Lord Beaconsfield described him in this way:

“No more curious figure ever appeared in English political life. He inspired affection, as well as admiration, in his friends and adherents. By all but his bigoted opponents he was held in regard and respect. He was the most magnanimous statesman of our time. He captivated the imagination of English people, and triumphed over their not unnatural prejudices.”

Lord Henry Lucy more simply stated, “[Disraeli] was not only brilliant himself but the cause of brilliancy in others.” (Read Christopher Hibbert’s brilliant new biography, Disraeli:
The Victorian Dandy Who Became Prime Minister, Palgrave Books 2006).

Is there a Disraeli anywhere in our midst? Who in our day fits such a description? We are politically undernourished and neglected. Who might our young find to save them from their woes?

We need a Barack Star to the rescue. Enter Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Barack Obama is spending his August recess from the U.S. Senate visiting his roots – Africa. He has found their situation similar to ours. Sure they are much more materially disadvantaged, but it is their loss of hope which receives his greatest focus. It is such hopelessness which plagues our politics also.

"It's critically important to capture a sense of hopefulness," Obama said, "to give people in Africa and people outside Africa a sense that for all the strife and hardship that the continent has been through, the spirit of the people remains resilient."

Walking the streets of Kenya, Obama is discovering a universal language. It is a political message. His message to Africans at large is the same message we hunger for here in America. (For more on Obama’s Trip)

We want leaders who do more than merely talk to us, with words without meaning.

We want leaders who do more than make promises to us, without ever fulfilling them.

We want leaders who inspire us . . . who inspire us political animals to politic.

Barack Obama, just in time . . . or just like all of the others?

Time will tell. If we have to wait much after 2008 it may be too late.

For more Obama read his coming-out speech delivered at the 2004 Democratic National Party Convention in Boston.