Blue Balloon

Obama Barack officially entered presidential race today. See his speech on NY Times.My work took me to some of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. I joined with pastors and lay-people to deal with communities that had been ravaged by plant closings. I saw that the problems people faced weren’t simply local in nature – that the decision to close a steel mill was made by distant executives; that the lack of textbooks and computers in schools could be traced to the skewed priorities of politicians a thousand miles away; and that when a child turns to violence, there’s a hole in his heart no government could ever fill.

[...]All of us know what those challenges are today – a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren’t learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can.

He also stated what he regards as the reasons for these failures.

For the last six years we’ve been told that our mounting debts don’t matter, we’ve been told that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion, we’ve been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we’ve been told that our crises are somebody else’s fault. We’re distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or immigrants.

And as people have looked away in disillusionment and frustration, we know what’s filled the void. The cynics, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who’ve turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we’re here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It’s time to turn the page.

So, after some point, I expected him to admit that government often fails, especially when they decide for other people’s interests and that individual responsibility would be a better way than governmental responsibility for peoples’ lives. But the speech did not develope as I expected.

Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let’s set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let’s recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let’s make college more affordable, and let’s invest in scientific research, and let’s lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America.

Let’s be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis. We can control costs by focusing on prevention, by providing better treatment to the chronically ill, and using technology to cut the bureaucracy.

Let’s be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil. We can harness homegrown, alternative fuels like ethanol and spur the production of more fuel-efficient cars. We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases.

Most of all, let’s be the generation that never forgets what happened on that September day and confront the terrorists with everything we’ve got. We can work together to track terrorists down with a stronger military, we can tighten the net around their finances, and we can improve our intelligence capabilities.

But all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in Iraq. It’s time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else’s civil war. Letting the Iraqis know that we will not be there forever is our last, best hope to pressure the Sunni and Shia to come to the table and find peace.

So, he actually gives a concrete idea on what people should expect from him on several matters, if he becomes president. It’s more government action for schools, health care (hopefully in the right way this time), more war against terrorism and exit from Iraq. What I really don’t like in his viewpoint is that he puts too much weight on collective hope, agreement and action . Collective or centrally directed action might work fine (although I would still doubt it) when people really do have the same hopes and ends. Maybe governmental action is really needed in some cases. But let’s keep in mind that USA is not a uniform collective union of people. So, in case he becomes president, will he know where to stop his action? Or will he still be taking decisions that are “local in nature”?

By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to fail. But the life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible. He tells us that there is power in words. He tells us that there is power in conviction. That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people. He tells us that there is power in hope.

There might be power in (nice) words and hope. But Americans should ask more than that. USA is not hopeless. They should ask for reasonable answers to reasonable questions. And the first question is why and how an Obama Barack’s government could be better than the previous one. Hoping for a better government is not enough.