Centerfield

The Politics of Candor

While watching Barak Obama's victory speech last night, I thought about all the usual stuff everyone notices. The unrivaled combination of vision and charisma that Obama brings to the American political landscape. It's not just talent, or speaking skills, or charisma -- it's all that plus a certain compelling perspective on what's right and wrong about American politics, and a determination to take the nation and our culture in a different direction.

I thought about something else, however, that is far less comforting for someone like me who has centrist views on the issues.

In the Democratic primaries this year, two candidates have stayed closest to the middle of the spectrum. Joe Biden offered a compelling foreign policy vision that might have provided us with the dynamic leadership we need on the world stage right now. But he got knocked out in the first round, after polling just 1% in Iowa.

Hillary Clinton has almost as strong a focus in exploring the center of the spectrum, policy-wise. She buit quite a respectable record in the Senate, and set some of the same themes of responsible, balanced leadership in her early appearances on the campaign trail. But then she shaded her views to the left -- particularly on Iraq -- in recent debates and interviews as we got closer to actual voting.

In terms of policy, Barak Obama is to the left of both Biden and Hillary. He's not all the way out on the left wing with the likes of Edwards and Kucinich. There is some nuance to his approach -- when you hear him talk about polity in interviews -- that is largely missing from the more doctrinaire liberals in the field.

What bugs me is that Hillary is the one, along with her husband, who is practicing the politics of old in this race -- the willingness to distort your opponents record, to stir up false controversies, and to adopt a kind of bullying approach that has its roots in Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, and all the accomplished wedge-campaigners of the past. By contrast, Obama is the one exploring and establishing new themes of honesty, candor, and rising above the false attack politics of the past -- e.g., the attacks based on emotion and visceral impact rather than underlying differences in policy.

Obama's appeal to a new kind of politics is something I associate with the best kinds of independent and centrist leadership. It was explored by John McCain in the 2000 presidential race, with his Straight-Talk Express and his blunt speaking style. I think it's a big piece of our path to victory in the broad political landscape of American politics -- the candid, direct, and plain-spoken style that Americans can actually believe. It's a potent antidote to the base-driven wedge politics that's been the norm in national political contests for the last couple decades.

I'm disappointed that Hillary has veered off that path. I think Obama has earned a great deal of respect for his determination to explore that territory. I see a lot of independent support flowing in his direction, and I've noticed a number of centrist bloggers -- even some who are Republicans -- expressing real regard for Obama and appreciation for the themes of his candidacy.

We should not cede the politics of candor to the left. We should applaud either side for adopting that perspective, whenever they're willing to do so. But we should certainly ask our leaders to get out front and explore the kind of grounded, realistic, candid leadership that can ultimately reshape our political culture into something positive and constructive for the nation.