Father Greeley on Obama

Image of Obama the pol misses the point

May 21, 2008 -- Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/news/greeley/960984,CST-EDT-greel21.article"

BY FR. ANDREW GREELEY

Rev. Wright said it: Barack Obama says what he says because he's a politician.

I am not a politician. I work for God. Many Americans, perhaps, would accept that contrast.
From the point of view of the Catholic social theory to which I subscribe, the contrast is not valid. Both of them -- the politician and the cleric -- work for God, though in different ways.

The cleric presides over the community meal and preaches the good news. He must strain to keep a balance between comforting the frightened and frightening the comfortable. His most serious temptation may be the inclination to frighten everyone, to stand for the wrath of God, and pay little attention to God's love. Challenge is easier than comfort.

While the cleric must exhort his people to generosity and forgiveness and hold up the example of the saints as an ideal to strive toward, the politician must create compromises and coalitions. His goal is to persuade people to settle for the lowest common denominator of what his coalition can live with. The cleric urges the maximum, the politician settles for the minimum. The former holds up the ideals, the latter works to preserve the common good. Both are essential for the good of society.

The paradigmatic narrative for the politician is the story of the brave young idealist who eventually sells out for votes. For the cleric, it might be the fervent prophet who accepts the limitations of the human condition. Both are stories of failure, of loss of nerve, of disillusion. Both paradigms oversimplify the complexities of human behavior. Both the cleric and the politician must go beyond the constraints of disillusion and failure.

The paradigm of the idealist who becomes a crafty politician is being applied freely these days to Obama by both the New York Times and by Time magazine. The senator, it is said, became ambitious and damped down his liberalism. He learned to compromise in the harsh internecine world of Chicago politics.

Both the New York Times and Time articles were carefully researched and well written, but they miss a couple of points. Obama learned in his community work, among the Catholic parishes on the Southeast Side when the mills were closing, that one must expand the borders of one's activity to include as many people as possible.

His insistence on drawing people together -- the basic theme of his campaign -- is the heart of his style of politics. You try to draw to the bandwagon everyone you can possibly attract to it. That's what Machine politics means to many idealistic people -- compromising to get the votes.
Moreover, Obama's voting record surely suggests he is on the liberal side of the political spectrum, but you can't govern with just liberals on your side. And, more dangerously, you must sympathize with both Jews and Palestinians.

Will Obama be able to put together such coalitions, should he be elected?

Will there be movement toward change on peace, health care, energy, immigration, college education, income redistribution in favor of the poor and the middle class against the great wealth of the super-rich corporations and their CEOs? A consensus on peace will be a much easier task than one on immigration, where the level of hatred is still strong in our society.
I do not think that even Michael the Archangel and all his crowd could accomplish these changes.
If Barack Obama should become President Obama, he won't achieve compromises on all issues. The best one can expect is moderate success and painful failures. Such is the lot of the politician in God's service -- and the cleric, too.

Remember in Your Prayers

CNN Breaking News-- Doctors say Sen. Edward Kennedy has brain tumor; condition discovered after he had seizure.

Obama Visits Sacred Heart Medical Center:

OBAMA'S SPEECH AT CATHOLIC HOSPITAL IMPRESSES EVEN THE REPUBLICANS

Sen. Obama stopped at Sacred Heart Medical Center on Hilyard St. in Eugene, a 432-bed full service hospital affiliated with the Catholic Church.

Obama paused before meeting with nurses and doctors, to speak to gathered reporters regarding Sen. Edward Kennedy.

“I know a lot of you are interested in the situation with Senator Kennedy. I have been in contact with the family. Obviously they are in our thoughts and prayers. They I am sure will be releasing some sort of a statement when they have a better assessment of what the situation is. But you know as I have said many times before Senator Kennedy is a giant in American political history. He has done more for the healthcare of others than just about anybody in history. So we are going to be rooting for him. And I insist on being optimistic about how it is going to turn out .”
Campaign said Obama spoke briefly this morning with Sen. Kennedy’s wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy.

Obama met for about 15 minutes in front of the nurse’s station in the hallway of a 3rd floor medical-surgical unit. The gathered nurses, doctors and medical technicians stood in a loose circle around the senator, who spoke from his feet, in the middle of the group. They wore scrubs, some were in white coats, several had stethoscopes draped over their necks.

“We’re going to be talking about healthcare today and I figured that before we had some big town hall meeting on healthcare I should talk to the experts,” he said. “And nobody knows health care better than nurses.”

