u.s.s. titanic

I was thinking about this as i emerged from the subway station the other morning, on my few steps around the block to my office.

This is what i was wondering: "Would things be better if we had let Al Gore be president 3 years ago?"

To be sure, many Americans are fully convinced "yes." But i am not so sure.

The first question, of course, is, "what do you mean by better?"

And as i stepped through the drizzly a.m., rounding the corner from Macy's, i thought, well, undoubtedly. Some things would be better. But other things, well, other things would be worse. And perhaps the most important things would be, well, just as bad.

Because i just don't think the President of the United States has that much power.

And with that thought, i saw U.S.S. Titanic on its collision course, set by incremental decisions over a batch of years by a dozen and then some supreme court judges, by senators and representatives, by secretaries of state and secretaries of defense, and all those other secretaries who vie for funds that we don't hear so much about.

Years and years of men and women putting their hands on the wheel, nudging us onto our present course, so that no Gore or Bush or Clinton could possibly take credit for avoiding (or failing to avoid) the iceberg ahead.

Now, we might have hit a different part of the hull, prepared a little differently for the impact, responded more wisely and compassionately with the rescue, called for help more quickly...any manner of more humble preparedness for disaster...but miss the iceberg? I think we've been too late for that for some goodly time.

Except for one tiny bit of reality: This ship we are on is made up of the choices of individuals. Many millions of individuals. And the reality is, we can choose to turn the ship, if enough of us so choose. The President can't turn it. We turn it. We the Proverbial People.

So by the time i arrived home that evening, i had come to this conclusion, a bold conclusion, and a rare sort for me to make: We need Barak Obama for our next president.

We Need Barak Obama as Our Next President.

Because really, what the President does has not so much impact as what the President compels us to choose. The President is a symbol who represents us, who mirrors to us who we are, and in so doing compels us to make certain choices.

We are emerging from 16 long years of nose-thumbing across the congressional aisle, which has translated to all manner of bitterness over the fence railings and across the dinner tables.

There are, to be sure, people who do not like Mr. Obama. But of the present likely candidates, is there another one who would charge the atmosphere less with love-me-or-hate-me ions?

Whether Obama can stand behind his rhetoric of change is less important than if We the People can stand behind his rhetoric of change. If we believe him, and we start making the choices required to turn the ship, i daresay it doesn't matter if he means them or not. Politicians Lie. They Change Their Decisions. We aren't going to find one who makes it to the White House who can rise above that machine. But We Need to believe in the symbol and "be the change we want to see." I think a man named Ghandi said that.

So, much to my father's chagrin, i will be voting for Barak Obama.

The government machine is going to keep chugging along at what it will do, until the people who are doing the chugging themselves start believing they can make a difference, and do. We need a president who won't try to convince us that the President is the one in charge. The President Is Not In Charge!

THE PRESIDENT IS NOT IN CHARGE! (can i please get an amen?)

For all our messed-up-ness, we are a remarkable nation. Three years ago, we had an election in which nearly half the nation disputed the outcome (er, well, at least half the voters). And there was no direct bloodshed over the Supreme Court's decision. How is that possible? Where else has that ever occurred? (you may say, well, the bloodshed just took place on other shores. Perhaps. Perhaps...)

How is it we are able to have "complete" turnover in the presiding party as often as every four years, and we don't disintegrate into bloodshed each time, nor do we have to involve the military or rebel forces to oust the previous leader? I don't know why.

Perhaps it is because we are the descendants of independent, rather rebellious sons. We are inheritors of the second and third sons who had no hope of getting the land, who were willing to be the prodigal and seek their fortune across the sea. They said goodbye and forged ahead in a new place where they had no claim to the land.

Our fathers and mothers stole this land, and we've made Hollywood justify our bloodshed, but we know deep down that it isn't really ours. That it really isn't theirs, that it just is the land where we live. And so instead of the wars of our ancient fathers, in the "Old World" where they fight their brothers for the land that is too small, we are the sons who chose not to fight for the land, but to find new land. To adopt a new life, a new name, a new culture...

So here we are, second sons, fatherless sons, rebellious prodigal sons...but i digress.

I am convinced: Obama is the leader who fits us and fits our time.

The image above is of the iceberg believed struck by the Titanic.
Click on the photo to see the original site.

Ask Not What J.F.K. Can Do for Obama, NYTimes Op-Ed 2/3/08