Changing our ways

I'm still supporting McCain. But I have to say that I agree, generally, with Andrew Sullivan's concerns about Obama and what his candidacy represents.

"We're seeing many of the worst aspects of America's culture war come back to target the one politician who had the chance to get us beyond it. It is no accident to me that Wright is of the Vietnam generation that bequeathed us these divides; and it is no accident that the Clintons will eagerly pivot off it; or that the far right will exploit it; or that Obama's tolerance for a man like this for so many years will hurt him. And yet I refuse to believe that we have to remain captive to this syndrome; I refuse to believe that racial discourse has to be framed by Pat Buchanan and Jeremiah Wright; I refuse to abandon the hope I felt only a few months ago.

This moment is far too important to surrender to the forces that want to return us to the divisions and obsessions of the past. The only way past this, perhaps, is through it. Obama needs to repudiate Wright's grandstanding and reiterate in clear terms the rationale of his candidacy: that the past is over, and we have to move forward in ending this war in Iraq, restoring America's standing in the world, repairing the massive and mounting debt, bringing America back to the forefront of human rights, and bringing the best aspects of America to the foreground again.

The world is watching. And we still can."

It is true that the Obama campaign is the most genuine commitment to leaving this kind of politics, and the political and cultural warfare of the Vietnam generation, behind us.

I've supported John McCain and Barack Obama in their respective campaigns because I thought they offered us the best opportunity for a more honest discussion and debate that seeks to leave such emnities behind us.

Leaders do not pander to our basest impulses. Leaders lead us past them. These two candidates were our best shot at that, in the political process, proper, I think.

And Sullivan is right that the campaign against Barack Obama is a campaign of smear and bitterness about those political battles that only is useful insofar as it raises relevant questions about the challenges we face, today.

Jeremiah Wright, John Hagee, William Ayers and all such similar figures are responsible for their own behavior and are only relevant insofar as they address how candidates would handle contemporary challenges.

But more, they say much about how we face those same challenges.

Are we wise enough to turn this discussion into something more constructive to address our common problems.

Or are we foolish enough to think that one group will win and others will lose in these ideological, cultural, and political wars.

If it is the latter, we are responsible for that problem, no matter how we spin it otherwise.

Taking responsibility for our role in these debates and discussions is our only way forward.

Everything else is foolhardy. And a challenge that our children will have to take up if we do not have the wisdom and the courage to do it ourselves.