Obama as the Voice of Public Reason

Comment on The Huffington Post, 3/22/08 - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-jong/why-am-i-so-afraid_b_92876.html

If Erica Jong doesn't know why she is "so afraid" of what is happening in this election year, she shouldn't be pop-psychoanalyzing a serious, fearless political figure like Barack Obama. To call this man a "stallion...drunk on his own rhetoric" is not only completely inconsistent with Obama's public demeanor, which is consistently cool and self-controlled, it is personally demeaning. Ms. Jong seems to have no realization that the language of presidential candidates conveys the argument of their propositions to the nation, about why people should follow their leadership, and in that sense all "rhetoric" should be powerful if it is going to be effective in a democracy. Rhetoric is not merely "words", as Senator Clinton constantly suggests. It is at the heart of functioning self-government, because without a sensible analysis of the current predicament and a vision of tomorrow offered to those who vote, the nation's decision-making about the future cannot be rational. "Rhetoric" is the vehicle of public reason, and Senator Obama is modeling the use of such reason as no other presidential candidate has done since Franklin Roosevelt. That is why he is headed toward his party's nomination.