A failure of nerve
After 20 months of campaigns, endless debates and endless reporting over minutia, I am ready for the 2008 presidential campaign to come to an end.
What began as a real hopeful sign for change has deteriorated into a strategy of the quick fix and I probably haven’t been more pessimistic about the United States’ chance at digging itself out of the sharply divided partisanship that has shaped our national discourse for the past 28 years.
This became abundantly clear to me this week when a friend of 25 years and I had a disagreement over presidential candidate Barack Obama’s misstatement in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. Obama, when asked about the controversy that has arisen about whether he is Muslim or Christian gave as part of his answer, “my Muslim faith,” which was proof positive that the junior senator from Illinois has been duping everybody about his true beliefs. Likewise, we have parsed both candidates’ pastors as if to say they speak for the candidate.
And once again, we major on the minors and look for easy answers such as, “Drill! Drill! Drill!” to solve a long-term addiction to Middle Eastern oil.
I have to admit that I was quite optimistic when Obama and Senator John McCain emerged from their respective parties as the nominees because they were the only two candidates in the race that were addressing leadership issues. All of the other candidates spoke of “51 percent solutions” – that is, energize the hard core Democrats or Republicans and then reach across to garner just enough independent voters to be able to get things done by the slightest of margins.
The problem with such an approach is that 49 percent of the population lose out and on many occasions, the victors laud over their accomplishment in a way that builds resentment and further polarization.
Obama spoke of a new politics and McCain espoused working across party lines. Both candidates even have been able to show some bipartisan support in that former Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman spoke in support of McCain at the Republican National Convention and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska spoke in support of Obama.
This election has been unusual in that Democratic candidates normally run to the left of center during the primary and then work their way back to the center for the general election. Republican activists tend to be more conservative and GOP candidates run to the right of center in the primary and then moderate those positions for the general election.
But because these two candidates talked of Common Ground – of moderate governance early, the party faithful on both sides have questioned the integrity of the nominees. And both nominees have suffered “a failure of nerve” that can be seen in their selection of vice presidential running mates. Rather than reaching across the partisan divide, they both played it safe.
After a long bitter primary fight, Obama outdistanced Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to win the nomination. And when Obama decided that Clinton would not be his choice, he selected another establishment Democrat as his running mate in order to fill out his resume on foreign policy experience – the major deficiency Republicans point out about Obama.
Likewise, McCain’s age was a factor in selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is actually four years younger than Obama. McCain rolled the dice selecting the politically unknown but at the same time, Palin’s pedigree of pro-life and pro-guns played to the party’s conservative base.
Of course, there are some inconsistencies in such support. The Religious Right has lectured America for the past 28 years on mothers staying at home and raising their children. They have castigated mothers who sought to both raise their children and have a career, sometimes out of economic necessity. I have yet to hear Dr. James Dobson and others address the notion of how one will care for a four-month-old child with Down’s Syndrome while being just a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Ultimately, the two candidates for president are ultimately responsible for demonstrated leadership and both have lost their visionary message in an effort to provide “quick fixes” to what ails America.
Edwin Friedman, in his book A Failure of Nerve, talks about chronically anxious systems. Among the symptoms are:
- Reactivity – automatic responses, exaggeration of extremes, uproars over perceived slights and disruption, interference and censorship of opposition
- Herding – organization around dysfunction, conflicts are polarized and cut off when resolution cannot be reached, uncompromising special interests
- Blame displacement – fault projected outside, focus on safety rather than adventure
- Quick fix mentality – low pain threshold, simple answers, vulnerability to snake-oil fads and quest for certainty
My concern is that if the current tenor of the debate is not changed dramatically, then both Obama and McCain will be so bloodied that neither will be able to govern our nation and address the serious problems facing us.
As United Methodists, "we acknowledge the vital function of goverment as the principal vehicle for the ordering of a society and we urge persons to exercise their right to vote. But we also encourage registered voters to inform themselves concerning the qualifications of persons running for office and the merit(s) of items requiring decision(s) that are to appear on the election day ballot, and, after thoughtful and prayerful consideration, to vote their choices on the various election days." (Resolution 270, adopted by the 2004 General Conference) Inherent to that responsibility is having candidates engage in substantive discussion on the issues rather than the trivial that seems to take up space and airtime in the national media.
It’s time for the candidates to stop listening to the handlers, commentators and pollsters and start returning to messages that transcend such political messes, just like friends cannot allow politics to stand in the way of their friendship.
The public must demand it and must hold the candidates to it or we may find our best days already behind us.