Obama told the group that when his two daughters were born, and when his mother had cancer, “it was not the doctors I spent most of my time with, it was nurses.” He discussed his familiarity with the national nursing shortage, and asked those gathered to share their concerns and advice about the healthcare system.

“How do we inspire younger people, men and women, to go into a profession that’s very inspiriing?” asked Kitty Schiffer, who is vice president for patient care servces.
The senator discussed the need for more slots in nursing schools and the need to make nursing school more affordable.

After a handful of other comments about the need for more mental health beds and more affordable medication, Sen. Obama was asked about insurance and he shared this story about his nine-year-old daughter Malia’s asthma. Forgive me if you’ve heard it before:
“She was only three when she came into the kitchen and said, ‘Daddy, I’m having trouble breathing,’ which is the worst thing you want to hear from your kids.” Obama said he and Michelle drove Malia to the hospital, which was five minutes away. “While we were there overnight, she was in this room, where there were four or five kids in there, and the doctors told us these kids come in once every week , once every two weeks, for something that should be entirely treatable, but they just didn’t have the coverage to get it. That’s costly for the hospital, and costly for society.”

The other noteworthy encounter occurred as Obama was wrapping up the visit, after posing for photographs with the gathered nurses, including Carol Ann Anderson, 66, a registered Republican, self-described conservative, and 31-year nursing veteran, who said she did not like any of the current candidates, including Sen. McCain, and that she is considering voting for Obama in the fall “given what the choices are.”

As Obama started for the elevators, Ron Spooner, 42, an x-ray technician, and a Republican, called out to the senator. Spooner, dressed in scubs, told Obama he is “torn between you and Sen. McCain.”

Another Pro-Life Leader for Obama

Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), a pro-life Catholic superdelegate endorsed Obama, saying that the Illinois Senator will help the country move "beyond the politics of stalemate and gridlock." Donnelly represents the South Bend area of Indiana including the University of Notre Dame.

3 Items in Ascending Importance

from the Washington Post

Brand on the Run

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Friday, May 16, 2008; A19

Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican elected in the face of the 2006 Democratic sweep, understands the panic that took hold in his party this week following its loss in a ruby-red district.

Corker is familiar with the feeling. His readiness to tell his story says much about the alienation of many Republicans from the national party's stale approach to politics and the limits of negative advertising. It is also a warning to GOP strategists who think that personal attacks on Barack Obama will be sufficient to win the presidency.

# # #

Post-ABC News poll this week gave partial support to this view: While voters gave the Democrats a 21-point advantage over Republicans as the party better equipped to handle the nation's problems, McCain trailed Obama by only seven points.

Yet Obama's still-sizable lead suggests that McCain will have trouble escaping the anti-Republican uprising. Democrats are trying to limit his room to maneuver by linking the presumptive Republican nominee to Bush's policies. Fabrizio argues that McCain's urgent need to run as an independent means that "McCain could win in a landslide, and we still lose the House and Senate significantly."

In this spring of discontent, Republicans are turning on each other because even their best news is bad news. [read more here:]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503543.html

United Steelworkers Endorse Senator Barack Obama for President
Join John Edwards in Growing Wave of Support

Pittsburgh – The United Steelworkers today issued the following statement of endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President:

For Immediate Release May 15, 2008

“When the presidential primary contests began last year, our Union felt strongly that because of Senator John Edwards’s deep commitment to working people and because of our shared beliefs, he deserved our strong endorsement. His belief that unfair trade policies must be changed, his commitment to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) to restore workers’ rights to freely choose workplace representation, and his proposal for universal health care were widely shared by our members.

“Today, by virtue of a unanimous vote of our International Executive Board, we find ourselves once again in agreement with Senator Edwards, this time with his decision last evening to endorse Senator Barack Obama. And thus today, the United Steelworkers enthusiastically endorses Senator Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States.

“Senator Obama’s call for a significant change of direction amounts to far more than a compelling rallying cry. It is buttressed by his record of consistent support for workers, by his call for sweeping changes to our health care system, by his unflinching support for Employee Free Choice, and by his insistence that America’s trade policies must, first and foremost, serve the interests of America’s working families.

