We often have this discussion about whether to attend a sports event (like a WS game 7) or sell the ticket - and often times, those of us who really care about that stuff say we'd rather be there in person, witness the history, than get some short term satisfaction out of selling the ticket. The idea is we want to be there, we want to feel the atmosphere, and ultimately - we want to have taken a part in that history.   I want to use this notion and relate it to the election, because I think there is a profoundly more significant historical play here.  There's no doubt that the election is really not in the hands of partisans on either side of the debate - but really in the hands of the center:  the swing voters, the independents, the undecideds and the persuadables.  It's amazing to most that someone could still be undecided, but there are of course many plausible reasons ranging from those related to conflicting convictions, fears or downright apathy.  And campaigns spend a great deal of time trying to craft messages that will appeal and convert those voters.  Yet, they still remain.  I recently saw an interesting post on Ben Smith's Politico Blog that caught my eye as another potential argument to make to this group as part of the effort to convert them.  If the issues, the VP Pick, the Campaign tone, the current state of affairs, or other points won't do it - maybe this will.  Here is the idea - if you're still undecided, then you probably are unlikely to be swayed by some last minute issue. And you probably haven't bought into the ridiculously offensive and false GOP propaganda that sells Obama as an evil socialist pariah who pals around with terrorists.  So you probably will chose someone as "lesser of two evils", or decide to follow your party line, or your friends/parents, or some variation, or choose to sit it out altogether. 

This is the argument to this group (and the argument posited in the e-mail to Ben Smith):As most of the polls show, in all likelihood Obama is going to win this election.  Though you may not agree that he's going to be the great transformational president I do, you've already conceded that he'll in all likelihood be a fine president (or in the most negative light - no worse than McCain; otherwise you'd be decided).  So let's focus on the election itself.   Regardless of anything else, it is indisputable that an Obama presidency would be a watershed historic moment in US election history and a culmination and validation of the civil rights movement.  Obama's election is of huge symbolic importance, for us and for the rest of the world.  Don't take my word for it - every foreign country poll tell us that.  (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/obamas-promise.html).So if you vote for no other reason, vote to be on the "Right Side of History".  Vote for Obama because you want to prove to the world, yourself and your kids that this is a country that believes in civil rights, a land of equal opportunity that will elect a black man with a funny name president.  Vote for Obama, because 40 years from now, when you're sitting with your grandkids and reflecting back to this historic time, you don't want to tell them that you voted for the other guy (even though you didn't care about the other guy's stance).  Vote for Obama to be a part of, and on the right side of, history.I just had this discussion with some friends, and a dear friend of mine said:

To put an even finer point on it (in particular for voters who are also parents), putting politics and policy and frankly substance aside, I want my children to grow up in the America that was promised and mythologized all our lives, an America that can elect a black man with a middle name of Hussein.  Stipulating for the sake of argument that this election's most important legacy will be largely symbolic, it seems like this is our last best chance to present to the rest of the world and to our progeny an America that is worthy of its ideals.  Obama is going to be a fine president, maybe not a great president, but the fact of his presidency is going to be unequivocally great for this country.  I agree with Farzin - in 40 years we are going to have to answer for the path this country chooses - this can be our generation's contribution to American history. 

The Ben Smith post was here:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/The_history_argument.html

 

If you like the argument - make it to your persuadable friends. 

Variations of this point have been made in books and articles, including a recent WSJ piece (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122463199532056477.html) and in Bill Maher's Real Time show last weekend, but it's both fascinating and downright frustrating to see the GOP exploit the blue collar worker via a distortion of a perceived life v. their real existence.

In short - everyone can't be rich. The American Dream isn't that our ship will come in one day and we'll all strike it rich. The American Dream, in it simplest and purest form, is actually a middle class dream. It's the promise of opportunity - the promise that anyone can, through hard work and persistence, achieve a comfortable life with a roof over their head and food on the table. It's the promise that government will do all it can to provide services, promote policies and remove artificial or discriminatory barriers that would otherwise inhibit the pursuer of this dream. That's why people were coming to our shores - not because everyone wanted to strike it rich - but because the American Dream was that they could come here, free of discrimination, and make a life for themselves through hard work. It was the ability to get the house with the picket fence, the 2.5 kids and the dog.

