Barack Obama: smallness of our politics



Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who frequently employs the phrase smallness of our politics in his political speeches, wrote the following on page 41 of his October 2006 book The Audacity of Hope:


 * "[W]hat's troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics--the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and the trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem."

By Sen. Barack Obama

 * "It's the timidity - the smallness - of our politics that's holding us back right now. The idea that some problems are just too big to handle, and if you just ignore them, sooner or later, they'll go away."&mdash;Remarks at EMILY's List Annual Luncheon, May 11, 2006.


 * "But while the world has changed around us, unfortunately it seems like our government has stood still. Our faith has been shaken, but the people running Washington haven’t been willing to make us believe again. Now, it’s the timidity, it’s the smallness of our politics that’s holding us back right now – the idea that there are some problems that are just too big to handle, and if you just ignore them that sooner or later they’ll go away, ..."&mdash;Speech "The End of Small Politics" delivered at the Take Back America Conference, June 14, 2006.


 * "I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. ... But challenging as they are, it's not the magnitude of our problems that concerns me the most. It's the smallness of our politics. ..."&mdash;Chicago NBC 5, January 16, 2007.


 * Note: John Little of Blogs of War commented January 16, 2007, "Obama’s concern about the 'smallness of our politics' isn’t evident in his voting record."


 * "For too long, this debate has been stunted by what I call the smallness of our politics - the idea that there isn't much we can agree on or do about the major challenges facing our country. And when some try to propose something bold, the interests groups and the partisans treat it like a sporting event, with each side keeping score of who's up and who's down, using fear and divisiveness and other cheap tricks to win their argument, even if we lose our solution in the process."&mdash;Speech "The Time Has Come for Universal Health Care", Families USA Conference, January 25, 2007.


 * "All of us know what those challenges are today - a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren't learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges. We've heard them. We've talked about them for years. ... What's stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems."&mdash;Formal announcement for President, February 10, 2007.

By others

 * "I have worked closely with John [McCain] for many years on many issues -- from stopping genocide in the Balkans to combating global warming to creating the 9/11 Commission and enacting its recommendations into law. I have seen John, time and again, rise above the negativism and smallness of our politics to get things done for this country we love so much. I have watched him, time and again, work across party lines to make our country safer and stronger."&mdash;Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) endorsement of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for President, December 17, 2007.

External articles

 * Jay Cost, "Obama Rolls the Dice," RealClearPolitics, January 19, 2007.
 * Tom Bevan, "The Politics of Going Negative," RealClearPoltics, February 17, 2007.
 * Claude R. Marx, "A top Jewish fund-raiser shifts his support to Obama," JTA, May 22, 2007.
 * Karen Tumulty, "Obama Finds His Moment," TIME, November 29, 2007.