Editorial: The Drama over Obama, Words really do matter

"It's true that speeches don't solve all problems but... ."

LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - The Primary campaign for the Presidency will soon be over; at least in the Republican Party.

Short of a miracle (which Governor Mike Huckabee certainly believes in) Senator John McCain will be the Republican Nominee. The noble and inspiring efforts of Governor Mike Huckabee seem destined to propel him to being a much needed voice at the Republican convention.

Huckabee is an eloquent defender of the dignity of life, the primacy of marriage and the family founded upon it and our obligation in solidarity to the poor.

Some supporters and observers hope his efforts may also lead to his being the Vice Presidential choice for the Republican Party. However, it is seems more probable to this observer that he is now positioned to rebuild what is left of the Republican Party.

As my articles, interviews, editorials and commentaries over the weeks of this Primary campaign have demonstrated, I have been impressed with Governor Huckabee. His is a clear, logical, longstanding and consistent position on the Right to Life and the primacy of Marriage. He supports the necessary Constitutional amendments on both issues.

Of course, because I am committed to the full social teaching of the Catholic Church, I disagree with the Governor in his support of capital punishment. However, among all of the candidates, he at least showed some caution in that area.

He has also shown a genuine concern for the poor in a Party that has never shaken its identification with one end of the economic spectrum. He has appealed to regular folks, demonstrating a refreshing populism lacking in the Republican Party since the days of Ronald Reagan. As his interviews with Catholic Online have demonstrated, he is also NOT anti-Catholic. Those who passed on such a thought were wrong.

Mike Huckabee may well lead a new Republican Party, one which emerges out of the devastation of 2008 much like the Grand Old Party re-emerged after the fiasco of 1976.It took Ronald Reagan then, and it may take Mike Huckabee in 2008.

Like Reagan, the former Governor from Hope Arkansas is an outstanding communicator and is seen as the "real deal" by the real people. One cannot help but smile when he re-enters the campaign this weekend, by bowling.

However, the campaign for the Democratic nomination is still being waged, and, it is getting increasingly intense. There are now daily exchanges between the two candidates, Senator Hilary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. It is to those exchanges and their implications that I now turn.

The most recent skirmish arose over Senator Obama's response to a stinging rebuke from former President Bill Clinton. The surrogate in chief was condescending in his criticism of Obama's message of hope and repeated calls for National unity.

He suggested that the message of the Senator from Illinois was "just words". The candidate herself has made similar comments, regularly telling her supporters that whereas Obama offers words, she offers action.

In response to these attacks, Senator Obama came out with his rhetorical sword sharpened, telling his increasingly large crowds that "Words do matter."

Speaking this weekend, the Democratic frontrunner told a packed house at an event sponsored by the Wisconsin Democratic Party, "Don't tell me words don't matter! 'I have a dream', just words? 'We hold these truths to be self evident that all me are created equal' - just words? 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself?' - just words. Just speeches?

He continued: "...It's true that speeches don't solve all problems, but what is also true is if we cannot inspire the country to believe again then it doesn't matter how many policies and plans we have...That is why we just won eight elections straight, because the American people want to believe in change again. Don't tell me words don't matter!"

Further, in responding to former President Clinton's comments that he needed a "reality check", Obama proclaimed, "Martin Luther King didn't stand on the steps of the Lincoln and say 'go home, ya'll need a reality check.'"

Then, on Monday, the Clinton campaign sought to stop the Obama momentum by leaking that the phrase was similar to another speech, given by someone else. Opposition research was at work overtime this weekend it seems. That effort, launched by the Clinton war room, to insinuate that the superior orator among the two Democratic candidates was a plagiarist, does not seem to have developed any legs.

That is because Governor Deval Patrick is one of Senator Obama's leading supporters.

Governor Patrick told a reporter who inquired about the similarities in his campaign message and Senator Obama's: "Senator Obama and I are long-time friends and allies. We often share ideas about politics, policy and language....The argument in question, on the value of words in the public square, is one about which he and I have spoken frequently before. Given the recent attacks from Senator Clinton, I applaud him responding in just the way he did."

However, the drama over Obama continues and is unlikely to stop. There is no doubt that Senator Barrack Obama is a talented orator. There is also no doubt that rhetoric lies at the heart of politics. It always has. One has only to look to the history of the American political experience to see that words have changed hearts and history.
Words do matter.

One finds confirmation of this obvious connection between rhetoric and politics going all the way back to Aristotle.

When there is a candidate who has the kind of extraordinary ability to inspire crowds, like Barack Obama, no one should be surprised when the crowds gather and his support grows.

However, words must also be examined as to their content. That process is now underway as it relates to Senator Obama.

I recently wrote an editorial following the deadly school shootings in Chicago entitled "Deadly School Shootings, Senator Obama and the Epidemic of Violence" examining two of his phrases, "epidemic of violence" and "empathy deficit". In that piece, and in others, I have begun to examine the well spoken Senators' words and challenge him on the fundamental human rights issue of our age, the right to life from conception to natural death.

Sadly, Barack Obama supports an unfettered "right" to abortion.

However, in what I call the "Drama over Obama", some who read my piece thought I was somehow supporting the Democratic candidate. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was simply being realistic and honest. He is an extraordinary orator and he is winning over many!

That is also why he must be engaged with more than shrill rhetoric and cynical, jaded conservative babble, or dismissive condescension.In my opinion, he may well be occupying the Office of President.

However, to say such a thing gets some people irrationally angry.

Last week, a man I greatly admire, a constitutional law scholar, excellent writer and public policy expert, Professor Doug Kmiec of Pepperdine University, wrote a compelling and intentionally provocative article entitled "Reaganites for Obama? Sorry, McCain. Barack Obama is a natural for the Catholic vote."

In that piece he suggested that Catholics would probably be attracted to the Senator from Illinois, should he become the Democratic nominee. Again, Professor Kmiec did not come out in that article and support Obama. Rather, he pointed out what I also think may indeed occur.

Once again, his article provoked strong reaction.

Today, along with Professor Kmiecs' article, we present "Preacher Man: Barack Obama and the Gospel of Liberalism". This is one more fine piece written by cultural commentator and activist Dr. Deal Hudson, a man I also deeply admire. He is a supporter of Senator John McCain.

The thing I found unfortunate about Dr. Hudson's well written piece critical of Doug Kmiec is the implication behind these words : "Professor Kmiec is just one more law professor hoping for a Supreme Court nomination. Why not get on board the Obama Express early and jump to the front of the line of potential candidates?"

First of all, as a fellow constitutional lawyer with Doug Kmiec, I am convinced that a President Obama would NEVER appoint Doug Kmiec. Anyone familiar with Obama's judicial philosophy and Kmiec's would know that such an appointment is an impossibility.

In fact, any pro-life citizen should welcome a Justice Doug Kmiec. It would be an answer to prayer. Doug Kmiec is a faithful Catholic, an expert on the Social teaching of the Catholic Church, and is, as I am fond of saying,"whole life/pro-life" in its application.

Sadly, to attribute such a motive to Professor Kmiec seemed to me to be an effort to avoid responding to his otherwise 'spot on' criticism of the current state of the Republican Party as it relates to Catholics and the Republican approach to Catholic Social teaching.

There certainly is a "Drama over Obama" unfolding.

One thing is for sure, words really do matter. However, what is most important is that informed Catholic voters thoroughly examine the content of the words spoken by all of the candidates and then, based upon a hierarchy of values, apply the principles of Catholic Social teaching to evaluate them all.

Then, we must exercise what our Bishops call our "faithful citizenship" in a manner that best promotes the building of the culture of life and civilization of love.

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