Now, no one can dispute that Democratic Policies actually promote this dream. Whether it's tax cuts for the middle class, affordable healthcare, affordable housing, raising in the minimum wage, social security/Medicare or any of the other myriad of policies - it's all designed to help the lower and middle classes.

What's amazing about this whole thing is that the Republicans have somehow managed to pervert the American Dream, repackage it and convince everyone that it's about striking it rich. Then, they tell everyone that any "attacks" on the rich, such as progressive taxation or disagreements with trickle down economics, is an attack on the pursuit of the American Dream - and by extension anti-American or Socialist! Moreover, they have successfully deluded the blue collar or middle-class worker to thinking that he's going to strike it rich one day - and boy won't it be a shame that when that day comes - the Dems are gonna tax him and penalize him for it. They have successfully removed that worker from thinking about his actual reality and what policies may better serve him today, and instead focused him on a perception about where he'd like his future to be - regardless of the sad fact that he'll probably never get there in actuality. In effect, they're preying on aspiration, and banking on the fact that no one wants to burst that bubble and bring them down to reality (shoot the messenger!).

Truth be told, it's actually a remarkable accomplishment, and there is ample blame on all Democrats for not being able to point out the fallacy of this paradigm. The Republicans have managed to protect the wealthy through a reverse class-warfare in which the lower and middle classes are fighting against their own interests to protect their future potential interests despite the fact that this particular future of riches will almost undoubtedly never materialize.

That's why you have the crazy, incomprehensible situation where Joe the Plumber unwillingly concedes that Obama's tax plans would actually help him today (and in all likelihood for the rest of his life), but instead focuses on the fact that Obama's tax plan might penalize him if and when he makes more than $250,000 per year and can buy that business.

The saddest day of my life to date has been the day my grandmother passed - I was at her bed-side until moments before. I had lived with my grandmother for the first 18 years of my life, and she helped raise me along with my parents.  There's no need to get too sentimental here on this post, but suffice it say, I love my grandmother dearly.  Ironically, I didn't realize the void left by her passing anytime as profoundly as during my greatest personal triumphs or moments of pure joy.  The moments right after my wedding and the birth of my son are two distinct times where I remember taking a few minutes and thinking about my grandmother, thinking about those 18 years living with her (and all the years since with and without her), thinking about how much of her life had been devoted to bettering mine, thinking about how much joy she took and how much pride swelled in her whenever she saw me experience one of these joyous or triumphant moments, thinking about how many times she mentioned her desire to be there for my wedding and the birth of my children, and ultimately thinking about how devastating it was not to be able to share those moments with her.  Even writing about it now is almost too much to bear.

 

When I heard the news about Barack leaving the trail to be with his ill grandmother, these thoughts immediately came pouring back to me.  By now, most people know that Barack was raised by his grandparents and has a very special bond to his grandmother.  Indeed, she is his last living "parent".  As he stated, she has poured everything into raising him.  And although he has fulfilled those dreams and validated those sacrifices (you don't need an election to see that), he is now on the precipice of a remarkable and historic accomplishment.  I'm sure I can't imagine everything he's going through, but I think I can sympathize. 

 

For all those reasons, I hope that his grandmother recovers from her illness, but if not I hope first and foremost for the following:

 

- I hope that Barack gets the time and distance necessary to spend with his grandmother.

 

- I hope that she makes it to election day so that she can witness the history, experience the joy, and share the moment with Barack.

 

- I hope that after his celebration in Chicago, Barack gets to travel the next day to Hawaii and have a private celebration with her.

 

- I hope that she is there to see him get sworn in to office.

