Americans value freedom. It is one of the attractions of the United States, still a magnet for the oppressed of the world. Bob Dylan’s anthem, Chimes of Freedom, has a dreamlike quality that articulates an almost religious yearning for justice. President Obama would be well served to listen. His presidency is in the late innings in need of a lift if he has any chance at another four years. One of the joys of iPod shuffle is being surprised by what pops up when you listen. I write this as I fly home to San Diego from New York. When I heard Dylan’s live version of “Chimes” on the iPod—a song I’ve always thought of as one of his greats—it struck me that the song just might help Obama articulate a 2012 version of “Hope” that the country desperately needs. But talk alone won’t do it. Which brings me to a memory of a comeback.
I attended two sessions at the US Open Tennis Championships last week. It reminded me of one of the great days in my personal sports spectator history 24 years ago. After spending a September afternoon at the 1987 US Open, I made my way across Roosevelt Avenue to Shea Stadium to catch a night game between the reigning world champion New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. I met my father, Harry, at the ballpark. We watched as the Mets quickly fell behind with no signs of life for the first five innings; then they came back big, with seven runs in the sixth, and one for the win column. Back then—and still today—the divide between the tennis crowd and the baseball fans offers a sharp contrast, visually striking as you leave the more upscale National Tennis Center for the blue collar ball park across the street. But even the vast majority of the tennis crowd are middle class.
So many “ordinary Americans” (as the politicians like to say), including baseball and tennis fans, are hurting and wondering how we got where we are today. Robert Reich offers a particularly cogent summary answering that question in Sunday’s New York Times. Professor Reich positions his analysis of hope for the middle class not with a baseball metaphor but rather as a “dream within our grasp.” And in his most recent Times column, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman also offers a better blueprint for economic recovery than the one force fed on the president and American people by our current Congress.
The intersection of art and scholarship has been discussed and identified by many. Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman both recognized the artist’s gift for articulating cultural realities with great power and clarity often before scholars study these trends. That’s why the power of a song may just help. Many of us thought Barrack Obama was the man to make the Chimes of Freedom—including economic freedom--flash more brightly when he was elected in 2008. If he is to become a two termer he needs to do more than articulate a vision; he must make the dream a reality. That will take a late inning comeback. Unfortunately, the reality is that members of the opposition are not going to blink. Their goal is to see this president strike out. All one has to do is watch body language and pay attention to the tone of voice of Tea Party faithful when they talk about President Obama--it is personal for them with this president. The idea of a bipartisan era where the good of the country is placed above the need for one party to win has not yet arrived; this current Tea Party tinged Congress does not have an approach that will work.
The sooner Mr. Obama fully embraces the fact that the top priority of the opposing team is to retire his presidency, the sooner he will start saving his chance at a second term. Those who voted for him last time expect him to fight for the middle class and a brighter future. For too many, the feeling of being—in Dyaln’s words—“the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked” is real. That’s the constituency Obama must engage and not cede to the Tea Party. The only way that will happen is by winning the hearts and minds of the American people through action and results, in essence bypassing the “fools on the Hill” who are hurting so many while pretending to be part of the solution. At this point, it is all about jobs. Late inning comebacks happen all the time, especially when the fundamentals are solid and the approach is consistent with the skill of the players on the field. It's time for the president to take his swings and quit hoping for a walk.
