Barack Obama and the Politics of Expectation
by Benjamin Ramm
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The only way we can live: a declamation of independence, a resolution to realise America as, in Obama’s words, “a land where the question of our place in history is not answered for us: it’s answered by us”. In this light, Bernard Henri-Lévy has celebrated Obama’s “pioneer spirit” in pursuit of “a frontier that moves and must always be traced anew”:
A place where destiny was not a destination, but a journey to be shared and shaped and remade by people who had the gall, the temerity to believe that, against all odds, they could form “a more perfect union” on this new frontier.
(Commencement address, Knox College, Illinois, 4th June 2005)
The fraternal struggle described by Obama – for “that extraordinary journey we call America” – recalls Mario Cuomo’s ‘Tale of Two Cities’ speech at the height of the Reagan ascendency:
The Republicans believe the wagon train will not make it to the frontier unless some of the old, some of the young, and some of the weak are left behind by the side of the trail...We Democrats believe that we can make it all the way with the whole family intact.
(Keynote address, Democratic National Convention, San Francisco, 16th July 1984)
A belief shared by the incoming president, for whom “we rise or fall together as one people”.
No sooner had Obama been elected, than it was predicted (rather predictably) that he would ‘let us down’, that he was ‘bound to disappoint’. One of the reasons this assumption is so unsatisfactory is that it ignores Obama’s whole approach of leadership, his unwillingness to adhere to the technocratic model, and his understanding of the dynamics of political engagement. In one of his most curious remarks, refrained in the ‘More Perfect Union’ speech in Philadelphia, Obama offers a radically different perspective:
It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children. But it is where we begin.
(Address on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Atlanta, Georgia, 21st January 2008)
In a country that is struggling to fulfil any of the aforementioned obligations, this is impressively daring, and admirably lacking in managerial modesty, even as it begs the questions: what is enough?; where do we end? The latter consideration is not of especial interest to Obama: in biblical terms, whereas George W. Bush was focused on the eschatological (the ‘end of days’), Obama is much more concerned with genesis, with making fertile the soil and catalysing growth. This is not to say that he is not interested in solid outcomes – on the contrary, Obama constantly challenges his advisors to detail the material consequences of their proposals – but it does suggest that he understands politics as being enacted and experienced in something less immediately tangible – but no less substantial – than prescriptive policy. It acknowledges that citizens benefit from a market (of policy; of commerce), but that they invest more into the political process than the market can quantify; and that from politics they seek a space not only for dignity, but also for virtue – for what Thomas Mann, during his exile in America, called “nobility of spirit”.
Barack Obama has never promised an eternal sunshine – “The rains will still come and the winds will still blow” – and hailing from Chicago, he is familiar with the intemperate weather of political life. He brings to the presidency qualities well-suited to a leader in time of crisis: by nature composed, consultative, and resolute without being stubborn, he has demonstrated an ability to maximise the talent around him. The challenges ahead may prove to be the ultimate test of the American model, and as a recent National Intelligence Committee report makes clear, the odds are stacked against the United States retaining its preeminent position on the world stage. And yet, who would bet against this bold experiment, and who – witnessing, even from afar, the events of the past few months – cannot have been stirred by what Bobby Kennedy described as “the excitement and danger that come with even the most peaceful progress”? Will he disappoint us? Will we disappoint him? Will we disappoint ourselves? Perhaps more importantly, will we aspire to live as citizens, committed to a more perfect union with one another – unafraid to stumble, eager to experiment, and animated, as Bobby’s brother was, by the unending horizon:
All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
(Inauguration address, Washington D.C., 20th January 1961)
Benjamin Ramm is editor of The Liberal.
The final essay in the Obama trilogy, ‘Barack Obama and the Art of Empathy’, will be published after the Inauguration. The first, ‘Barack Obama and the Idea of America’, is available here.
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