“Senator Obama has shown his commitment to working families by proposing significant investments in the future of American manufacturing, in the revitalization of our nation’s infrastructure, and in 21st century clean energy technologies that will lead to significant growth in domestic jobs. He is clearly the candidate who can best lead our nation out of the dark period of economic decline created by the Bush administration’s allegiance to Wall Street profiteering at the expense of worker prosperity.

“We share Senator Obama’s call for significant changes to these bankrupt policies, just as we earlier shared Senator Edwards’ And all of us, including we hope Senator Clinton for whom we have the utmost respect, must now do everything we can to ensure that Barack Obama is the next President of the United States. Now is the time for contention and division to cease, and for us to unite behind the changes for which Senator Obama and our members are calling.

“America’s workers cannot afford another four years of rehashed Bush administration policies, another four years in which the National Labor Relations Board shills for corporate misconduct, or another four years of a Secretary of the Treasury who considers it his “job” to bail out Wall Street speculators at the expense of hard working families loosing their homes.

“Nor can those of us who are committed to changing the direction of the country afford any more racial profiling of an election, when either Democratic candidate would be far superior to Senator McCain’s lock-step commitment to four more years of the broken Bush economy and the broken Bush foreign policies.

“We are proud and honored to join Senator Edwards in endorsing Senator Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States. We commit ourselves to working tirelessly for his election and for a new age of cooperation among Democrats, Independents and thoughtful Republicans alike in which working Americans are restored to a place of dignity in society and in the American economy.”

Baltimore Sun Political Writer Jack Germond on Tomorrow's Preakness:

"Big Brown is just as imposing here as he was in the Derby but with a field of only 13 horses, there is little or no chance for a payoff matching that $141 exacta. I am going to key the big horse over Racecar Rhapsody, Gayego and Hey Byrn in both exactas and triples. If I don't win, I will expose the heretofore secret links between Neville Chamberlain and Barack Obama."

“The Change You Deserve”

Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery

Stealing from the Obama campaign’s theme of change (and their own bankruptcy of ideas) the Congressional GOP adopted the slogan “The Change You Deserve” in hopes this phrase will reverse their disastrous performances so far in three special elections held in conservative Republican districts.

I guess when trying to negatively link the Democratic candidate to Barack Obama actually causes him to win MORE votes in conservative, Republican districts, it is smart to reverse the strategy and now sell Republicans by embracing the Obama campaign theme.

One small problem, the phrase “The Change You Deserve” is the trademarked slogan of the drug Effexor XR, which is used to treat depression, anxiety and other disorders the GOP must think the American public is suffering (and with a third Bush term, we very well may be in a depression).

Unfortunately, the Republican cure also causes nausea (I know I feel it when I listen to them), headaches and sexual dysfunction. It is also said to cause memory lapse, which is a good thing for the GOP because if the American people remember what is was like when they ran Congress, they are in deep trouble.

Republican Anti-Obama Campaign Backfires

Pro-Life Democrat Wins Mississippi Special Election

Democrats picked up a northern Mississippi House seat in one of the most conservative-minded districts in the country Tuesday night -- an upset that will reverberate painfully through a House Republican caucus already reeling from losses in special elections in conservative Illinois and Louisiana districts. Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers, a pro-life Democrat, defeated Republican Greg Davis, 54 to 46 percent.

The Republican Party spent nearly $2 million associating Childers with Senator Barack Obama. The result was that Childers picked up votes, rising from 49% of the vote in the first round to 54% yesterday. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recorded automated calls urging voters to support Davis.

Until yesterday, Republicans had been convinced that association with Barack Obama was a negative for Democratic candidates. When this strategy was tried and failed in a heavily Republican Louisiana congressional district, the GOP dismissed its failure as due to local factors and pushed ahead in Mississippi, pulling every old Republican trick short of saying that if you vote Democratic, Senator Obama will marry your daughter.

The victory marks the Democrats’ third straight special election pickup in three months. It will be a serious blow to the Republican Party’s already-flagging morale and will surely prompt a new round of finger-pointing among the already fractured GOP caucus. A GOP House leadership aide said in Politico magazine last week that “if we don’t win in Mississippi, I think you are going to see a lot of people running around here looking for windows to jump out of.” Another GOP operative spoke today on the aftermath of the Mississippi defeat that "The next couple of days are not going to be pretty" in the Republican caucus.

The special election was held to fill the seat of former Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who was appointed to serve out the remainder of Sen. Trent Lott’s term last December. Wicker had never faced a competitive race since first elected in 1994, and the district gave President Bush 62 percent of the vote in 2004.