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Academic

: Essentially Contested America

Will Obama Be as Thankful Tonight as He ws in Iowa?

By Robert Justin Lipkin

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How many more states will Senator Barack Obama thank tonight? Listen to his inspiring Iowa speech.

Charisma, inspiration, and rock-star status does not a better president make. Substantive values are also critical. Does Obama offer anything in the substantive department? Is he only a harbinger of change without any sense of how American should be changed? Change in itself is of little value, right? Maybe so. Yet, changing to a more inclusive politics, domestically and internationally, transforming American politics to give as much as it takes can constitute an improved deliberative democracy. That is, the art of compromising on policy differences can reinvigorate our political process. Yet, some kinds of change, though "merely" procedural, have enormous value. Indeed, such change represents in itself a substantive value. If elected, can Obama pull it off? Maybe. Today determines, to a large extent, whether he will be given the chance.

Full post as published by Essentially Contested America on February 05, 2008 (boomark / email).