Considering the buzz on college campuses across America, it seems as though supporting Barack Obama for president has become a kind of political fad.
At New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College, the senator drew a crowd of more than 5,000 people. During his visit to Santa Barbara Community College, he attracted nearly 4,000 people.
This outpouring of support has raised the eyebrows of skeptics. To them, Obama does not have enough experience to be commander-in-chief. They dismiss his ideas as naive and ask, “Where is the substance?”
At first glance, Obama does look inexperienced. He was elected to the United States Senate a mere three years ago. And in that amount of time, it is simply impossible to acquire the experience necessary to serve gracefully as president of the U.S. However, the critics of Obama’s candidacy cannot justly limit his experience to the three years he has served in the U.S. Senate.
Contrary to popular belief, his inspiring keynote address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention was not the beginning of his political lifetime. After graduating magna cum laude from Columbia University, Obama began his life in public service not as a politician, but rather as a community organizer in the impoverished neighborhoods of Chicago’s south side. For several years, he helped church-based groups find their voice in the rough and tumble of Chicago city government.
From there, he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. His appointment to the position probably stemmed from his ability to hear both sides of an argument.
Five years after his graduation, Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate. He served brilliantly. He passed the most sweeping campaign finance reform Illinois had seen in 25 years.
Most impressively, to correct the flaws of Illinois’ death penalty system, he united Republicans and Democrats behind a bill that required police to videotape homicide interrogations. Then, in 2002, Obama made his first foray into foreign policy with remarkable foresight.
While John Edwards and Hillary Clinton threw their support behind the Iraq War Resolution, Obama came out forcefully against the specter of war.
“What I am opposed to is a dumb war,” he said at the time. “What I am opposed to is a rash war … of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.”
These early experiences shaped Obama into a presidential candidate who is uniquely qualified to lead the U.S. at a time in which our nation has seemingly lost its purpose.
Over recent years, our politics have come to resemble a silly game of “either-or.” You are either pro-choice or pro-life, liberal or conservative, black or white, gay or straight, with us or against us.
As a community organizer in the impoverished south side of Chicago, as editor-in-chief of the ideologically contentious Harvard Law Review, as a legislator in the divided Illinois State Senate, Obama proved that he is capable of eliminating “either-or” politics.
But this broken brand of politics is not the only thing the next president of the U.S. has to fix. The next leader of our country must also steer U.S. foreign policy out of Iraq and into the future.
Five years after Obama first voiced his opposition to the Iraq War, he continues to lead on the issue. In what the New York Times hails as the “most extensive” plan for withdrawal from Iraq, Obama proposes to remove one or two brigades of troops each month.
“The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq’s leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops,” Obama declared in a recent speech. “Not in six months or one year ““ now.”
An Obama administration will also resist the temptation of isolationism in the wake of the Iraq War.
Rather than scaling back engagement with the rest of the world, Obama plans to use diplomacy as a weapon against America’s foes in Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba.
If necessary, though, he will not hesitate to use military force on behalf of U.S. national security interests. Obama has stated that if there is actionable intelligence against al-Qaida in Pakistan and President Pervez Musharraf refuses to act, the U.S. will.
In the wake of the Bush years, the job of the next president is to vigorously renew America’s purpose at home and abroad. Barack Obama’s experience, ideas, and judgment are the right combination to unlock change in this country.
Never mind the skeptics. America finally has a leader who is audacious enough to embrace the politics of hope.
Whatley is the vice president of Bruins for Obama and a fourth-year political science student.