Gary Hart re Obama, agent of transformation

[housewolf]

Only once in a very long time does politics become more than politics, that is something more than partisan struggle, vote bartering, or arena of ambition. In ordinary times, ordinary political leaders suffice, more or less. But on rare occasion, old arrangements and conventional wisdom come unstuck. This happens in periods of rapid if not revolutionary change. We find ourselves now in one of those periods. The forces of globalization, information, eroding sovereignties, and transformation of war ensure that traditional leaders and conventional politics can only muddle through at best and fail badly at worst.

Periods of transformation require experimentation, innovation, and daring. America is a nation much more conservative than it thinks itself to be. Thus, its default position is to resist a forward leap even while applauding itself for its creativity. Al Capone said it best: "We don't want no trouble." But transformation is trouble in the best sense of the word, trouble that causes us to adapt to new conditions and circumstances and create new ways of governing.

Through some miracle of timing, luck, and good fortune Barack Obama has seized the moment. His mantra of "change" has been largely co-opted by lesser figures. He is in fact an agent of transformation. He is not operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians, and this makes him seem elusive to the conventional press and the traditional politicians. His instinct for the moment and the times is orders of magnitude more powerful than the experience claimed by others. Experience in the old ways is irrelevant experience.

In an age of great transformation, experience of the past is worthless because it is a barrier to the breakthrough gesture, the instant response in crisis, the instinctive bold decision in the face of totally new circumstances.

more...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/politics-as-transcendence_b_86490.html

[housewolf]

1. the rest

Some see Barack Obama as the long awaited champion finally come to slay the awful dragon of race. And they are right. Some see him as a new start for the Democratic Party and national politics. And they are right. Some see him as the walking embodiment of internationalism, ready to restore an honorable and respected place for America in the world. And they are right.

I see Barack Obama as a leader for this transcendent moment, the agent of transformation in an age of revolution, as a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st century and to convert threat to great new opportunity.

[progdog]

2. Thanks!

It felt good to read that. Thanks for posting it.

[housewolf]

4. Welcome!

Thanks for reading!

[Hart2008]

3. Hart used the Al Capone quote, "We don't want no trouble," in '88 when they nominated Dukakis...

He needed press credentials to get into the convention.

As usual, he was right.

[housewolf]

5. Gary Hart's a jewel

Thought for sure he was going to run in 2004.

[Hart2008]

7. He was told by McAuliffe that he needed to raise an obscene amount of money, so he declined.

That and he is good friends with Kerry, whom he endorsed very early.

Hart would have stacked up much better against Junior than Kerry did.

Hart never supported the IWR...

[dansolo]

11. He would make an excellent Sec. of Defense or Homeland Security

[Hart2008]

14. The V.P. slot is also possible for him...

Obama will need someone who can negate his critics arguments that he lacks experience.

Personally, I think Daschle is more likely to be his V.P., but I will take Gary Hart back in the national spotlight any way I can get him.

[Hart2008]

8. self delete-dupe

[AntiFascist]

6. "Al Capone said it best".....K&R

Gary Hart knows what's up.

[Faygo Kid]

9. Excellent article

This is a transformative period, if we have the courage to make it one. Obama taking the oath next January will be a transformative event not just for the nation, but the world.

[housewolf]

10. Yes! You've got it!

That's exactly it - it Obama carries the opportunity for transformation, the real work is up to us. He's can provide the leadership and the inspiration, but it will take the energy and effort of many, many of us to make it happen.

[southerncrone]

12. I love Gary Hart! He was the first of our strong candidates to suffer

the "Repuke dirty tricks". Set up by Repuke Donna Rice. He would be a fabulous President. We were robbed. Hopefully, he will be tapped for a Cabinet position.

[smalll]

13. God what addlebrained cultspeak.

He starts by saying, "Only once in a very long time" and then goes on to blather about how "Experience in the old ways is irrelevant" and how "In an age of great transformation, experience of the past is worthless" etc. etc.

What about the last, superlatively convulsive century? I guess all that crisis and transformation and change, and leadership and genius and heroism, FDR taking us through the Depression and WWII, Eisenhower in Europe defeating the Nazis and revealing their genocidal horrors, Truman facing the new Cold War, MLK and the civil rights movement and Kennedy and Johnson who helped to get it enacted into law, all the way up through Bill Clinton managing the new, post-Soviet globalizing world, that was all ho-hum run-of-the-mill "politics as usual." Same-old, same-old hack polticians presidining over static, uneventful times.

But now, OMG, it's suddenly ****2008**** and like suddenly, for the first time "in a very long time" it's suddenly a tranformational, ubercrisis moment! OMG! And Obama is the Great Man who arrives at the fulcrum-moment of History to lever the world into a new "plane" of existence! :eyes:

Addlebrained emptyheaded cultspeak with an excruciating lack of perspective and an embarassing degree of fanboyism.