The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we will save our country.
-Abraham Lincoln
Annual message to Congress,
Nov. 4 is another
On both occasions, fortune smiled and we had the right man available at the right time. Both rose with the occasion and took us in a new and better direction. But they only got the chance because Americans had the courage to elect them.
Critical juncture number three is upon us.
Some would like you to think this crisis is not as grave as the other two. We just don’t know-can’t know yet. But this could well be
Amazingly-and it makes you wonder if somebody up there really does like us-we have the right person available again at a critical moment. His name is Barack Obama-uniquely qualified of all politicians on the national scene to handle the extraordinary challenges converging at this juncture in history, circumstances that we have, in fact, brought on ourselves, just as we did the previous two occasions.
But this crisis is new. So we must think anew and act anew, as
If you think I’m exaggerating, I think you’re in denial.
Obama is young, energetic, intelligent, and not tied to the status quo politics that facilitated, enabled and exacerbated this crisis. If you want to make the crisis worse, vote for his opponent.
The status quo won’t work this time. It would be like electing Stephen Douglas in 1860 or re-electing Herbert Hoover in 1932. Electing John McCain would be a disaster-from which we would likely never recover-because he isn’t up to meeting, or even recognizing, the challenges we face.
Barack Obama is the only person likely to lead us through “the stormy present.” He has the right combination of temperament, intelligence, conviction and integrity. His opponent does not. Even his supporters know that deep down.
Will Obama become another Lincoln or FDR? We have no way of knowing. You don’t get that luxury in a crisis. You have to take a chance on someone.
In 2008, we have a global financial system in meltdown, created by an unregulated marketplace. Reaganomics, the house of cards we took refuge in 28 years ago, lies scattered about our feet. It really was voodoo economics after all. Turns out government is not the problem. Ineffective government is the problem.
We are fighting two wars-one of which never should have been fought-with nothing to show for it. We have endured an incompetent president who treated our civil liberties, and our sacred separation of powers, with utter contempt and arrogance. Our moral authority in the eyes of the world has been compromised and undermined. We are facing an environmental crisis that threatens the entire planet and which can only be defeated if we end our dependency on fossil fuels altogether.
Only one of the two candidates has a chance of handling these issues effectively. We need to give him that chance.
This election really isn’t about Barack Obama or John McCain, Democrats or Republicans. It’s about us. We’re the ones who will determine our future by the choice we make.
In the same speech to Congress quoted at the beginning of this column, Abraham Lincoln said:
Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.
We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. It’s about time we rise to another
This Tuesday, put your country first and vote for Barack Obama.
