The Sixth Sense

Obama wins but he’s not a messiah

Whilst I am someone who thinks that Barack Obama was the best of the two politcal candidates in the recent US elections, he is certainly not perfect. And, more importantly, he is not a messiah.

Chatting with friends yesterday I was quick to point out that Obama winning the election was the easy part. He now inherits one of the toughest situations both globally and locally that any President-elect can ever have faced.

And he won’t be able to sprinkle magic dust and everything suddenly be ok. In fact, he’ll have to make a lot of tough decisions that will rapidly reduce his favourability ratings both home and abroad.

Personally, I think Obama will be a breath of fresh air on many levels. But he can’t solve all America’s and the worlds problems. He’s not a magician. He’s not a messiah. It’s going to be some of the toughest few years in recent memory.

It’s worth remembering that whilst politicians have a role to play in this world, we are not to place our ultimate trust in them. There is another One who truly, as the children’s song says, has the whole world in his hands.

Obama: SECOND African American President?

I’d love to know what impact the hit show ‘24′ has had on this current US presidential election. Barack Obama is on the brink of becoming the first African American President of the United States of America. But how much has the electability of an African American been shaped - subconsciously at least - by a certain President Palmer.

It is probably impossible to ever fully know, but I am convinced that on some levels President Palmer has helped ease open the door for President Obama.

How ironic that Fox is behind ‘24′!

Sickening politics by McCain

Mid-speech recently John McCain hit a line which said something along the lines of ‘just who is Barack Obama?’ Before he had a chance to continue, someone in the crowd yelled out ‘terrorist’.

The McCain camp’s only aim right now seems to be to try and convince people that Obama is a friends of terrorists. It is, quite simply, a lie. A sickening lie. And does John McCain really want to foster such anger in people that they seriously start to think Obama is a terrorist?

You would have thought that, for the sake of honour at least, McCain would rein things back in. Sadly not. He is fueling it even further as the below ad he released today shows.

Frankly, I think this is sickening. I thought McCain was a pretty decent guy even though I disagree with him on various fronts. Now he practically has zero respect from me.

I suspect we are about to see the dirtiest few weeks in American political history as McCain is simply desperate to win no matter the cost. No matter the harm and devisions he causes.

Here’s to hoping that dirty politics doesn’t win the day.

And this is simply horrible. Again, is this really the type of legacy McCain wants to leave?

What do you think?

An (American) political rant

I have lots of thoughts swirling around my mind following a week of political overload since the start of the Democratic convention in Denver last week, continuing right through to the shock announcement of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

It’s all been filling the news columns stateside and here in the UK too. It’s hard to get away from it all. Thankfully, that’s just fine for me. Apologies to those of you who try to avoid politics like you do that crazy uncle who’s always there at the big family gathering.

I have to say, the whole Sarah Palin thing has been very strange. To be honest, it feels more like a movie than reality. I’m not quite sure how I see it panning out. She is a complete unknown. And despite what the McCain team say, it’s abundantly clear she was not nearly as fully vetted as Joe Biden was by the Obama team.

Story after story is emerging that I just can’t see helping the Republicans. Hearing a Republican defend her foreign policy experience as being fine because ‘Alaska is near Russia’ was just laughable.

I could well be wrong (I seem to remember that happening once before in 2002 I think), but it strikes me that McCain’s pick of Palin reeks of two things:

1) Throwing a bone to the religious conservatives.
2) Trying to get Hillary’s women supporters on board.

Both of these I find very frustrating. As a Christ-follower myself, I hate the way it feels like so many Christians are being used by the Republican party. Christians on the far right seem to have allowed themselves to be defined by two issues - abortion and homosexuality. And these two issues have become the litmus test and everything else is less significant.

I think this is terrible. I happen to think that things like abortion are important issues. I definitely want to see as few abortions happening as possible (without making abortion illegal). I definitely think that a baby in a womb is a genuine life. This has been made all the more real with my wife, Rachel, being 17 weeks pregnant. However I don’t think this issue is the be all and end all. What about those in poverty? Isn’t that a moral issue? And how about healthcare? Should people be left without cover because they can’t afford it?

