2008 Woodie Awards
The Barack Obama pre-post-modern
View From Another Campus
Kai Stinchcombe: The Stanford Daily (Stanford)
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Viewpoint
And why not get them? Barack Obama is the best talker out there. If anyone can persuade Americans not to listen to the naysayers on universal health care, progressive job-creation policies and aggressive environmental efforts, it's Barack Obama.
Americans broadly support these goals, but every time a specific proposal comes up their worries are stoked by oil companies, automakers, health insurance companies and so on. Barack Obama could soothe these worries and bring people together in a way Hillary Clinton might not be able to.
As it is, the Obama campaign has been about him as a person - he is the feel-good guy who can bring America back together again. That's great, but I want more than a national therapy session. I want a new direction. Anyone can promise to be a uniter, but I want an exciter.
This strategy is 25 percent knocking some of the caution out of his proposals and 75 percent using bold, inspiring language to talk about them.
Al Gore says, "Our world faces a true planetary emergency." Obama's pull quote at the top of his environment policy page begins, "the issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return."
Any competent editor would change the first sentence to "We ignore climate change at our own peril." And that's just for starters.
If Obama wants to win, he's got to start talking about his proposals like he cares - go back to being an activist, a community organizer. And he's got to act like he's running for president because he wants to change the world and fix the healthcare system and global warming, not because he's a feel-good guy who makes friends with Republicans.
He can still win it, but time is running out.
Americans broadly support these goals, but every time a specific proposal comes up their worries are stoked by oil companies, automakers, health insurance companies and so on. Barack Obama could soothe these worries and bring people together in a way Hillary Clinton might not be able to.
As it is, the Obama campaign has been about him as a person - he is the feel-good guy who can bring America back together again. That's great, but I want more than a national therapy session. I want a new direction. Anyone can promise to be a uniter, but I want an exciter.
This strategy is 25 percent knocking some of the caution out of his proposals and 75 percent using bold, inspiring language to talk about them.
Al Gore says, "Our world faces a true planetary emergency." Obama's pull quote at the top of his environment policy page begins, "the issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return."
Any competent editor would change the first sentence to "We ignore climate change at our own peril." And that's just for starters.
If Obama wants to win, he's got to start talking about his proposals like he cares - go back to being an activist, a community organizer. And he's got to act like he's running for president because he wants to change the world and fix the healthcare system and global warming, not because he's a feel-good guy who makes friends with Republicans.
He can still win it, but time is running out.
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