October 1, 2007--Mr. Obama Goes to Washington

During the Democratic candidates’ debate the other night, former Senator Mike Gravel made sense. In previous debates he has provided the comic relief. His semi-articulate sputterings, though passionate, were so outlandishly unrealistic to the mainstream candidates and the moderators that no one took them seriously, with some perhaps even thinking he might be a bit over-the-hill. And so the other candidates and the Tim Russerts looked for kindly ways to ignore him and get back onto the how-to-fix-social-security or how-to-end-the war tracks. But the other night at the New Hampshire debate something a little different happened that provided a rare glimpse of Hillary Clinton’s perhaps authentic nature and Barak Obama’s true limitations. After listening to the leading candidates struggle with their plans to end the war while keeping significant numbers of troops on the ground in Iraq until 2013 (!), Mike had had enough and couldn’t any longer contain himself. In effect he said, “If you truly want to stop the killing and maiming, if you really want to stop this war, you should suspend your campaigning right now, get back to the Senate where you were elected to serve, and for the next 40 days you should introduce the same bill over and over again to stop the war that you say is immoral and failing. And you should fight there every day to bring this government to a halt, if necessary, until your colleagues and the White House have no choice but to radically change course.” There was the usual moment of awkward silence after this latest tirade but rather than simply ignoring him as they had done in the past, Hillary Clinton, in the most patronizing way, began by literally laughing in his face and then, with a dismissive wave of her hand—she was situated right beside him--proceeded to mock him. A few podia down the line on the stage, Barak Obama stood rigidly erect with his head tilted up as to show his best-sided Mt. Rushmore profile and didn’t, as he usually doesn’t, jump in to say a word. How to respond to Gravel clearly wasn’t in his playbook. During the weekend, while contemplating the miracle of autumn in the mountains of Vermont, I thought more about this. Perhaps lulled back to the innocence and naivety that such a radiant display can revive in someone of my age and jaded experience, I remembered having recently seen again the great Frank Capra film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and how the Jimmy Stewart character ultimately prevails by single-handedly filibustering, against the will and smears of the majority, until the public back home learn what he is up—speaking truth to power--and rise to his support. Hillary Clinton claims that in contrast to her rivals, and especially Barak Obama, she is the candidate who has the best preparation and experience to be president. Obama retorts that to be qualified to be president it’s more about judgment than experience, citing the fact that he was against the war before it began whereas Clinton voted to authorize it. What did all her experience mean if she lacked the judgment to see beyond the immediate political advantages to herself? Though he may be right about this, it is not getting the job done for him—he is slipping further behind in the polls—because, though he may have shown good judgment then, his experience in the Illinois State Legislature and his just two years in the U.S. Senate do not feel like enough preparation to be perceived as a viable post-9/11 president. We need more evidence to demonstrate that he has the right stuff. So here’s my Mr. Smith fantasy: Barak calls a news conference to make a major announcement—“I’ve come to conclude that Mike Gravel was right. So, I will leave the campaign trail for the next 40 days and will stay in Washington to do just what Mike said we all should be doing. Maybe I’ll win, maybe I’ll lose but I will go down trying. Etc.” By doing this, like Mr. Smith, maybe he would find allies in Congress and the public, two-thirds of whom say they want to see the war ended. Even if he fails, which of course is likely—all the magnificent leaf changing hasn’t made me that innocent—in this way he might dominate the news and show that he has the judgment, passion, and guts to take on big issues and major challenges. And, most important for his candidacy and the country, he would show by example that he has the capacity to transform thought into action and thereby demonstrate his capacity to lead.