These are just two issues, but there are countless others, and I think these too are moral issues the same way abortion and homosexuality are. I hate the idea that Christians are being thrown the bones of comforting views on abortion and homosexuality and then turning a blind eye to all other issues.

As to the Palin pick being also about trying to get Hillary Clinton supporting women on board, I think this is just insulting! It assumes that women were only supporting Hillary because she was a woman and not because they have strong political views. I’m not a woman, but if that was remotely behind the move to pick Palin, I’d be very offended.

I’ve been alarmed at how suddenly the Christian right is now fully jumping on board because of the Palin VP pick. And I’m alarmed at the hypocrisy of some of those representing the Christian right. If Obama had a 17 year old daughter who was pregnant, would this have been James Dobson’s response: “The media is already trying to spin this as evidence that Governor Palin is a hypocrite, but all it really means is that she and her family are human.”? I suspect if this was a Democrat, he’d have been far less gracious. And that’s putting it mildly.

(Having said that, I don’t think that someone’s child should be part of the political debate at all. I’m glad to say Obama came straight out and said this was off-limits.)

A few disclaimers. As those of you who reguarly read my blog know, I’m hoping Obama wins the Presidential election in November. I think his policies are much better than McCain’s and will move America forward far better than McCain could. (Note, I don’t think he’s right on everything by any stretch, just a better option the McCain. I may post on my issues with Obama soon.) At the same time, I don’t begrudge anyone disagreeing with me. There are many good people who will choose to vote for McCain, and that’s fine. My only hope is that it’ll be for comprehensive and all-encompassing policy reasons and not petty ones.

Though I realise my comments are pretty hard-hitting on the Christian right, I am not suggesting every Christian who votes for McCain is a two-issue voter. Just my frustration that that does appear to be the case with a big proportion on the Christian right.

Ok, I’m done.

What do you think?

Clinton to concede tonight?

Those of you who have been reading The Sixth Sense for a while will be aware of my interest in the US Democratic nominations. It has been fascinating to see this battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama unfold. I am really hoping things will come to an end tonight as the last two states have their say.

From an outside to the US looking in, it feels like the superdelegates are at fault for allowing this to drag on as long as it has. It seems like they have endlessly been waiting for Hillary to make a graceful exit on her own terms. But that was never very likely. She’s a fighter who - in my mind at least - seems to be more about herself than the Democratic party.

If the superdelegates had shown some conviction the Democrats could be in a lot better position than they currently are. As the process has drawn on and on, the divisions between the two camps have got wider and wider. It seems like there is a lot of anger and bitterness. There is a lot more work to be done to bring the party together than there would have been if the superdelegates had acted with conviction earlier in the process.

Having said that, I do think the ‘we’re going to vote for McCain’ line that people from both camps are saying if their candidate doesn’t win is not going to be a major issue when the dust settles and the nomination is finalised. It’s an emotional response and not a realistic one.

If someone suddenly switches from Clinton to McCain is just shows that it is nothing to do with politics. Obama and Clinton are really very close on most issues. So, as things settle down, I think the two camps will predominantly come together. They’ll always be a few crazy people though! (Especially in America!)

So, I’m hoping tonight that this nomination is settled, Clinton concedes, and then she works her butt off to bring her supporters behind Obama. And then the real fun and games can go to stage two ahead of the November general election.

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What do you think?

Presidential math(s)

Despite the fact that my voice has such global influence, I am not in the business of endorsing US Presidential candidates. (Sorry Hillary, Barack, John.)

That said, those of you who follow The Sixth Sense will no doubt have detected a definite slant towards Obama in the fight for the Democratic nomination.

The last few days have uncovered another reason why I have this slant: Hillary is terrible at math(s).

For some bizarre reason she thinks she has a larger share of the popular vote than Obama. (Details here). Sadly - for her - no one else agrees. Or, to put it another way, everyone else knows how to actually add up.

This is SERIOUS manipulation of numbers that seems to be either absolute desperation or downright dirty. Or possibly a combination of both.

Whatever the case, these are not the kind of qualities I’d be looking for in a potential President of the United States of America.

What about you?

UPDATE:

• There’s a good, semi-related piece by Michael Tomasky in today’s Guardian. Check it out.
• Also, Clinton is getting into more and more debt. $31 million to be precise. Details here.

