PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA!

Photo: campaignwindow.com

Well, my apprehensions were misplaced! Senator Barack Obama won a convincing victory, with about 52% of the popular vote – the largest Democratic margin in a generation— and an Electoral College vote of at least 349, well above the required 270. With Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Virginia and even Indiana, he demonstrated a cross-party appeal he’ll need to govern in these difficult times. (North Carolina and Missouri were still in play as of this morning.) One commentator on CNN said that Obama has inherited the “in-box from Hell!”

President-Elect Barack Obama’s speech in Grant Park was somewhat subdued— perhaps in part because of the recent death of his grandmother just the day before the election— and more importantly because of the enormity of the task before him and us as a country. I believe that Senator Obama has already shown the steadiness and temperament needed for the job.

I recall how impressed my Dad was with President-Elect John F. Kennedy in 1960. Dad had not voted for him, but he was amazed that the morning after the election, Kennedy had the confidence and steadiness to shave himself with a straight razor.

The scene last night in Grant Park was so different from forty years ago at the Democratic National Convention in 1968. I had just returned from Latin America with the Yale Glee Club, and had dropped off my friend Mary Saxon at home and was invited in to talk to her parents, who were watching the riots in Chicago on TV. I ended up staying over an hour – transfixed and alarmed by the violence.

Senator John McCain delivered one of the best speeches of his life in the courtyard of the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. He was gracious, eloquent and spoke from the heart. (Had he only conducted himself as well during the campaign.) McCain is a great American hero and his concession speech has restored and enhanced his reputation.

(Dennis and I were in the same courtyard three years ago last month. We were in Phoenix for the installation of our Bohemian friend Carl Noelke in the Roman Catholic Order of St. John of Jerusalem. We went to a marvelous party at the Biltmore after the church ceremony. This was the last trip Dennis and I took together before our final return to Venice in February 2006. I’m still sorry I convinced Dennis to take BART to the airport instead of being picked up by SuperShuttle. I hadn’t realized how near the end Dennis was. I thought it would be faster to take BART at rush hour, but it turned out there was construction on the line and we were delayed between stations for over 45 minutes and ended up missing the flight. Fortunately, we were able to take a later one that night, but the whole experience was a severe drain on Dennis. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time in Phoenix, and Dennis really liked the Biltmore.)

WHAT EXPERIENCE REALLY MATTERS?

President Kennedy addressing the nation October 22, 1962

The election is less than two weeks away! It surely looks as though Senator Barack Obama is going to win a landslide victory –with significant coattails. That is, of course, unless the “Bradley Effect” is still alive after more than twenty years… and unless Republican charges against Obama begin to stick.

The most potent charge against Senator Obama is his perceived lack of experience— particularly executive experience— since he has been only a Senator… and for less than a full term. By that standard, however, what executive experience does Senator McCain have?

If Senators don’t gain any executive experience, what’s the difference between four years or more than two decades? Perhaps that perception is one reason the last Senator to be elected was John F. Kennedy in 1960; and he was one of only two, I believe, to be elected directly from the Senate in the history of the Republic. So by that standard, the only so-called qualified candidate among the four major contenders is Governor Sarah Palin. God, help us!!! Clearly, other experience matters. And perhaps, even more important are temperment and judgment.

George Will recently wrote that experience can be gained, but temperment is fairly constant or something to that effect. His conclusion was that Obama’s temperment is steadier than McCain’s.

Former Secretary of State, retired General Colin Powell's eloquent endorsement last Sunday on Meet the Press gave additional validity and gravitas to Obama's candidacy. "Experience is helpful, but it is judgment that matters."

President Clinton has said that nobody has the experience to be President before gaining office, and I think that is probably true.

What about Abraham Lincoln? Besides being un-photogenic, and reportedly having a high, squeaky voice, Lincoln had had only a few terms in the Illinois legislature and a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives— more than a decade before— when he had opposed the War with Mexico. By today’s standards, he would never be considered a serious presidential contender.

Although he was roundly criticized by all sides last summer, I think retired General Wesley Clark made a valid point. To paraphrase VP Dick Cheney (in reference to energy conservation) holding up well under enemy captivity may be a sign of “personal virtue” and perhaps of patriotism and distinguished valor; but –by itself— it does not necessarily demonstrate any executive or military decision-making capability.

Temperament and judgment are sometimes true conservative values: that is, careful, deliberative, non-reflexive action. (I contend that many so-called conservatives today are really radical-reactionaries. If so-called conservatives can denigrate the positive definition of liberalism, then it’s only fair to describe so-called conservatism by what it actually is and does.)

In the Cuban Missile Crisis forty-six years ago in October 1962, * both President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev demonstrated true conservatism by ignoring the demands of their respective generals to start offensive action. Perhaps it was just luck and not good judgment – but how lucky we all were!! Maybe both Kennedy and Khrushchev were like General Dietrich von Cholitz, the “Butcher of Sebastopol” hand-picked by Hitler to destroy Paris when given the order. He didn’t. Evidently he didn’t want to go down in history as the man who destroyed Paris. Similarly, Kennedy and Khrushchev perhaps didn’t want to go down in history (providing there was any history left to write) as the men who destroyed civilization.

I contend that Senator Barack Obama— more so than Senator John McCain— has demonstrated the careful, steady temperament and judgment needed to deal with future world crises. I think the world would be a much safer place with a President Obama in the White House.

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* I recall how ominous events seemed to be in October 1962. I was thirteen. My Dad returned home early from a business trip to be with the family and listen to President Kennedy address the nation on October 22, 1962. There really was a palpable fear that this might be the end of civilization as we knew it.