1/11/2008 11:09:00 AM
Bermuda needs to take a leaf out of Obama's book
Backstabbing and racial division should be replaced with idealism and respect
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 | Tom Vesey
Sun columnist |
The Premier has sent congratulations to Barack Obama after his Iowa caucus win.
I assume he sent congratulations to Hillary Clinton after her New Hampshire primary win, but that's another story.
The point is that Senator Obama should be congratulated not just for his election victory, but for showing us the kind of "post-partisan" political sea-change that Bermuda needs even more desperately than the United States does.
If Americans are "tired of division", as Sen. Obama reminds audiences, Bermudians are positively exhausted.
Politics of fear
When he calls on Americans to "reject the politics of fear," he issued a plea that should resonate with Bermuda's voters.
When he declares: "We can disagree without being disagreeable," he offers advice that we in Bermuda really ought to listen to.
And when he argues that the country is "not as divided as our politics suggest," he could easily have been speaking about Bermuda.
Indeed, it is remarkable how little most mainstream political parties differ on most major issues.
Violent objections are most likely to erupt when threats are made, people are insulted, and motives are questioned - not when policies are examined.
That's probably why Sen. Obama has received so much enthusiastic support from people who disagree (without, of course, being disagreeable) with many of his views on specific political issues.
This is logical, and not naïve as some have argued.
People usually don't mind having disagreements with somebody who listens to your views with respect, involves other people in his decision-making, and isn't always 100 per cent convinced he is right.
Such a person is far more likely to find the best solutions to a community's problems, far more likely to satisfy more citizens in the process, and far more likely to heal divisions.
Such a person is far less likely to make devastating mistakes, be it mismanaging a public education system or invading Iraq to destroy non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
Sen. Obama and his supporters frequently describe their campaign as a "movement", and it is.
Imagine what a revolutionary effect his ideas would have in a place like Bermuda, where racial and political divisions are stark and deep and often bitter.
Imagine if anger was replaced with idealism and respect.
Sen. Obama's talk of a "movement" is not grandiose. Idealism and respect is contagious, just as hatred is contagious.
Candidates and political parties feed off each other, matching each other's vitriol, insult for insult.
But the opposite is also infectious.
The Washington Post reports that Hilary Clinton's advisors originally thought Sen. Obama's disdain for partisan animosity would backfire on him: He would not be able to respond to their criticism without being hypocritical.
But her advisors later concluded that the plan was backfiring on Sen. Clinton herself: Whenever her campaign attacked Sen. Obama, it proved the very point that Sen. Obama was trying to make.
By the end of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night, you could see that some lessons, at least, were learned.
All the candidates, victorious and defeated alike, were applauding and congratulating their rivals.
Respect for candidates
John McCain made a point of saying he "respects" all the other candidates.
Sen. Clinton declared "how much I respect our Democratic candidates - they all have put themselves on the line...on behalf of this country we love so much."
Sen. Obama told his followers: "All the candidates in this race have good ideas....All serve this country honourably."
Bet you didn't hear anything like that in Bermuda's election.
It is hard not to compare and contrast.
Can you imagine Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain, or Sen. Clinton describing their opponents (as Dr. Brown described his) as "a morally bankrupt party that speaks with a forked tongue over and over and over again?"
When the primary results were known, the U.S. presidential candidates spoke of respect for their rivals, and a determination to fight on for the good of their country.
In Bermuda, UBP interim leader Pat Gordon-Pamplin complained that people "get the Government they deserve." Her colleague Austin Warner said: "The people of Bermuda have voted for insanity."
Dr. Brown's constituency campaign organiser Andre Curtis boasted: "Not only did we beat that guy - we beat the living crap out of the guy."
Why do Bermudians treat Bermudians like that?
To some extent, it's because they can get away with it.
Too many voters won't think about voting for "the other party", so there's no penalty for offensive, insulting and belittling talk.
Our political leaders see short-term gain emphasizing and increasing Bermuda's divisions: "The other guys are out to destroy you, so you'd better run to us."
The long-term cost, though, is a huge one.
After the election - after talk of dragging people back to slavery and things like that - politicians say they were speaking "allegorically", and there is token talk of healing.
But the fear and suspicion stirred up by harsh words is not the least bit allegorical - and the anger and resentment is too deep to be healed in a hurry.
It is deliberate, it is predictable, and it is avoidable.
It guarantees that our fears and suspicion of each other will continue and increase, and that our divisions will not heal.
It delays the reconciliation of white and black Bermudians, makes large numbers of citizens feel alienated from the political process, and ensures that Government decisions will often be ill-informed and ill-received.
It does not need to be this way, if only we will let Sen. Obama's movement reach us.
But do we have the courage to reject the politics of fear?
Do we have grace to acknowledge that our political opponents can also serve our country honourably?
Do we have the strength to treat each other with respect?
Do we have the self-confidence to change?
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Posted: Monday, January 21, 2008
Comment by:
Black Pearl
Blacks aren't looking for revenge, we are looking for justice, fairness, and equality in the ram of all things. Unlike those who are greedy and want it all for themselves,where they would try to hold another man down to achieve his goals. What we want is to just be left alone to live the way we please, in truth, peace and harmony with the Most High.
Posted: Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Comment by:
Still Learnin...
Are the whites really looking for sympathy?
Are the black people really looking for revenge?
I don't think so...
Sympathy or revenge both achieve nothing at all they are different edges of the same knife and both cut deep and do not heal at all...
Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Comment by:
revenge, not equality
Its sad you'd say that "club".. so instead of equality and harmony, you just want whites to get dragged to that horrid place? very forward thinking of you.
Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Comment by:
Edward E. Smith
Ms. or Mr. Boo Hoo
Whern are we going to stop remininding ourselves about the past?
It hurts my heart when I even hear my son talk abou how Whites treated Us; what can we do abou it today?
How do you think the Israelites should feel towards the Egyptians today, after all there were slaves then!!
Please, let by-gones be by-gons and lets us all Blacks and Whites look toward a common future.
Hurting,
Edward E. Smith, PhD(c)
Posted: Sunday, January 13, 2008
Comment by:
Welcom to the club
Now you know how it all feels dude. We have endured worst all our lives and still now. So welcome to the club. We would never do to you, what you and yours have done to us.
I have no sympathy for ya! Boo Hoo
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