A new kind of model

Following on from yesterday’s post about a new kind of leadership, in the same article I referred to, there was another fascinating comment by Peter Leyden of the New Politics Institute. Here’s what he had to say:

“What’s amazing is that Hillary (Clinton) built the best campaign that has ever been done in Democratic politics on the old model—she raised more money than anyone before her, she locked down all the party stalwarts, she assembled an all-star team of consultants, and she really mastered this top-down, command-and-control type of outfit. And yet, she’s getting beaten by this political start-up (Barack Obama campaign) that is essentially a totally different model of the new politics.” (Emphasis mine)

My interest in sharing this is not as a political statement. I do think though that there are parallels for those of us who are involved in organisations, businesses, churches, etc. One of the biggest challenges is making sure we don’t become slaves to any one model. Because the world around us is constantly changing we too need to have models that are flexible enough to adapt.

Something we all need to think about is whether we see the world around us through the models we use or whether we see the world around us and then choose models to serve the world as it is.

As well as this, another thing we can draw out from the differences between the Clinton and Obama campaigns is that Clinton was institution based whereas Obama was people based. And the reality is that people’s trust of institution is in rapid decline (particularly amongst the younger generations).

Whatever our organisation, do we want it to be an institutional hierarchy or a people based movement?

What do you think?

If you haven’t already, please reply to the ‘Who Are You?’ post. Thanks!

A new kind of leadership

I just came across this from Barack Obama’s new-media director Joe Rospars. He was talking about how the Obama camp has been able to build such a successful grassroots campaign, particularly in relation to raising funds.

“We’ve tried to bring two principles to this campaign, one is lowering the barriers to entry and making it as easy as possible for folks who come to our Web site. The other is raising the expectation of what it means to be a supporter. It’s not enough to have a bumper sticker. We want you to give five dollars, make some calls, host an event. If you look at the messages we send to people over time, there’s a presumption that they will organize.” (Emphasis mine)

Read the full article here.

This really resonated with me because it captured precisely some of what we’ve been trying to do with pioneering Mosaic here in Sheffield. 

Mosaic is a movement of dreamers and visionaries who are working together to try and create a world that works for everyone. At the heart of this movement, is a community of followers of Jesus Christ.

And, as a community, two of our expressed goals have been to:

• Lower the bar on what it means to be and do ‘church’
• Raise the bar on what it means to be a follower of Christ

People have had enough of being spectators. They want to be involved. For too long leadership has been about doing it yourself. Leadership should be about equipping and empowering others to be involved and engaged.

This is why Obama is on the brink of winning the Democratic nomination when he should never have been in with a shout. And this is the direction leaders of any kind of community need to go if they’re not going to get left behind in this new 21st century world.

What do you think?

Don’t forget to reply to the ‘Who Are You?’ post. Thanks!

John Edwards (finally) endorses Obama

He’s taken his time deciding (and he still may not be in agreement with his wife) but John Edwards has come out to give his support to Barack Obama. After a bit of bad press following the thumping in West Virginia, this was good timing!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OShT_QK5WTI]

You can read more of the story here.

Don’t forget to reply to the ‘Who Are You?’ post. Thanks!

Hillary wins but it is irrelevant

All week the US news sites were saying that Hillary Clinton was out of the Democrat nominee race.

Not only that, they were saying this whilst at the same time acknowledging that she will win BIG in West Virginia.

And then, when she does win big (like they said she would), the news sites are suddenly asking whether this now changes things.

This was always going to be a win for Clinton. We knew all week she would win big. Everyone said all week that her winning big was pretty much irrelevant. And then, when the big win happens, suddenly it’s relevant?!

Oh come on! Stop playing games. Anyone with half a brain knows this is all over. Stop selling news and start reporting.

Here’s the reality as I see it. Obama has:

• More popular vote
• More states won
• More pledged delegates
• More super delegates

In light of that, with 5 states left to vote, how is anything going to change? Are the super delegates really going to go against Obama now? Of course not. Why? Because, at this stage, to hand Clinton the nomination is to hand the Republicans the White House come November.

All that to say last night made NO difference to the nomination so stop trying to pretend otherwise news you US news agencies!

What do you think?

Don’t forget to reply to the ‘Who Are You?’ post. Thanks!