Todd Gitlin: Jumping the Fence to Barack Obama

A couple of weeks ago, I was still agonizing, though leaning Obama. The New Republic asked me to tell a waiting world where I was going. At that point, I celebrated the dawn of each new day with a ride on the roller coaster. Well, a few days later, by the time my little piece came out, I'd tilted. For what it's worth, the path of my pilgrim's progress might be of interest to other wobblers.

Here was my reasoning on Jan. 21:

"Between Clinton and Obama, on paper, not much daylight shines through....On positions, totting up the apples and oranges as best I can, it’s Clinton on points, though not a knockout....Then, the question of governing method....If nothing else, the egregious Bush years ought to instruct us that it matters hugely how the president thinks, or fails to think; whom he or she consults with. On foreign policy, each would be far better than the simple absence of Bush, splendid as that would be, but I prefer Obama’s Brzezinski and Samantha Powers to Clinton’s Albright and Holbrooke. (On domestic matters, which of course aren’t strictly domestic, I’m rather tired of Robert Rubin.)"
A big question, then, was what kind of governing will these candidates do?

And I wondered: "I applaud Obama for saying that he wants to eliminate nuclear weapons from the world, but what will he do to get that done? On global warming will he face down big oil? On health care, big pharma? And the other bigs? He wins on eloquence, which bodes well to rally public support—if that’s what he wants to do. About this, with all his talk about table participants, he’s cagey.

"Not least, who’s more likely to win an election, and to spread coattails? On this score, Obama seems the better bet. He doesn’t arouse wild, bizarre howls of hatred —not yet, at least. (Still, older white voters may not be ready for his complexion.) The media have a long head start working up their animus against the Clintons—in a single campaign he’s unlikely to catch up with her on their hit list. He polls better among the legion of independents while she may top out with core Democrats. Where eloquence counts, he can probably mobilize better."

What unnerved me, in conclusion, was that "Obama may look like the likelier winner because he better covers himself in fog precisely to look like the likelier winner. The master of artfulness confronts the mistress of embattlement. So, awaiting further signs, I teeter."

I tipped. Partly because various graceless Mr. and Mrs. Clinton moves ignited my own Clinton fatigue, which is no more than a wisp compared to the mania lying in wait out there. Partly because Obama, being fresher, has more freedom where a new president will need it--chiefly in foreign policy, still the biggest priority. Partly because McCain's surge will make an eloquent, not-so-hated generational opponent still more appealing to independents.

The wave is moving. If anything, my orneriness would keep me from moving with it. But Obama's momentum is itself a political fact, and I'm going to bet on it.

Todd Gitlin helped organize the first national demonstration against the Vietnam War, as well as the first civil disobedience directed against American corporate support for the apartheid regime in South Africa.

A graduate of the Bronx School of Science, Gitlin attended Harvard University, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley. He taught for many years at UC Berkeley, and is currently a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University.


http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/04/jumping_the_fence_to_obama/