Obama's acceptance speech

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080829/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_obama_text_1

Congrats to Obama and his campaign for making history. In general, I thought the speech was too long and repeated near-verbatim a lot of the insipid material that previous speakers have said. But I really liked these parts:

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility — that's the essence of America's promise.
...

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This, too, is part of America's promise, the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.


Finally a political speech (or a small part of one) that isn't overpowered by partisan ideology. The national discussion could really use this type of acknowledgment of the duality of political issues and need for compromise. Big government or small government can't take the place of good government. A good leader knows when to be conservative, moderate, or progressive, and often we'll need ideas from all 3 to address major problems. Even when one party dominates each of the 3 branches of government, they're not going to get everything they want. Each "good idea" from government will probably cause harm to some subset of us. The job of the POTUS is like the Dutch Boy plugging holes in the levee. It's really challenging to try to understand, satisfy, and lead 300M people like us who have so many needs, opinions, and expectations, not to mention all the foreign leaders out their with different cultures and priorities. Sometimes we need to simplify and see the big picture, that we're all patriotic Americans who want the best for our families. But when politicians inspire us to take action and make our country better, we shouldn't forget how nuanced and delicate some of these challenges are. Well-marketed, knee-jerk quick fixes are tempting, but they may end up causing more harm than good. The Iraq War and rush to adopt grain-based ethanol are obvious examples.

Obama will have his hands full with his ambitious economic revitalization, energy, and foreign policy/security agendas. He's charmed and convinced a good deal of America, and soon he'll have to deliver. Iran's nuclear ambitions and the Georgia war demonstrated the limits of American influence, even when we have allies on board, and are willing to talk and be flexible. It's very hard to shore up social services and implement new domestic programs while cutting taxes for millions of American families. Reforming the health system and supporting the Baby Boom retirement may require divine intervention. Iraq and Afghanistan will be major concerns for us long after 16 months, and some problems over there cannot be solved militarily. Even if America miraculously reduces its consumption by 10% and boosts production by 5%, global energy and food costs may not decrease much. The overall economy and housing market are too large and intertwined to simply be rescued abracadabra, even for a president. And we walk quite a tightrope when we try to harness the positive aspects of globalization, while trying and promising to protect expensive workers and inefficient industries at home. It will be difficult for us to significantly curb our greenhouse emissions, and even harder to convince poorer developing nations to do the same, at the expense of stanching their growth. How can the most prolific fund-raiser in US history be taken seriously when trying to reform the Washington money game? The list goes on and on.

These are some of the differences between ideas for change, and actually accomplishing change. "Change we can believe in" is not as good as change we can enact and change we can see. Only the greatest leaders are able to recognize problems before it's too late, select the most beneficial solutions, persuade enough people to support them, and then actually see them through during their administrations. Smart advisers and experts can help Obama with the first two, and it's up to him to do the rest. Possibly the best that President 44 can hope for is to lay the groundwork for change, and maybe humanity will reap the rewards 10-20 years from now. The problems we face today are so huge and daunting that we can't afford to let euphoria and urgency cloud our rational judgment and inflate our expectations. Optimism alone never saved anyone, and America can no longer afford to be so short on effort/sacrifice. Great leaders may have to suffer terribly and ask their people to do the same, but the alternative of inaction is much costlier. Only time will tell if Obama's supporters are able to keep the dream alive after the festivities are over and the real hard work must begin. We're already so many years overdue.