Who is big enough for the moment America now faces? Today, Chris Matthews asked Wall Street Journal editor and former Republican speechwriter Peggy Noonan her opinion. What can we make of the McCain campaign and Sarah Palin's mudslinging attacks on Obama. Noonan's response:
"They are not big enough for the moment."
This line, better than any other I've read during this election season, defines the decision America currently faces.
We are caught between the anvil of a "clash of civilizations" and the capitalist hammer of Schumpeter's "creative destruction". It is a moment of passing paradigm, of inward-looking realization needing decisive action.
I agree with Peggy Noonan, John McCain lacks the gravitas to lead a nation through history's gauntlet. His choice of Sarah Palin, lobbyists who run campaign, and his erratic behavior in the face of economic crisis prove that. On the other hand, Barack Obama clearly has proven himself visionary, capable, and leader enough to not only face this crucible, but to enable every American the opportunity to rise to this historic occasion and face it with patriotic grace.
Who in this campaign has the capacity to manage the complexity and gravity of this historic moment? Certainly not the enraged and erratic John McCain or the hatefully deluded Sarah Palin. McCain has proven himself capable of only one mode of thought. Manichean like the current head of his party, McCain is capable of seeing the world in only black and white. For McCain, all problems are solved through the same process. First, the identification and vilification of an enemy other, and then the incendiary anger and focused retribution of full-throttle destructive force. The future ramifications be damned.
This moment cannot be left to a man of this temperament, nor to the cabal of K-street cronies who are running his campaign. Lizard brain government enacted by war profiteers, and reinforced by the illusion of American exceptionalism, promised a shining city on a hill, and has brought the greatest nation in the world to the very brink. This moment calls for change.
Barack Obama has proven, over the course of his career, and over the course of this campaign that he is a man of principle, faith and reason, who is indeed big enough for this moment. This is a man with the insight to see that this moment requires authentic change. This is a man who has created a campaign of potent and lasting discipline necessary to overcome difficulty and prevail. This is a man who has faced indecency with decency, who has met adversity with determination, who has met disaster with clarity, leadership, purpose, and patriotic grace.
Throughout this campaign Barack Obama has spoken of the fierce urgency of now, and that urgency has its own discipline. This moment requires a focused leadership that inspires and involves. This moment requires that America face our true and dangerous "empathy deficit" with a renewed dedication to shared responsibility, to self, to family, to community, to nation, to mankind.
Neither Sarah Palin's folksy hottness, nor John McCain's Mavericky Heroism are enough lipstick to put on the pig of the American armageddon brought about by Conservative Republican ignorance, hatred, and greed. The Obama campaign will not be swift boated. The determined early on not to hit first, but to hit hardest and to hit last.
This moment calls for a reemergence of greatness. Obama may not embody all of it, but he has what it takes to make each of us see that we can all be big enough for this moment. This is the greatest tradition of American leadership: that American freedom unleashes the greatness of individuals in the service of the greater good. This moment calls for that American greatness, and only one candidate stands ready to help each of us answer the call.