Putting the Human Back in a Political Campaign
23 October 2008 8:55 am by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
It’s not the first time Obama has walked away from the campaign trail to take a moment to focus on his family. It’s the difference between talking about it and walking the walk. During the primaries he took a simple family vacation. He’s readying to do something much different, seeing his grandmother, a woman who is responsible for who he is at a time when she’s very ill.
Putting humanity back in politics is very important.
When you look at the McCain campaign, you see just how far people are willing to go to win. Now, make no mistake about it, Obama is as tough as they get, especially in tv ads and mailers. But he never at any moment questioned anyone’s patriotism or their love of this country. The inferences by people like Sean Hannity who is shilling for McCain are insulting, as he becomes a parody of himself, unloading his continual trademark run on sentences of all the things he can pack into them to insinuate Obama is not a “good American,” his favorite pet phrase he doles out to anyone who agrees with him. This includes slaps at Democratic guests on “Hannity & Colmes” as he tells them not to deliver talking points to his questions, right after he asks a question filled with his own talking points, all pointing to Obama being less than patriotic. It’s the Michele Bachmann syndrome on steroids. The Karl Rove strategy run amok. Run into the ground.
This close to the election, any move can be dangerous by a candidate leading.
A little humanity in a campaign reminds us of why we’re fighting so hard, starting way back into the primary, to make sure Democrats win. We’ve simply got to change this country. It starts by little moments like seeing the woman who raised you at a time she needs you most.
