Postscript: Vote Obama 2008

    In my previous post, written at the inception of the 2008 Democratic nomination process, I suggested voting Republican. My reasons related to the disappointment with the failure of previous campaigns of socially progressive substance. I hereby endorse Barack Obama and my reasons are partly philosophical. Putting aside issues of policy that are admittedly minimal between serious contenders in the democratic field, one little discussed advantage, is that he is African-American.

    A black president is an important symbol within American political history. An African-American president, I think, will help redress the crime of slavery. The practice of slavery in the United States has not, in my view, been adequately reckoned with, compared, say, to the way the Germans have had to come to terms with the Holocaust. Symbols matter, too.

    There are many youth that are in prisons or with questionable aspirations because they lack a vision of what they can achieve because of their membership in certain ancestral groups. Obama prospectively puts a powerful new face on what is possible in America and the world, for everyone. An Obama presidency shows that the values of civil society—specifically, human rights—are being followed and should be.

Obama may not take us to the promise land, but even if a step in the right direction that counts for something. Before we monotonously rehearse the rhetoric (which is what it is) that substance counts not speeches, as if Obama has only the latter, we should keep in mind that part of being a great leader is to have a vision and inspire people, other things being equal.

    At least Obama's message is not contradictory like his key opponent, who voted for the Iraq war and is now against it, as well as suggesting that he could not withstand Republican attacks, but herself could not handle his with grace. On matters of technical substance, experts will always be consulted. The president need not be a scientist, fighter pilot, or (God forbid) philosopher.

    The reason I have articulated for supporting Obama is, overall, a political disadvantage. He has gone to some lengths to not represent himself in term of his ancestry, though he has not obviated the matter of identity either, making reference to the freedom struggle. Politically, there is negative mileage to be had on the issue of being black. Philosophically, however, I have articulated a reason to vote for Obama that relates to identity. It is time for changes that we can at least see.