(Cross posted from Green Commons this AM)
I will go out on a limb and predict that Barack Obama will win the Democratic nomination. It is a big limb almost broken off from the weight of all of those who are on it. Still, I have not yet heard anyone give the rationale that made up my mind on this It is a matter of his choice of words.
If you listen to his speech in Des Moines when it had become clear that he had “won” the caucus selection there. It was filled with the word “we.”
This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long – when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who’d never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do so.
This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.
Years from now, you’ll look back and you’ll say that this was the moment – this was the place – where America remembered what it means to hope.
If you listen to Hillary Clinton’s speeches, they are filled with the word “I”. It is about what “I” have done or what “I” will do, always “for you” but it never it is never about “we”.
One time Republican spin meister, Frank Luntz, has a book out now with the title “Words that Work.” He makes the point that “It’s not what you say. It’s what people hear.” Luntz goes on to remind us just how he has been so successful.
Before you can create, and certainly before you judge, you have to listen to people and respect them for who they are and what they believe. Just because you may not ultimately accept or endorse someone’s subjective perceptions is no excuse for refusing to acknowledge that they exist
At a point in time when the voters of this country doubt the sincerity of politicians, when we believe to the core of our being that all politics is corrupted by the power of corporate money, Obama’s inclusive “we” makes it clear that the power is now coming back to the people. It is merely a rhetorical device, but one on which he can build a movement, pull in the people, get new voters to the polls.
Other candidates will ignore this to their peril. It is the reason that people flock to Obama and not to Edwards. It is the reason that Hillary will lose, because, with Hillary it is never about ‘we’.