This morning I was watching the film, RKO 280. In 1941, RKO Pictures made news when they gave an unprecedented contract to a 25 year old "boy genius" named Orson Welles. Welles, a product of the New York stage and radio, was to write, direct and star in a film, the script of which hadn't even been written yet. A year and a half earlier he had made national news when his radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, written as an ongoing, "live" newscast, had much of the country believing that the planet Earth was being invaded by Martians. When Welles and company arrived on the RKO sound stage to commence with the production of his film, he had absolutely no idea how to make a movie. All he had was a vision and he needed to translate that vision to the crew that would be working with him. As a result of his lack of any preconceived notions regarding the mechanics of film making, he would merely ask RKO for the seemingly impossible and think nothing of it. The technicians responded to the challenge. The result was Citizen Kane, undoubtedly the greatest American movie ever made..
This got me to thinking about the argument that has been made in some political circles - Right and Left - with regard to Barack Obama and his lack of experience. If history is to be any guide (and it usually is a very reliable one) Senator Obama's so-called "lack of experience" might be just what this troubled country needs at the moment. As the legendary New York Governor Al Smith used to say, "Let's look at the record":
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Dwight D. Eisenhower was the last Republican president worth a damn. It was he who, in the waning hours of his term of office, had the foresight to warn the American people of the dangers of "the acquisition of misplaced power, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex." Ike had absolutely no political experience before he was elected to the presidency in 1952. He had never held elective office before in his life. He was a military man! And yet (domestically anyway - we won't get into his atrocious foreign policy) he is thought of today as a fairly good and competent chief executive.
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Barack Obama has more experience than Franklin D. Roosevelt had when he took the oath of office on March 4, 1933. Roosevelt's total background as far as elected office is concerned, consisted of a brief stint in the New York State senate - twenty years before his presidency even began - and a single, fairly uneventful term as governor of New York. At the time many people were viewing Roosevelt's election as an accident of history. His own cousin Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Teddy's daughter) would famously dismiss him as "a feather duster". Like Orson Welles, Franklin Roosevelt came to his vocation with no preconceived notions as to what constituted a successful presidency. The first few months of his administration were noted for its broad and bold experimentation. It worked. Although the New Deal was not without its flaws, it was responsible for the creation of a middle class that had not even existed before its implementation. FDR is, I believe, one of the greatest presidents in American history.
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Theodore Roosevelt, is also in the pantheon of great American presidents. It is not by accident that his image is carved for all eternity into the side of Mount Rushmore. TR's accumulative political and legislative experience was a as a New York State Assemblyman and, like his distant cousin Franklin, serving a single term as governor of New York. (Coincidentally, both men would also serve as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, TR under William McKinley; FDR under Woodrow Wilson). Roosevelt had been serving as vice president for a mere six months when in September of 1901, McKinley's assassination elevated him to the presidency. Theodore Roosevelt was the last great Republican president. It was his strong and unwavering belief that big business existed at the pleasure of the people - not the other way around. That is why he has been forgotten by the GOP. TR is today held up as an icon - not by the Republican Party - but by progressives. Life is funny that way, isn't it?
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And while we're on the subject of "experience", let's take a look at the career of the only other great Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Hillary Clinton is fond of saying that she and John McCain have years of experience between them and that all Barack Obama has is "a speech". Yeah, right. He does have a speech. Guess what old Abe Lincoln had in 1860 when his party nominated him to be their standard bearer. You guessed it: a speech. On June 16, 1858, in front of a thousand or more delegates at the Illinois State House, Lincoln proclaimed that:
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"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free."
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That speech, which was carried in newspapers all across the country, did more than anything to cement Lincoln's national reputation. His total experience had been a single term as a congressman from Illinois a full twelve years before the commencement of his administration and a couple of years in the Illinois legislature nearly three decades before. And yet, this totally green, obscure, prairie lawyer from Illinois would save this country from its darkest inclinations.
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One-hundred and forty-eight years later, we have come face-to-face with another obscure, inexperienced politician from Illinois. Who knows? Maybe he is just what we've been waiting for.
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Hillary Clinton's main talking point has been that she was a major player in the Clinton White House. I'm sure that's true. The only problem with that is the uncomfortable fact that her husband's two terms in office were a disaster for the country in general and progressive politics in particular. America does not need a second Clinton administration. If she is handed the nomination at the Democratic Convention in Denver this summer, John McCain, beyond any doubt, will be the next president of the United States. But let's give the poor, pathetic woman the benefit of the doubt and say that she does have a chance at being elected in November. What would that mean? Just look at all of the scandals that have been brewing at the surface of one of the most disastrously run campaigns in recent memory! Do you really think that these silly people are going to get their act together by January 20, 2009? Think again.
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Between you and me and the lamp post, both Senators Obama and Clinton have been so damaged during this primary season, the Democrats would be smart to come up with a "compromise candidate" that the convention could unite behind. But that's not likely to happen. Why? Because the best thing that can be said about the Dems these days is that they are not quite as dumb as the Republicans. That being the case, I'll take newcomer Barack Obama over the "experienced" Hillary Clinton any day of the week.
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"The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defence of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of their devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain."
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Barack Obama
October 2003
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Yeah. The only thing Barack Obama has going for him is a speech. And do you know what? It's a damned good one! Honest Abe would be proud.
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Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
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SUGGESTED READING:
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With Malice Toward None:
The Life of Abraham Lincoln
by Stephan B. Oates
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Photograph to the left of column is of Orson Welles, circa 1942.
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