Not quite fair I know. The Democratic race isn’t purely Obama’s style versus Clinton’s substance. But that is essentially the summary when Obama is critiqued for being long on promises and short on details. Even if it’s not stated outright (and many times it is), the implication is that Clinton has what he is lacking.
Clinton is a policy wonk in much the same way that her husband was before her. Despite what his critics say, I’m not convinced that Obama is completely devoid of that trait himself. But during this campaign and indeed from his first appearance on the national stage, Obama has been a textbook example of the inspirational leader. I for one think there are worse things to be as President of the United States.
The presidency is an office of delegation and decision-making. No president is writing his own economic policy. No president is designing a military contingency plan all by his lonesome in the Oval Office. President’s take decisions. That’s their only role. The best of them listen to as many opinions as possible and then make informed decisions about all kinds of issues big and small. Nothing about that role indicates that they need an intimate understanding of the nuances of every issue. They simply need the capacity to differentiate between good advice and bad.
Those are the responsibilities of the job. Both Clinton and Obama seem well-equipped to handle that. But the Obama campaign is touching on something else. Obama is campaigning on the POSSIBILITIES of the job. A president doesn’t have to play politics. He’s already achieved the Holy Grail of political ambition. A president can, if he chooses to be this big, impact the course of the world. Too this point, Obama is campaigning big. And that’s a good thing.
Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t speak about the intricacies of the voting rights legislation that he championed. There were others to do that. John F. Kennedy likely had no clue about the flight trajectory necessary to put a man on the moon. But that didn’t stop him from making the promise. And Barack Obama probably has no idea how he is going to get Universal Health Care passed in his first term. But I like that he’s thinking big.
