Thinking, Positive: A Few Reasons I Support Barack Obama

In response to Spikgary's challenge to inject some positivity into the Vine, I would like to outline just a few of the major reasons I have for supporting Barack Obama, reasons that I encourage you to consider and (if you are so inclined) agree or disagree with.

Transparency: The True Measure Of Reform

Transparency isn't a central issue for most voters. Yes, everyone agrees that transparency in policy-making is generally a good thing, but most people are focused on "bread-and-butter" issues like taxes. Well, transparency is one of my areas of focus. As Lawrence Lessig's Change Congress movement explains:

Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and we would all benefit from a cleaner Congress if more of its proceedings, and the proceedings of its members, were public.

In this particular respect, Obama is just one of many Senators who has made a difference with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which created the USA Spending website. Thanks to this site and to the data it makes public, we the people are able to have a substantive debate about the policy behavior of our presidential and vice-presidential nominees. It bears emphasizing that without this legislation, either campaigns could make up numbers with relative impunity; instead, this database allows us (and the press) to hold the candidates to their records in a way seen in no previous presidential election. For the sake of full disclosure, it should be noted that John McCain was also a cosponsor of this bill - indeed, after a "secret hold" against the bill was defeated, it passed unanimously, illustrating, perhaps the political expediency of supporting transparency in principle.

But Obama's strong position on transparency extends beyond his congressional record and principle and into his practices. His presidential campaign has not only raised record-shattering amounts of money, but has done so almost exclusively (96%) from individual contributors, making his a truly people-driven campaign. Among the major candidates, he is rated highest by the watchdog group OpenSecrets.org for quality of disclosure, and he has also been forthcoming with personal records. I have little doubt that Obama's campaign promise to open the doors of government to the people is a legitimate one because it is supported by the operations of his campaign, and by his personal conduct through the campaign process. In this election, he has led on transparency not by polemic, but by example.

The Constitution: To Defend And Uphold

In my opinion, not enough is made of Obama's qualifications as a Constitutional scholar. Indeed, both Obama and Biden have juris doctorates, making the Obama-Biden ticket is the best-equipped to understand the Constitution they hope to pledge themselves in defense of. There is little doubt that the next president will very likely appoint Supreme Court justices, and Obama's legal qualifications help to ensure that appointments to the highest court in the land won't be delegated to an underling, or subverted for political purposes. Understanding the Constitution, not just in terms of today's talking points, but rather at a deeper level that includes Constitution history is crucial to understanding the role the Supreme Court plays, and I believe Obama is the best-equipped candidate to make that judgment.

Obama is not merely a Constitutional scholar: at the University of Chicago, he was also a Constitutional instructor, as well as an instructor in campaign finance law and civil rights. Many Americans, in my opinion, have lost sight of the nuance and complexity of the Constitution, especially as regards its interpretation. Many more, served poorly by failing Civics classrooms, have never had a clear understanding of our Constitutional rights in the first place. I feel that the next president will have a responsibility not only to interpret the Constitution but to explain his interpretations to the American people. As someone who has experience illuminating the Constitution for students, he is the best candidate to illuminate it for the next generation of Americans.

I encourage anyone skeptical of Obama's qualifications as an instructor to take a look at some of his course material. Here, for example, are several finals as well as a syllabus for his class on Current Issues in Racism and the Law. We need a president who can give America the enthusiasm and interest in the law that Obama gave to his students.

The Economy: A Fundamentally New Direction

Obama has explained, often emphatically, that he has a comprehensive plan to put the economy back on track, but even some Obama supporters are not entirely sure what the details of that plan are. This, as economic columnist David Leonhardt spells out, is not because Obama's plan is fuzzy or vague, but rather because it represents a new kind of policy, distinct from (but sharing elements with) both classical Republican and Democratic economic views. In his lengthy article "How Obama Reconciles Dueling Views on Economy," Leonhardt describes Obama's plan as one that seeks to undercut the long-standing assumptions of both parties and take the best elements from both models.

