obama’s pot of gold
by Alan Smith
Published: June 18, 2008
The way Barack Obama speaks about the magical change he is capable of bringing to politics, I fully expect his next endorsement to come from the Leprechan’s Union. Because like most politicians running for president, he wants you to believe that he can accomplish change by merely saying the magic words. The truth is that it will take more than the luck o’ the Irish for his ”Blueprint for Change” to have any real effect.
Take his plan to have a public database of campaign finance and ethics records. It’s a great idea! So great that opensecrets.org already performs the function for us. Hey, but thanks anyway. It’s the thought that counts.
Barack also wants to put government on the Internet. Essentially, his idea is to broadcast via video all policy discussions that (presumably) don’t risk national security by being revealed. The idea is that the American people will watch these and soberly reflect on the topics and be enlightened by their elected representatives. While there is, in reality, no evidence that the number of people who would watch Obama’s station is greater than the number of people who watch C-SPAN, I wouldn’t want him to let that get in the way of wasting public resources by duplicating the efforts of private enterprise.
Barack would also like to make public any talks his administration has with outside experts. His Blueprint calls for discussions with any non-government employee to be made public, which includes not only lobbyists with the soul of Darth Vader, but also more helpful people who, at worst, are Dark Helmet. Consider this, If you were a world-renowned professor and expert in your field, with no financial stake in anything, would you be willing to help your government if it meant exposing your potentially unpopular position to a bunch of Internet yahoos (no pun or copyright infringement intended)? Probably not. But in all honesty, this is of little concern to me. Candid discussion of the issues is way overrated anyway.
Now, there are some good ideas in Barack’s plan. Strike that. There is one good idea in Barack’s plan: the establishment of Internet databases for transactions related to government contracts. Why don’t we have that already? Ingenious.
As for the creation of an independent watchdog agency - anytime the government uses the words “creation” and “new agency,” it can’t be good. Why not just use the old watchdog agency: the FBI.
Unfortunately, this sort of populist dumbing-down of the electorate through promises of wonderful new innovations will probably carry the day. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I fully support leveraging technology to the best of our ability. Hey, I like the Internet as much as the next person. It makes finding cheap deals on illicit prescription medicine and needy foreign millionaires much easier than it used to be.
However, if all it takes is a few catch phrases about the “Internet” and “transparency” to get your vote, then you probably deserve to be disenfranchised. Governance isn’t the World of Warcraft. There is no leveling up. You can’t find a walkthrough for our nation’s political dilemmas. Even the most casually engaged voter ought to do a little research on what his or her candidate is really saying. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not claiming that Obama created the voter who disengages himself from logic - because he didn’t. He’s just taken it to a new level, complete with faintings and celebrity sing-alongs.
But who am I to judge? Our system might be working just fine as it is. When people get tired of one thing, they vote for another. If that weren’t true, then the major parties’ candidates this year wouldn’t be a young, idealistic reformer and a lifelong maverick. So go ahead America and vote your conscience. And whatever you get, you deserve.
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:22 am
The Right’s only arguement against Obama is that his speaches are full of hope and fluff. As if the absence of hopeful discourse in politics was a noble stance.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I’m not opposed to hope in politics. I hope Obama doesn’t get elected. Furthermore, I listed several of his programs that I didn’t like and exactly why I didn’t like them. Feel free to reread and start anew.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I can see the issues you have with those programs - the fact remains that any politician running for president really still hasn’t been hit with the stark, cold reality of what it takes to actually run a presidency.
My issue with obama is his socialist healthcare - but I don’t worry about it. It will never happen. He’ll get into office and go, “Oh… wow…” as he’s sees the tremendous obstacles and responsibilities of the office. His healthcare plan will then flounder and die because it’s not supportable.
But that doesn’t change the fact that I do believe he can bring about change. McCain certainly can’t do it. So bring on the Leprechans. I’ll join hands with them and their delicious cereal.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Mr. Smith,
What are you “hoping” will happen during the next election? Bob Barr? Not a chance. Bush 3.0? Gimme a break.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
What makes you all so sure that McCain will be so powerless? The man has been probably the most high-profile bipartisan in the country for years now. I haven’t always liked what he’s done, but he’s gotten a lot of stuff through Congress that I would never have expected to fly. He’s certainly no Bush rerun.