Senator Obama: Add “Healing” to Your Message

Furthermore, based on your speeches and position papers, I believe we could add another three: equal opportunity, ecologicalresponsibility,andhealthandwelfareforthepeople. These nine principles (and perhaps others) reflect your heart and soul, do they not? They capture what you live for, what you see as worthfightingfor, even perhapswhat youwoulddie for. It is the internal principlesthatmakesense of theexternalactionsandpoliciesofamaverick.Pleasedonotletthemercilesspressuresofthepoliticalprocessrobyou ofthatwhichismostimportant.Pleasefindwaystoarticulate,hold,andadvanceyourprinciplesevenamidstthecynicismofbeltwaypolitics ,andeveninthemidstofnegotiationsandcompromises.Pleasecontinuetoenjoyresistingthe specialinterestsandpartybosseswhothinkthatWashingtonistheirs.PleasedonotpandereithertothefarRightorto thefarLeft,forbotharefarwrong. My hope is that your principled centrism will win out and that, if elected, you will surprise the cynics and pundits whosuggestyouarejustanotherbeltwaypolitician.Ifthathappens,youcanhelpleadthenationbackfromthesenseless and destructive polarization that now plagues us. Enough of the “red” and “blue” states, enough of the hate speech from the far Left and the far Right. Show us a way down the middle, the via media, for we are all Americans. Please showushowamaverickcangovernwellbasedonprincipledcentrism—withstraighttalk,withwisdom,andinamannerthattrulyservestheneedsofthepeople . ■ SenatorObama:Add“Healing”toYourMessage by GlenStassen I encourageyoutomakehealingaswellaschangeyourcampaignmotto.Weneedboth. So many disasters have happened during this administration that it seems as if the judgment of God is coming . We need change, and you need a clear mandate. That’s why you are communicating the change clearly in yourpublicaddresses. Somuchdivisionhashappened.Somanypeoplefeelleftout,unheard,disrespected.Weneedhealingandyou needtohearthefearsandconcernsofmanydiversevoices.That’swhyyouspeaktomanydiverseconcerns. Republican David Brooks of the New York Times is greatly impressed with your ability to get inside differing perspectives ,andbringthemtogetherintoathoughtfulsolution.That’sthekindofhealingweneed.Thepresentadministration ’s neocon strategists have brought us ideological policies that have alienated most Americans as well as most nations.TheyhavenotevenconsultedwithCongress,letalonethelargemajoritieswhodisagreewiththeirpolicies.Our nationisbadlydivided.Youwilltakediversepositionsintoaccount.YoutreatedHillaryClintonwithrespect,andnow you speak of John McCain with respect, and you want to lead all of us to speak of each other with respect. We hope for healing. Thatalsomeansspiritualprogressivesneedtogiveyousomeofourpatience.Sometimeswecaresomuchaboutthe injustice of the present system, and about the restorative justice that we deeply believe is right, that we can become judgmentalofotherperspectives.Wehaveseentoomuchself-righteous,judgmentalauthoritarianismfromspokespersons of the religious Right. We don’t want to become their mirror image on the Left. We all need the Mennonite virtue ofGelassenheit,patience. But we do worry that the pressures of the election process can squeeze you into giving up the real change that is neededforhealingtotakeplace. Pleaseassureusthatwhenyousayweneedhealing,youdon’tmeantohealourwoundslightly,crying“peace,peace,” when there is no peace—or justice. You have the gift for understanding where different factions are coming from, and being sensitive to varieties of concerns. But you also need to be more than a mushy middle. We have hurting problems LETTERS TOTHECANDIDATES 44 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 GlenHaroldStassenistheLewisB.SmedesProfessorofChristianEthicsatFullerTheologicalSeminary.HisKingdomEthicswonthe ChristianityTodayawardforbestbookof2004intheologyorethics. Politics_3.qxd:Politics 8/10/08 1:39 PM Page 44 S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 45 thatneeddecisiveaction.Weneedhealingthat reallyheals. We need racial healing. You have the personal strength of being able to identify with your white mother and your black father; you symbolize the potential for racial healing in your very person, and so will your election, dramatically. We need economic healing. People are increasingly worried about the rapidly growing gapsbetweentheveryrich,the60%atthebottom and middle whose incomes have decreased for the last thirty years, and the 20% above the middle who have just stayed the same. Reagan dropped the top tax bracket from paying 60% for the topmost earnings to only 29%. The result: the U.S. budget deficit quadrupled, from the debt accumulated by all previouspresidentsof$1trillion,to$4trillionduringonlythetwelveReagan-Bushyears.Clintonraisedthetopbracketto39 %,andbeganpayingbacksomedebt.GeorgeW.Bushnotonlydroppedthatbracketbackto29%,butcutcapital gains taxes and dividend taxes to 15%, so the wealthy pay less than the middle class on their big investments, and theU.S.debthasskyrocketedinonlyeightyearstoover$9trillion.Thatisunfairtothelargemajorityoftaxpayers,and to coming generations now saddled with that enormous debt. As you have said, “We need Christians on Capitol Hill, JewsonCapitolHill,andMuslimsonCapitolHilltalkingabouttheestatetax.Whenyou'vegotanestatetaxdebatethat proposesatrilliondollarsbeingtakenoutofsocialprogramstogotoahandfuloffolkswhodon’tneedandweren’teven askingforit,youknowthatweneedaninjectionofmoralityinourpoliticaldebate.” Consumersmakeup70%oftheeconomy,sowhentheincomeisshiftedawayfromconsumerstotheveryrich,purchasingslows ,andtheeconomytanks.Americans,includingthosewhoarerich,sensethatournation’spoliciesareunfairtocominggenerationsandtoworkersandtothepoor .MichaelLernerandourspiritualprogressivemovementcall for policies of generosity. That fits a virtue that we all value. We need generosity and economic justice within our own nationaswellasinternationally. A major cause of divisiveness has been the Bush policy of...