A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

What's wrong with taking "pot shots" at politicians?

How did this campaign season go from hope and change to hate and fear?

Perhaps it was inevitable. Change is threatening to a lot of people. Even so, early in the campaign, almost every candidate sought to appropriate the idea as his/her own, once it was seen to be resonating.

Now right-wing radio and tv talkers, and even the political opponents of Barack Obama (the GOP's Mike Huckabee and Democrat Hillary Clinton) have abandoned "change" and begun talking about fear instead -- about knocking out Obama, people taking shots at him, and even about assassination.

They've also pointedly reminded us of 1968 -- the year of two political assassinations and a bloody confrontation at the Democratic nominating convention in Chicago. What's more, the 1968 assassinations were of two men -- Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy -- men whom people recall when they see Barack Obama running for president. Those two men also represented hope and change, and the future, and challenging the status quo, at times not felt to be among America's finest hours.

Barack Obama no doubt knew that if he ran for president he would draw vitriol like a street light draws flies. Yet he chose to run this race.

What has his campaign shown?

• America's youth are still capable of idealism.
• Grassroots organizing is powerful when utilizing 21st century tools.
• A new kind of politics, even extolling bipartisanship, has a chance.
• A stupid war is not a war for patriots to embrace.
  

All this, in an era when the Bush policies of fear and war, and the GOP strategy of dividing by wedge issues, had shamed or simply depressed many Americans. As our tax monies poured through the leaky sieve of the Iraq war, and our national prestige plummeted, and our military slogged on with inadequate armor and an ill-defined mission, we watched in distress. Our government borrowed money from our international competitors; they reduced the domestic social safety net; our dollar's value dropped, making life for our neediest near impossible. And then came this election season.

Americans do still believe in elections, even though we've had some rocky ones, like the 2000 race decided hastily by the Supreme Court justices. But we still believe in our constitutional democracy. We need to hold onto that. The phenomenal turnout and voter registration numbers of 2008 show that we do.

Realistically, Barack Obama is just a guy. He's a politician. He has his strengths and his weak points. But he is offering change at a time when we need it, and he was willing to stick his neck out for it.

John McCain says Obama never saw the need to don a uniform for America. That implies a charge of cowardice. But Obama is out there every day on the campaign trail, in suit and tie and sometimes flag lapel pin, hoping the American people don't fire any rounds at him and his family because of their skin color, or his message of change.

Courageous leadership inspires Americans. The idealism and faith of Americans also engenders courage in its leaders.

Obama made the bet that Americans would vote for idealism and change, not fear, war or hate. Americans are voters, not haters. The talk of pot-shots and assassination needs to stop now. It's not just disrespectful; it's conspiratorial and treasonous.

As cognitive linguist George Lakoff so helpfully pointed out with his book Don't Think of an Elephant, talking or thinking out loud about something (in this case, assassination) only validates the perspective of those who might entertain that poisonous possibility.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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