Andrew Sullivan has a good, albeit a little bit overly enthusiastic in my opinion, post up about Barack Obama:
Obama’s speech yesterday is his most detailed yet on foreign affairs. Read it. It is emphatically not isolationist; it is emphatically not against the use of military force when necessary; it is emphatically pro-military in its call for many more troops. On the critical issue of Iraq, Obama has taken a stand – a clear one for withdrawal, with the possibility of a strike-force over the horizon. This is a very difficult call, and the timing and execution of withdrawal will be dispositive. But one core strength of Obama’s candidacy is that he got this war right when many of us got it wrong. He deserves more of a listening than many of us do. If his speech yesterday was any indication, there will be much to chew on. I’m sorry to see no commitment to a carbon tax; I’m unsure of whether diplomacy can or will work with Pyongyang and Tehran. We will all have to listen and watch Obama closely these next few months in weighing his candidacy against others’.
But this much we can already say: Obama brings something no one else does to this moment. By replacing one of the most globally despised and domestically divisive presidents in American history with a young leader half-Kansan and half-Kenyan, America would be saying something to the world: Bush-Cheney is not who we are. America is not what it has come to appear to be. This country is among the most culturally and racially and religiously diverse on the planet. America has long been a powerful and vital beacon for human rights – not, as recently, the avatar of torture, rendition and executive tyranny. The simple existence of Obama as a new president in a new century would in itself enhance America’s soft power immeasurably, just as a clear decision to leave Iraq would provide much greater leverage for diplomacy and military force in a whole variety of new ways. Obama would mean the rebranding of America, after a disastrous eight years. His international heritage, his racial journey, his middle name: these are assets for this country, not liabilities.
The Anonymous Liberal reacts to Sullivan (and thinks, as Sullivan, very highly of Obama).
Barack Obama is a very interesting phenomenon: he is much more of a uniter than, say, Hillary Clinton; he is able to truly touch more people, both emotionally and intellectually, than Hillary; he unites different cultures, being half Kenyan and half American; he is one of the most intellectually (and politically) successful African-Americans in America today; he is rhetorically incredibly gifted; he is one of the first serious African-American contenders, and, as such, he will be an inspiration to many (blacks, but also to whites); in short, he is a great candidate.
That being said, he is too left for me. If I were American, and if he would win the Democratic nomination and, yes, even the presidency, I could not possibly be very upset – I think that America will win no matter what, really. Hillary will be an acceptable, if not good, president, same goes for Obama, same goes for most of the important Republican candidates – but I would not be filled with joy either.
Cross posted at my own blog.
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