2008: the distance to change
2008 is going to be a big year of change. First of all, it’s a leap year, that’s a big one. But in addition to that, 2008 will also bring things like the year of the rat, the Olympics in Beijing, elections in Wales, the Dominican Republic, Taiwan, and Russia (assuming Putin lets that happen)... the orbit of the Cassini Spacecraft around the 6th largest moon of Saturn… and the year the next United States president will be chosen.
Polls for the 2008 presidential election portend the completion of a cycle of change that swept through congress in 2006 that will likely put a democratic candidate in the White House. For many, this will bring a much-ballyhooed change in leadership and direction that has turned the last dregs of the Bush administration vehemently sour. For others, not so much.
In recent polls, Hillary Clinton is showing strong numbers, and the experience and fine-tuned campaign machinery seem to be paying off. In any other election, her likely victory and the change that she will bring to issues like healthcare, the war in Iraq, fighting poverty, etc. would be a no-brainer. But in this election, and with a candidate like Barack Obama, I have to ask what distance is this country willing to go to achieve true, sustainable change?
Yes, Hillary will change plenty of things. By the mere virtue of her progressive stance, we can expect significant changes in relation to the current conservative agenda. Added on top of this, her impeccable credentials, keen intelligence, the combined political wisdom of the Bill-Hillary conjugal presidency, and the support of a democratic congress will collectively add up to much, much change.
In any other year, this degree of change would probably be enough. But 2008 is different, it’s different because there is a potential for change that can only happen once in a very long time. It’s the sort of change that not only changes the players in the game and the policies that they create.... but also how the game is played and the structural barriers which divide the country between right and left, liberal and conservative, and neighbor against neighbor.
Hillary can do almost everything that the president can and should do, she is that good. But the one thing she can't do is to unite this country.
Once you gotten past all the peripheral arguments of history, tenure, experience, intelligence, etc. and arrive at the core ability to unify, Hillary will not deliver. Try and desire as she might, her tenure and record, which in most cases are assets, prevent her from changing the system... because she is the system.
In Barack, we have the freshness and the ability to unite the country in a way that has long been absent.
Whether this can be realized in time, or whether his political team can challenge the Clinton machinery is another question onto itself. But if the nation can get past the political maneuvering and campaign illusionary, 2008 can be the year we go the distance... all the way.
I can be frank, I can be blunt, I can be offensive, I can be flat out wrong. But I can also be and will always strive to be real in the things I read, think, and write. It's a process.