Meaningless Rants

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After Barack Obama’s victory, I keep seeing people put such high expectation on him. Of course, there’s an army of surrogates and some realists who will tamp down the expectation, but it’s just difficult to keep down the level of euphoria over this, it seems that it’s difficult not to be dissapointed.

If you think about it, he was only in the national scene for 4 years! He had been effective as a senator for only 2 years, and the rest he spent it on heading a campaign that will probably be studied in political science classes for years to come. Well, at one point, his CEO backers questioned his executive abilities, in which he replied: “watch how I run my campaign.” Yes, it’s impressive, but does that translate to good governance? Does his victory represent the excellence of his character or his campaign?

But now there are a bunch of behind-the-scenes articles about the campaigns, and so far it all looks good. He is always portrayed as this cool guy who knows what he wants and leads effectively. There are many stories and anecdotes that say a lot about his character, but there are three important points in the campaign that I think can make me feel a little more at ease with an Obama presidency.

1. The “meeting with Ahmadinejad” on Youtube/CNN debate

Asked by some weirdo on Youtube whether he would meet with leaders like Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il or Hugo Chavez, he said without hesitating: “I would.” His opponents, especially Hillary Clinton, immediately jumped on his comment as being naive and wet behind the ears. After the debate, Obama’s advisers were tele-conferencing, trying to figure out how to difuse the situation and wanted to make a statement to ‘clarify’ Obama’s statement and to hopefully ignore them all together. Obama overheard the teleconference and snatched his aide’s phone and said this: “No, we don’t back down. We met with Stalin. We met with Mao. Why can’t we meet with Ahmadinejad? That’s ridiculous!”

Emboldened by Obama’s stance, his aides began to defend his position and actually made it into an offense to other candidates. He came out looking strong and finally, he was vindicated when five former secretary of states practically endorse his stance. Here’s a leader who’s not afraid of taking fire!

2. Rev. Wright fiasco

When the tape of Rev. Wright ranting came out, Obama’s aides were again aghast and were at lost at what to do. They couldn’t say a thing on the tele-conference, not having any idea on what to do. They could only hope that if they ignore it hard enough, it will go away. In the middle of the desperation was a calm Obama who wasn’t feeling down at all. He knew it was coming in a way. Instead he started to ask for a lighter schedule and then told his aides, “I’m going to do a speech on race.”

His aides didn’t want him to say anything, lest it make matters worse. But that was not a point for discussion. Obama was stating his decision at that point - to make a speech of his own making that is very dangerous. But then the speech happened, and it didn’t sink him. Instead, it showed the nation his caliber. He somehow managed to acknowledge the problem of racism, while at the same time still hopeful of a better future in the discourse of racism.

3. The non-suspension of McCain’s campaign

Mid-September, Lehman Brothers went kaputt. McCain’s campaign, having made the stupid blunder of stating that the fundamentals of the economy are strong in the morning, had to make a drastic move. He went on to “suspend” his campaign, postponing the debate, and asked Obama to do the same. When Obama’s aides heard that, they thought that Obama should respond and were wondering among themselves whether they should make any similar moves. Obama raised his hands in the air, saying “No, we’re not going to postpone the debate or the campaign. A leader should be able to multitask.”

True enough, it was all only a show. McCain’s non-performance on David Letterman and his interview with Katie Couric at the same time only destroyed his credibility (at least among late night viewers). It only highlighted the difference between the two candidates’ temperament. McCain got too invested in the bailout package and then it failed due to House Republicans. He then had to make about-face and went on to the debate site as Obama was already preparing for it, giving Obama the ammunition to describe him as being erratic.

No, Obama was not born on Krypton, regardless of what he said (or was he?). But when his opponents made moves to confuse him or when there’s a threat coming, he was steady, he knows his convictions, and he faced the threats head on. It was difficult to bluff him, and that’s why I feel a little more at ease remembering those pivotal moments in the campaign.