"There are no pitchforks in this populism. No 'self-serving and undemocratic' elites. They're just part of the same America. And yet, there is, in both the language and policies, a deep and profound commitment to 'ordinary Americans,' to their security and their chance to get ahead. And while the attack on Wall Street is muted, the sense that it has obligations beyond short-term profits is loud.
"This inclusive, communitarian populism is characterized by few enemies and very little talk of 'rights.' Forced by Tom Brokaw to define health care as either a right or a responsibility, Obama called it, 'a right,' and said his health plan would make it one. But on his own, that's rarely how he talks about health care or economic fairness -- both are wrapped up in a sense of national purpose, not individual rights: 'That's not ... who we are.' Obama doesn't talk about 'responsibility' in McCain's sense -- you're responsible for your health and if you get sick and can't afford it, tough -- but a deeper responsibility to engage and build the kind of system or order that achieves these goals."
A lot of liberals have been frustrated at Obama's refusal to condemn the people we see as being on the other side. I think he's been smart. Movement conservatives, Wall Street, and "predatory capitalism" are destroying themselves. I trust Obama over anyone else on the political horizon as the candidate most able to put America back together again. And a group of angry partisans over here on the left can't do that with their pitchforks. It has to be done by all of us, not by some of us while the rest stomp off in a fury.
"...[Obama's campaign] is deeply reflective of the best in American populism, what the historian Lawrence Goodwyn called, 'the movement culture' characterized by 'collective self-confidence,' and the active engagement of millions in the practice of democracy.
"Goodwyn notes that the late 19th Century populists were naïve in certain ways: failing to anticipate the barriers to bringing farmers, urban workers and rural African-Americans together in a single movement; or the counter-tactics that would derail their effort 'to bring the corporate state under popular control.' And Obama's soft, communitarian populism may similarly understate the structural divisions in society or the disruptive power of predatory capitalism. But these are different times, Obama's movement has different origins, the corporate state lies in ruins, and we really are all in it together." ... Mark Schmitt at American Prospect ...
