We Are Not Who We Think We Are

"Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country. I don’t know if Barack Obama can lead that, but the notion that the idealism he has inspired in so many young people doesn’t matter is dead wrong. “Of course, hope alone is not enough,” says Tim Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics, “but it’s not trivial. It’s not trivial to inspire people to want to get up and do something with someone else.”

Thomas Friedman's poignant 5/5/08 op-ed has stirred up a number of passionate responses this week. He spoke to common frustrations among all types of Americans, as we watch our country slide from power, influence and success. He argues that Obama is our best hope for this country, because he has spoken truthfully with the American people, and because "...we need a president who is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people. Any one of the candidates can answer the Red Phone at 3 a.m. in the White House bedroom. I’m voting for the one who can talk straight to the American people on national TV — at 8 p.m. — from the White House East Room."

The NYTimes posted some positive responses from readers who agreed with Friedman. One reader wrote "As Mr. Friedman points out, we don’t know for sure if Barack Obama can lead this country back to greatness. It’s a monumental task. But I do know that he is the only candidate who has spoken the truth about every one of these issues from Day 1.

He is the only one who tells us that we have work to do, that there are no easy fixes. He is the only one who already has inspired millions to get started. He spoke the truth about Iraq when no one wanted to hear it, and he is now speaking the truth, regardless of how it might poll.

The question is, Do we want leaders who speak to issues that will get them elected, or do we want a leader who will tell us the truth?"

Chris Durang (on Huffington Post today) also "... agree(s) passionately with what Friedman said above, and it relates to my belief that Obama can use his gift for reason and inspiration to TALK TRUTH to the American people, to change the Bully Pulpit to a.... Persuasion Pulpit, an Inspiration Pulpit."

Durang goes on to admit that "Obama is battered... but battered though Obama may be, he is still standing; and he's standing taller than the other two."