If there is one word to summarize the message of Obama's campaign, it is probably "change." Obama has repeatedly proclaimed in this election that Americans have had enough with old style politics and it's time for change. It certainly is a good message; Americans like change and they are quite impressed by the meteoric rise of this charismatic, genuine candidate who seeks to bring innovation and optimism to U.S. politics. However, Americans also like change that is comfortable and comprehensible. Because Obama is so promising a candidate for change, public expectations for him are greater than John McCain. As a result, while this election is Obama's to lose, it also is an election Obama can lose if he fails to convince the public to believe in his change.
While I thought the first presidential debate was essentially a pingpong debate - with both candidates comfortably hurling rhetoric at each other - it also helped contrast the two candidates' stances. McCain emphasized his experience in better managing the traditional U.S. policy approaches Bush carried out. Obama criticized these traditional policies as inadequate to modern challenges and proposed new approaches, such as meeting with dictators without preconditions. Regardless of the merits of his new solutions, the voters must choose whether to take the risks and potential sacrifices and try Obama's unfamiliar, perhaps even untested innovations. Certainly there are many who are still hesitant, listening to the GOP's insistence that Obama "just doesn't get" the way things ought to be in politics. In the final month of this long election, it is up to Obama to make a final attempt to communicate to the voters why his change is a change that they can believe in.
Many will wonder whether they will be left out by "change" that has winners and losers. Obama's cosmopolitan image inspires many but has also alienated those who have hard time connecting with his upbringing and fear a president who doesn't care about their culture. Some question whether Obama would force them to make sacrifices for his ideals through higher taxes. Others are still doubtful of how a Democratic candidate could talk about unity in an era of partisanship. These reservations may not be justified, but they are very real in the minds of the voters, and Obama must overcome these skeptics if he seeks to be their president.
Obama has to communicate why his unique upbringing helps his capacity to understand and represent those from different cultural environment. While standing true to his reform platform, Obama has to communicate what these reforms would entail for the daily lives of individual Americans. Obama must let Americans know that "he feels their pain."
Obama first gained fame in 2004 as a man who spoke for "United" States of America. Yet, in this era of partisanship many see him instead as a partisan leader with partisan agenda. For this reason, they either claim Obama can't change or change too much and further deteriorate the U.S. politics. It is up to Obama to demonstrate that he is neither an ideologue nor a revolutionary, but rather an inclusive innovator who will follow in the footsteps of great reformers as FDR and Lincoln and transform himself and his party before he sets out to transform this great nation. Expectations are high for Obama, but that is precisely because he is the candidate of change. For next four weeks, it is up for Obama to live up to the task. In November, we shall know whether he was only a great celebrity, or truly a great communicator.
Jong Eun Lee is a senior in the School of Public Affairs, AU College Democrats vice president and a liberal columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@theeagleonline.com.
