We Must Do Our Own Thinking

Some sharp insights from a sociologist at North Carolina State University:

An unfortunate side effect of the election of Barack Obama has been to fuel the American tendency to reduce politics to personality. The obvious contrast between the young, charismatic, articulate, black Barack Obama and his just-the-opposite opponent affirmed the idea that these individual differences are of great political import.

The same reductionist tendency can be seen in a flood of post-election commentary on Obama's "mindset" -- commentary intended, at least in progressive circles, to offer insight into prospects for change and whether Obama will deliver it. But dwelling on the president's intentions and attributes sheds little light on our current political situation.

Yes, it matters who controls the means of administration. There is enough leeway in the system for a president to make marginal changes. But the point of making these minor adjustments is to ensure that basic political and economic arrangements remain intact. The job of president is better understood as one of forestalling, not delivering, change.

By definition, then, focusing on a president's intentions or style or qualities of mind is conservatizing. It keeps us from seeing how the problems we face are not solvable through administrative tweaking but are rooted in the basic social arrangements that administrative tweaking aims to preserve.

We need to keep on building to push for the other goals of the effort to elect Obama. This comment reminds us that as we keep our eyes on the prizes--a real progressive agenda--we also have to keep our minds working on the changes beyond the president's reach.

Read Michael Schwalbe's CommonDreams comment here.
ey