I don't know how he can be more clear.
Obama baffles observers, I suspect, because heÂs an ideologue and a pragmatist all at once. HeÂs a doctrinaire liberal whoÂs always willing to cut a deal and grab for half the loaf. He has the policy preferences of a progressive blogger, but the governing style of a seasoned Beltway wheeler-dealer.
He's not an ideologue. He's not a doctrinaire liberal. He doesn't have the policy preferences of a progressive blogger or the governing style of a seasoned Beltway wheeler-dealer.
Obama's written and given several speeches where he explicitly talks about what he believes and how he wants to get there. He's written 2 books that talk about his history and beliefs. He's about the most transparent president we've ever had (whether one likes what he has to say or not). But he doesn't fit in a pidegeon-hole, so the pundits don't know how to categorize him.
This is where we are right now. ItÂs a racial stalemate weÂve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy  particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction  a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people  that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances  for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man who's been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives  by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American  and yes, conservative  notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend WrightÂs sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
Ultimately, he an idealistic pragmatist. He wants to see reason backed by evidence - not dogma. He's not a capital D democrat, or a capital P progressive. He knows that change will be difficult, but by understanding who we are and how we got here, we can make the country and the world better for everyone. We don't have to be prisoners of our past. He refuses to be pidgeon-holed; that doesn't make him a sell-out or a Manchurian Candidate. He's in it for the long-term.
I think this is behind everything he does from his race speech, to his inaugural address, to his comments about ridding the world of nuclear weapons (which we are obligated by treaty to do, already), to his budget proposals, and even to his actions thus far on FISA and Guantanamo and the 2 wars. He's not a Chicago politician who will turn off the lights on people who don't vote with him.... He's not going to tilt at windmills for a single-payer system (even while he accepts the arguments that it's most efficient) since there's no amount of political capital that can get it enacted now.
Asking what his bottom line is sort-of misses the point.
I really don't understand why so many commentators can't see this... :-/
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
