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[descartes86]

Sometimes when I am disappointed by my lack of eloquence or intelligence, I think about how RFK was originally a shaky speaker or how Barack Obama was once shy and I start feel better. Not that I want to run for president, it is just good to remember that my idols are humans too and that they also had to work at building their arguments and

Comments

[descartes86]

I don't think it is any one thing but rather a combination of them.

1) For a long time I have been arguing that if we are going to win over Conservatives we have to argue against them respectfully and I think Obama is the best at doing that. By win over I don't mean a single vote but I mean ideologically. This ties up nicely with his unity rhetoric which capitalizes on the peoples' desire to stop the finger pointing that has been going on since Nam. Of course I have no illusions that we will all magically come together but the rhetoric brings people who might not normally give progressive ideas a chance to the table.

2)A commitment to organizing. Even before I helped the campaign it was clear to me that Obama believed not just in winning elections but mobilizing progressive activists. The infamous quote from his time as a community organizer but also his decision not to hire a Mark Penn beltway insider campaign manager made me believe this was the case. Having volunteered for them I found it to be true. In both Carson City and Vancouver we were the only campaign with a field office and that is why I believe him when he says corny things like "we are the change we've been looking for" because if all the people who are helping him continue helping the movement we will actually see much of the change we are looking for.

3) Yea the whole ability to tell a story was a factor in my decision to support him. Speeches shouldn't just outline an agenda, they should make the case for the progressive movement and he does so in a compelling way. Not only by tying our current struggles to those of the nations' past but also through anecdotes. I think this is an interesting passage that illustrates what I like about his narrative:

"this election, is about the past vs. the future, it is about whether we settle for the same divisions and distraction and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation a politics of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity"

Notice how the case isn't made by pounding people over the head with examples (though he uses the convincingly) but by linking common sense to "shared" things. Ultimately the progressive movement lives or dies by its ability to convince people that we live in a world where we need to help each other out and Obama is the best at doing that.