Candace

Talmadge

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June 30, 2008

The Presidency: Entirely About Character, Part 2 

Of the two major party candidates vying for the White House this year, the Democratic contender’s character surpasses his opponent’s for a number of reasons. 

Unlike his divorced rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has been married to the same woman since 1992. Although his wife is lovely, Michelle Robinson Obama is more than a beauty queen or model. She is a Harvard-educated attorney with a career that is almost as deeply involved in public service as her husband’s. That Obama chose this intelligent, accomplished woman as his life partner says a lot about the man’s character. These two, who have two young daughters, live family values instead of just mouthing them.  

Obama did not have the kind of connections that helped him to a taxpayer-funded college education at a military academy. Instead, he put himself through Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. This means he busted his chops and showed considerable political acumen even as a very young man – useful background for the all-consuming job of being president of the United States. 

The 2002 buildup to the Iraq war took place while Obama was a member of the Illinois state Senate. More than half a decade ago, anyone who spoke out against the Bush Administration risked being branded as “soft on terrorism” or far worse. The safest thing was simply to keep silent, as so many did. Instead, in October of that year, Obama showed character by making his opposition to an Iraq invasion very public – branding it a stupid, unnecessary war that would make this country less secure. He called it accurately. 

More recently he displayed a glimmer of that mettle when, of the three candidates still in the presidential race, he alone refused to sign on to a proposed “summer holiday” for the federal gasoline tax. He rightly branded it as a vote-pandering gimmick that would do nothing to solve the long-term issues involved with the high cost of oil. 

Obama also displayed signs of character during the entire flap about remarks made by the pastor of his former church. In a speech about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama directly tackled his own mixed racial and ethnic background in the context of this nation’s tortured history of race relations. It was a remarkably nuanced and sophisticated commentary that treated listeners like adults who could understand the subtleties of a very complex subject. 

It says a lot about Obama’s character that he refused to abandon Wright and his church, until further remarks by Wright, plus a sermon by a guest-speaking Catholic priest that disparaged Hillary Clinton, put Obama in an untenable position and he had to resign his membership. 

In keeping with his campaign theme of healing divides, Obama has reached out to religious conservatives. One of them reacted to his overtures by blasting Obama’s faith as a Christian, attacking in particular a speech Obama gave in 2006 as a response to yet a different conservative’s attack on his religious beliefs. That two-year-old speech is very similar to Obama’s take on Wright earlier this year. It is also a measured, nuanced discussion of a difficult topic. 

Obama certainly has made his share of mistakes during his presidential run. One of the latest and dumbest was a campaign logo that looked so much like the presidential seal that it was skewered remorselessly on The Daily Show and promptly retired. 

Pundits also had a “flip-flop” field day when Obama announced he would not accept public funding for his post-convention campaign after embracing it earlier. What they failed to mention is that his campaign has refused to accept donations from PACs or federal lobbyists, and that 90 percent of donors have given $100.00 or less. 

This presidential election presents voters with a clear choice between candidates who not only offer sharply different visions of this country and where it should be headed, but reveal very different characters through their personal histories and temperaments. My vote goes to Obama, who has repeatedly demonstrated the kind of character we need in the person who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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