I live in Hanover, NH. What this means is that last night, I got to choose between seeing Barack Obama or John Edwards, both of whom I have already met. This weekend, I’ll see Bill Clinton on Friday, John McCain on Saturday, and Joe Biden on Sunday. I don’t say this to brag—I hope that everyone in this state realizes how lucky we are.
As far as last night goes, I settled on Obama. He spoke to about 500 people at the nearby Lebanon High School. It was really something to look around that room, at that crowd, at those bleachers, at the championship pennants on the wall, to see Obama on that stage, and to say to myself, that man is running for President, this is small town America, the fall air outside is crisp, these people are excited, and this is how we do things in this country. Remarkable.
It’s no secret that I’m an ardent Joe Biden supporter, but I do like some of other candidates including Obama, so I think I can give you some objective observations about the event.
This was the fourth time I’ve seen Obama in person. The first time was at the University of New Hampshire in February, the second at Dartmouth College in May, and the third at Dartmouth in September, so last night was the first time I saw him speak to a non-college audience. The first thing I noticed was the number of children. There were two dozen kids easy, aged 2 to 6, running around behind the press risers before the event started. The evening had a real family feel to it. The energy levels certainly weren’t as high as at the college events, but the fact that a candidate gets cheers instead of screams and four standing ovations instead of twenty really isn’t a big deal.
What struck me about the speech, which was basically the same as the one he gave at the Iowa JJ dinner, is that it was the exact same speech I’ve heard three times before. The only difference between last night and February was that he added a few swipes at Hillary Clinton. (He started the Q&A with the quip that none of the questions were planted, insisted that talking to our enemies is a good thing, and subtly reminded us about Cheney’s secret energy records.) The lack of any new real material spoke to me about his campaign’s lack of substance. A friend of mine who leads the Dartmouth for Obama group claims this is because the message works, because most people haven’t seen him in person, because some voters haven’t even heard of Obama yet, and the standard stump is a good introduction for all those folks. That may be true, but the fact is that a campaign should evolve as events happen and as new ideas are rolled out. Edwards spent yesterday talking about his PTSD plan. Biden talked about Pakistan in his Iowa JJ speech. Those subtle evolutions reflect substance, and substance just isn’t something Obama currently has. I buy into the experience camp. Listen, I love Obama’s message, it’s the greatest message I’ve ever heard. I’m excited to see a black man with a chance to win the White House; that’s not just huge for our nation’s black population, but for the country as a whole. That said, I wish he had waited until 2012 or 2016 to run.
Update 5:51pm:I want to slip in this clarification based on some of the comments below. I'm not looking for a completely new speech. The basic message is the basic message - but like I said, subtle evolutions matter, especially with things like Pakistan erupting. To have no changes from September to November is one thing, but from February to November? 6:38pm: I'm also not looking for a policy speech, just a little evolution. I do understand the difference between a policy speech and a stump speech. End update.
Obama has three responses for those of us who say he needs more experience, and I heard all three last night. The first response, which I heard back in February, is to say that people who believe he needs more experience mean he needs more "Washington" experience. And that’s a brazen lie. Obama knows darn well that we’d be just as happy with a term as Governor or Ambassador as we would more time in the Senate. To say we mean "Washington experience" is to misrepresent our position. I won’t say he is an intellectually dishonest person, because I do like him and believe him to be a man of integrity, but it’s certainly an intellectually dishonest talking point. His second response is that "judgment" matters more than experience; that Cheney and Rumsfeld prove experience alone proves nothing. That’s a valid point, but an irrelevant one. No one is arguing that experience is the only necessary qualification to lead, but it is one of several. Yes, there are plenty of bad leaders with experience, but there are no good leaders without it. (Abe Lincoln doesn’t count; he didn’t have superpower status, nuclear weapons, global trade, instant communication, or a 24-hour media.) George W. Bush was elected with just six years as a Governor in a state where the Governor is an afterthought. Haven’t we had enough of that? Yes, judgment counts, and Obama does have good judgment. But judgment only determines if policy is worth making; experience is what turns those policy ideas into law. Obama argues against experience without judgment, but judgment without experience is just as bad.
His third experience defense, which I actually hadn’t heard before, is to talk about bringing people together and fighting the death penalty in the state senate. But frankly, I don’t care what he did in Springfield. State senators senate don’t have the same self-importance as do foreign leaders or Congressional leaders. Working with one doesn’t mean you can work with the other. I’ve known state senators in Vermont, New Hampshire, Washington, and Idaho, and none of them are close to having the experience needed to be President. How can I expect Obama to deal with foreign leaders on the highest level if he hasn’t even done it at the middle level like Biden or Richardson? How can I expect him to work on legislation at the highest level if he hasn’t done it at the middle level like Biden or Dodd?
Experience aside, however, yes, Obama’s message of hope and unity, of reaching out to the poorest, of joining together to raise the lowest, is a powerful and important one. The man sitting in front of me was black, and appeared to be about 70 years old. He’s no doubt seen a lot of hardship and turbulence, but he sure was excited last night. The word "gleeful" captures his spirit best, I think. He had a huge smile, occasionally squealed, clapped longer and louder than anyone else, and frequently jumped up in his chair. My guess is he’s excited to finally, FINALLY see a black man who the nation admires, who has a shot TO BE PRESIDENT! And for all the black children who have mostly athletes and singers to look up to, who look at politics and history and see a white monolith, that’s huge. (A similar statement can be made about Hillary Clinton and little girls.) Another woman in the audience stood up in the Q&A to say she cried the morning after Bobby Kennedy was killed, and didn’t cry over politics again until she heard Obama’s 2004 Convention speech. RFK is my own hero, too, and she’s right, Obama captures some of that same spirit and vision. The difference is, Senator Kennedy wasn’t a college professor and community organizer; he was a former Attorney General and an aggressive federal prosecutor. Obama’s experience working with churches has taught him about people and about real life. That’s important, and I value it highly, but it isn’t enough. It didn’t teach him about policy or about how to get things done at the highest levels of government.
I chose to see Obama instead of Edwards because I already have a personal photo with Edwards; I wanted a similar shot with Obama. Unfortunately, Obama always seems to leave his events quickly, declining to do the real retail that makes the New Hampshire primary what it is. He announced towards the end of the Q&A, with an apology, that he was late and couldn’t take pictures, so I left about ten minutes early to beat the other 200 cars out of the parking lot. I am told he closed out the evening with the Fired Up/Ready to Go chants he’s been using the last few months. Yes, Senator, I am fired up – but not about you. Yes, Senator, I am ready to go – but not for you. Not yet, anyway. You’re an amazing individual and I am so proud to have you involved in my government, but I wouldn’t hire a fast food cashier to be the CEO of all Wendy’s. Come back in 2016 or (Heaven forbid) 2012, when Joe Biden's too old and you're more seasoned, and then you’ll have my overly enthusiastic support and involvement.
I’ll give him this, though. "Don’t pass ‘No Child Left Behind’ and leave the money behind!" was a helluva line.
You can read local news coverage of the event here and here.