Academic

Tom Hayden's Open letter to Senator Obama

By Robert Justin Lipkin

Perhaps more to the point is the fact that there is no coherent "centrist" opinion in our "cross-fire" political culture. Someone can temporarily calm the waters, perhaps.  But the ship of solutions needs more than calm waters.  It needs an individual who has studied the art of rapprochement, not ad hoc compromise. The goal, of course, is integrating some of the Right's view with some of the Left's view in such a manner as not to distort either.  Perhaps, no one can do this is current American society, but Obama needs to say much more than is goal is to reconcile our warring factions. Here's an example of his strategy regarding the importance and difficulty of getting the facts straight:

I can understand that facts alone can't always settle our political disputes.  . . . But sometimes there are more accurate or less accurate answers; sometimes there are facts that cannot be spun, just as an argument about whether it's raining can usually be settled by stepping outside.  The absence of even rough agreement on the facts puts every opinion on equal footing and therefore eliminates the basis for thoughtful compromise. It rewards not those who are right, but those--like the White House press office--who can make their arguments most loudly, most frequently, most obstinately, and with the best backdrop. Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope:  Thoughts on Reclaiming the America Dream 127 (2006).

Full post as published by Essentially Contested America on January 03, 2008 (boomark / email).