Obama, for example, understands the power of the free market and seeks to harness it in new ways to help combat government inefficiency. At the same time, Obama is keenly aware of the growing income gap in America, and the reduction in economic mobility enjoyed by Americans: the growing stratification of incomes makes more likely that you will remain in the income bracket you were born in. Obama's tax proposals, in particular, do not square with any traditional ten-second description, because it is a new approach to a failing system. As reviewed by the independent Tax Policy Center, Obama's plan will not only do much to help the low- and middle-income Americans who are suffering the most from the sagging economy, but also does not cut taxes so deeply that the operation of government must be funded by big-ticket loans and a growing national debt. In my opinion, Obama's plan will both bring immediate relief to American families but also move us back toward the budget surpluses enjoyed under President Clinton.

More broadly, Obama appears to understand that the current state of the American economy (and the recent crises it has faced) are part of a global problem. I encourage anyone worried about the economy to listen to "The Giant Pool of Money," a piece by This American Life explaining how the mortgage crisis was not the fault of a specific element of the market, but rather a systematic failure at every level. I believe Obama understands that fixing the economy is not just about changing a few dozen name-plates in Washington, but is more fundamentally about reforming the way our economy works, and how important creating meaningful accountability is.

Energy, of course, is the topic du jour in the economic sphere, and Obama's foresight reveals itself here, as well. Obama's congressional record on energy issues reveals that he believes in the profound ingenuity of Americans not only to solve the energy crisis, but to reinvigorate the economy in the process. At the same time, his record reveals that his is not an inflexible ideologue: he wants to see real problems fixed, rather than political battles won. He was among the Senate Democrats who recently supported a compromise on offshore drilling in order to bring everyone to the table, for example. His proposed energy plan includes big incentives to create a new energy economy here at home that would create jobs and undercut outsourcing.

Foreign Policy: Embracing, and Being Embraced By, The World

It is easy for Americans to forget how highly esteemed America is abroad. Even today, with historically high levels of anti-American sentiment in many places around the world, most foreigners see America as a nation with fundamentally sound values and as a beacon for democracy. The role a foreign policy plays in this dynamic is, I think, perhaps best captured by the following quote:

It really depends on how our nation conducts itself in foreign policy. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us.

- George W. Bush, 2000 Presidential Debates

I believe the world is ready to welcome America back into the world community, and I believe Obama is the candidate to do that. Obama said as much in his speech before 200,000 Europeans in Berlin. He explained that there are world problems before us that no single nation can solve, and that the nations of the world must work together to resolve them. The threats of violence, poverty, famine, and disease are world problems that we can do far more to solve together than apart. My statement that Obama can restore America's standing is hardly imaginary: Obama is extremely popular abroad, and takes little imagination to see the relationship between that popularity and the leverage an Obama administration would have on foreign leaders.

Clearly, however, foreign policy is not primarily about popularity. Obama's appeal abroad is relevant, but not central: what is central is the question of "How will the next president face global issues?" In addition to bringing allies to the table, we must also have clear and effective plans to address not only terrorism, but poverty, sanitation, injustice, and climate change. Obama has made clear that he understands both the threat and the nuance of terrorism, but also understands that "foreign policy" means more than military victory. Obama has long advocated the advantages of a multi-pronged approach (including, diplomacy, economic power, and military force) that has recently gained more widespread support. With Biden's encyclopedic knowledge of foreign policy, Obama will be in a position to fully employ every component of America's power (both hard and soft) abroad.

Conclusion: The Best Candidate For A Difficult Era

There is no doubt that the next President will be handed a calamitous tray of problems. The status quo is clearly unacceptable, which is why both parties made their conventions about "Change." I believe that a whole host of reasons exist for believing that Barack Obama is the best candidate for the job. His intelligence, his judgment, his pragmatism, his willingness to meet in the middle rather than promote partisan obstructionism, and his desire to bring more Americans back into the political discourse make him more than just the best candidate for the job: it makes him a remarkable candidate by the standards of any era.

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