Last Tuesday Wisconsin held their primary and, if you hadn’t noticed, Barack Obama won. I voted for him in case you’re wondering. I don’t love Obama and I don’t hate Hilary. I accept the fact that I’ll be voting for the Democrat regardless who gets the nomination.
One thing that bothers me is the increasingly common charge that Obama’s campaign is based on empty rhetoric. While I do agree that the man would do well to give more concrete examples of his priorities should he win the office, I object to the idea that automatically equates rhetoric with negativity.
A couple of English professors on NPR the other day made (and remade) the point that the word “rhetoric” is a value-neutral word, yet for the majority of callers it was being used as a pejorative term. Rhetoric, for these callers, necessarily meant empty or false promises. One misguided caller went so far as to evoke Adolph Hitler as being charismatic leader armed only with rhetoric, and look how that turned out yada yada yada. (BTW, I love the crackpots who call in to public radio.) Happily, the professors rightly shunned any comparison out of hand and reiterated the idea that rhetoric itself is not dangerous by definition.
Having done a lot of reading (of both fiction and criticism) on utopia in the past 12 months, one of the reasons Obama got my vote was because of his utopian rhetoric. It’s pretty clear that Obama is getting people excited, and excitement alone creates an opportunity for change. Most utopian criticism agrees that it’s utopian thinking that’s important, since it provides a stimulus for change. Utopia achieved is another (theoretical) question entirely. Or to put it the other way, it’s the old “shoot for the moon and if you miss you’ll still be among the stars” cliche’.
I feel that it is precisely through rhetoric that significant change can occur. Hilary may be able to call in favors and ram through her policies, but I fear that’s only going to deepen the political divide in this country. My hope is that Obama’s rhetoric will frame issues in such a way that change can happen without anyone losing face and bi-partisan legislation may actually be possible again.
Is that overly hopeful? Maybe, but that’s what utopian thinking is all about.
Current Mood: Okay | 
Currently Listening To – Son Volt – “Straightaways”