The kind of candidate I’d like to have a beer with

November 4th, 2008

I can’t wait till tomorrow. It’s a few minutes past midnight on Monday, search so actually early Tuesday, endocrinologist Nov. 4th and in one small town out East, website like this the first votes have already come in. It feels like Christmas Eve! Tomorrow, there will be people waiting to streak in the Mission, to raise a glass at Joey and Eddie’s in North Beach, the world will be watching.

What’s been amazing to observe and appreciate over and over again over the past few months is that we can finally experience admiration for the personal and intellectual qualities of a political leader. When was the last time?! I see it in kids and in men and women of all ages and backgrounds. We have a role model, someone we’d be excited to call a friend, and yes, the kind of person I would like to have a beer with.

I also think of these times as marking the beginning of an irreversible leftward shift in American politics. There is something about the Democratic party that is starting to appeal to universal values. I think it’s because we can finally see a tangible representation, in Obama, of the ideals we’ve always believed in — honesty, humility, a challenge to any extreme imbalance of power, zero tolerance for spin, a leadership style based on restraint, grace, intelligence, compromise without weakness — it is the better face of America.

And if we think about what the information age and technology have brought about, combined with the inconvenient truth that the world’s resources are finite and as humans we have to be guardians of our planet in order to survive, then I think we are marching inexorably toward a future where 2 things will be true. First, institutions will become more democratized as the internet increases transparency and returns knowledge and power to individuals and communities, and second, our interdependence and vulnerability in the face of finite resources will force a level of compromise and cooperation that will reshape individual behaviors, community action and global alliances.

So I don’t think these will be just cyclical changes anymore – where there will be some backlash against openness, access and the empowerment of individuals and unfortunately, I don’t think there can ever be a return to a sense of abundance about the our planet’s resources. So if we can use these truths for good, and organize alongside a leader who symbolizes these values, I do think we are marching forward on a path that we cannot turn back on and it is so deeply exciting.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 8:07 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.