DEFENDERS OF THE STATUS QUO WILL ATTACK OBAMA

This commentary appeared in The Fargo Forum on Sunday August 10, 2008

In a recent column, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote, “I’ll say this about Senator Obama. He sure raises people’s hackles.” Leaders who represent change tend to do that.

Herbert continued, “I’ve never seen anyone so roundly criticized for such grievous offenses as giving excellent speeches and urging people of different backgrounds to take a chance on working together. How dare he? And 200,000 people turned out to hear him in Berlin. Unforgivable.”

We’ve watched the McCain camp sputter in outrage at Obama because he exposed McCain’s gaffes, flip-flops, and tired political games. Republicans call Obama unpatriotic because he wants to conclude a war Americans want to be rid of. McCain even blamed Obama for high gas prices--a dull-witted and clownish assertion. Each week McCain becomes grumpier and looser with the truth. America, in a time of crisis, needs better from McCain than dishonest and sophomoric attack ads that demean the McCain brand.

Powerful politicians invested in the old ways that no longer solves problems suffer hubris, entitlement, and intellectual laziness. They do not offer new solutions to problems. Instead they attack bold and imaginative leaders who offer new approaches to serious issues. Doesn’t Obama know his place?

Anger isn’t the only emotion those who attack Obama feel. Often they feel scared of the change he symbolizes. Obama calls for the renewal of America. This revitalization threatens ambitious politicians and special interests that benefit from the status quo--regardless of the harm to America. Others feel envious of the attention the political rock star receives and try to make people’s attraction to him a character defect. The McCain camps recent “nervous breakdown” over Obama’s successful overseas trip appeared to be fear and envy driven.

University of Oklahoma president David Boren wrote in A Letter to America: “The country we love is in trouble. In truth we are in grave danger of declining as a nation. If we do not act quickly, that decline will become dramatic.” Most Americans say they are unhappy with the direction of the country. Are we ready to do the work of sustainable change?

My experience as a change consultant tells me that most people don’t change willingly or easily; they want to feel better without doing the hard work necessary to improve the health and success of their lives, nation, and organizations. They want a painless and easy quick-fix.

A rule of thumb: 10% will do the work of real change. Another 10% will resist to the death, and the remaining 80% stand around docile and passive.

Pundits say this election will be a referendum on Obama. More broadly it’s a referendum on transformative change. He has to overcome his race, newness on the scene, resistance from the status-quo, and politicians who have left us cynical and disillusioned—no small task.

Most of all he has to confront Americans with the truth and seriousness of our problems and reassure the 80% that they are up to the challenges as Americans throughout history have demonstrated. He can do his part by offering a vision that represents our values and aspirations and arouses our courage.

Arctic explorer Will Steger told area residents last fall that he likes “do or die” situations and that we are in that situation now. And he was only talking about global warming. We also have two wars, a recession, a shrinking middle class, a health care crisis, and an educational system that does not prepare our students for a global economy.

Change has risk. It is riskier to not change. We need to channel our fear and pain away from childish attacks on those who can lead and into good works that renew the American spirit. The alternative for America is continued national decline that will grow increasingly frightening and painful.