 

-  One other point - this one regarding the election itself.  I did not relate this to politics yet, but I hope for the following as the unintended but logical consequences of this situation during the next couple of days:  I hope that people will begin to see the human story of Barack Obama and finally see the Bill Ayers and other hateful attacks waged by Mccain/Palin and the GOP for the petty, desperate, and despicable attacks that they are.  I hope that people will see that this man suspended his campaigning not as a stunt for cheap political theatre when the polls were down and he was out of ideas, but because he needed to go and be at his grandmother's bedside.  These are the true values of this man for everyone to see -and the values that we all share and celebrate.

 

But mostly, I just hope that this is not his last visit with her. Otherwise, he'll feel the void as profoundly as I did.

Even though I abhorred his role in building the case for war in Iraq, I have admired and respected Mr. Powell and his unquestioned dedication and service to this country. I found his endorsement of Barack Obama persuasive, thoughtful and touching.

But I wanted to focus on a point that he made that resonated greatly with me. It starts at about the 4 minute mark in the video (below):

I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America. I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way.

Friends of mine who know me as a liberal and a Democrat are often astounded by how much more active I've been in this election cycle than others (where I'd just watch debates, have a few conversations and vote). Now the biggest reason for my level of passion and activity is that I think the times demand it and I've seen two elections go by where my relative level of inactivity (aside from voting) yielded no results, so I thought I'd change and renew my own commitment. But another reason is something most of my friends don't really understand and wouldn't unless they walked in my shoes for a few days or took the time to digest the import of what Mr. Powell said above.

I'm a proud American, and one who happens to have come from the Middle East with Muslim parents. I love this country for all its ideals and greatness. I love this country for all that it espouses, protects and makes possible. I love this country for its constitutional principles of equality, opportunity, tolerance and secularism. I am not a religious man, and (leaving aside scientific inquiries) it's mostly because while I understand and appreciate the beauty of faith and religion as it plays out in everyday individual lives, I have come to understand religion in the greater organized context as a potential powerful tool of division and oppression.

But the reality is that my name is Farzin Firooznia. I grew up in the United States in the immediate aftermath of the Iran-Hostage Crisis. After 9/11, as I was rushing home to NY to attend a funeral for the father of a dear friend, I was attacked by someone who thought my complexion meant that I must be one of the "terrorists". And now I'm witnessing a presidential campaign in which the Republican Nominee is openly campaigning on politics of hate and condoning purposeful attempts to spread lies about Obama's heritage (calling him an Arab) and faith (calling him a Muslim) as a smear. I witnessed Mr. McCain correct someone calling Mr. Obama an Arab by saying, literally, "No, he's a decent family man" as if those two concepts are incongruent. Now, I'm not an Arab - but I find that offensive.

I have seen my fair share of prejudice, but I'm not one to whine about these kinds of things. I think I've done a fairly good job of overcoming them and in the end, the country that I love allowed me to overcome them. But here's the point:

I come from a family that values and celebrates religion and cultural identity. Some members of my family are practicing Muslim, others are Jewish and still others are Catholic. I have a son and a niece (hopefully more to come), whose last names will also end in Firooznia and who will know their loving grandparents and family members who happen to be Muslim - and who, when presented with the opportunity to determine their own faith - may want to identify as such.

My family, and many others like it have all worked too hard and love this country too much to be smeared liked this. How can we live with ourselves if our sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, or friends are allowed to think in such limiting or narrow ways? How can we permit them - as they grow ever more curious - to observe these events and then start questioning if it's wrong to be Muslim, or it's bad that their grandma and grandpa are from the Middle East, or if their name or faith may disqualify them (or hinder them) from achieving their highest aspirations? I care so much because we need to restore America and its ideals. We need to go back to the inclusive, secular idea of America that values everyone's contribution to this society, and promotes tolerance and equal opportunity. We need to live up to the best of our ideals and not pander to the worst of our fears.

More simply put, I care so much because I cannot stand by and let my family's legacy, my parents' hard work and sacrifices, be tarnished and smeared in this way. There's way too much dignity at stake here.

 

View the Powell interview here - it's worth the watch

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/10/colin-powells-endorsement-of-b.html

transcript here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27266223/