{"id":2962,"date":"2008-03-11T07:52:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-11T13:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/hope-is-a-good-thing\/"},"modified":"2008-03-11T07:52:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-11T13:52:00","slug":"hope-is-a-good-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/hope-is-a-good-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope is a good thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Dr. James \u201cJim\u201d Kadlecek<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHope is a good thing\u2026 maybe the best of things\u2026 and no good thing ever dies.\u201d – \u201cAndy\u201d from The Shawshank Redemption<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At a local restaurant the other day, I asked the young college student waiter if he was following the presidential race. He responded, \u201cYou bet. I\u2019m for Obama<\/a>!\u201d I asked why. He said, \u201cHe gives me something to hope for.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

My son JJ (age 49, and living in Colorado<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>) recently wrote me, explaining his perspective on the presidential election. I\u2019ve asked him if I could share his views with you, the readers of this blog. So, here are excerpts from his letter, which I believe goes a long way toward explaining the reasons many Americans are attracted to Obama as a presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He starts by commenting on his admiration for Bobby Kennedy<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cBobby gave us hope, and an understanding of the obligations of freedom, which was so desperately needed by the nation at that time (1968). But those hopes all died with him the morning he was assassinated. Bobby was a youthful 42 years of age, and had served only a brief time in the Senate. He had distinguished himself as attorney general and as special counsel, yet his political wisdom came not from the experience of years, nor did it come from a privilege of association or a manipulation of people and power. It came from the wisdom of his heart and mind, from a deep-felt dedication to America<\/st1:country-region> and her people, and from the belief that the ideal of America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> is greater than the sum of ideas that bred hatred and injustice and greed and war. Bobby didn\u2019t want to be president \u2013 he felt he had no choice.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I distinctly recall the empty feeling \u2013 the void in my heart \u2013 when my time to participate in our most precious of freedoms came. What was absent? Each election I\u2019d vote, but without enthusiasm \u2013 indeed, with a great deal of cynicism. What had happened to the dream? Had we really lost all that Bobby and Martin<\/a> and John<\/a> stood for? Did hope truly die in 1968? Were we doomed to watch our ever-eroding freedoms slip away in favor of corporate control of our politics and the puppets they place in our highest offices? Must our dream of equity and truth finally give way under the weight of paranoia, radical fundamentalism, fear mongering and the contemporary resurgence of that same hatred and injustice and greed and war \u2013 no longer hidden in the jungle camouflage of protecting democracy, but concealed in the desert fatigues of a secure America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

2008 brings another election cycle, and for the first time in 40 years, and maybe for the last chance of my lifetime, I feel moved by a candidate. His opponent is correct \u2013 he doesn\u2019t have the same years of experience \u2013 but that may make him less guilty than those who\u2019ve played an active role in helping us stumble to the cliff\u2019s edge we now find ourselves facing \u2013 whether by their action or lack of it. She is also right, in that what he says are after all, just words. But, what words. Words that inspire hope, deliver pride, cause enthusiasm and drive Americans to participate in their freedom. Those sound like the right words, like words I remember hearing Bobby Kennedy speak, like words I\u2019ve waited 40 years to hear again.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But his opponent fails to tell the whole story. His words are also full of substance and detail, full of fact and truth, courage and risk \u2013 and when we need to hear it, he may be the only candidate with the nerve to tell us that we need to sacrifice.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

John asked us what we can do for our country. Martin asked us to look in our hearts and find the dream. Bobby asked us to remember who we are, and to become once again brothers and countrymen. We are at a time when we will again need to be asked to do all of these things, and more. For the first time in 40 years, there may be a leader we can follow. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Obama \u201808. It\u2019s time for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It is definitely time for a change<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I understand full well that there are those who feel just as strongly for Hillary Clinton<\/a> or John McCain<\/a> as my son does regarding Barack Obama. But if you believe, as two-thirds of Americans do, that our country has been on a very destructive and dangerous course in recent years, we can certainly agree that it is definitely time for a major change in direction.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In my lifetime, I don\u2019t recall a time when the world faced such dangers. The triple threats of terrorism, nuclear proliferation and global warming are potentially catastrophic dangers. America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> and the world need leaders who will move us toward unity and peace, and away from perilous military strategies that only serve to cause more enmity and distrust and that actually exacerbate the problems we face.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In 1993, the eminent scholar and international leader Dr. Harland Cleveland<\/a> published his book, The Birth of a New World<\/st1:place>, in which he described our times as \u201can open moment for international leadership.\u201d Cleveland<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> described with amazing accuracy the circumstances and the dangers facing the post-Cold War world, including the threat of terrorism. He laid out a set of diplomatic, educational, technological and political strategies to deal with the situation. He saw an opportunity then \u2013 the \u201copen moment\u201d \u2013 for leaders to step forward collaboratively in the interest of world peace and preservation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cleveland<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> quoted Thomas Paine<\/a> in the preface to his book: \u201cWe have it in our power to begin the world all over again. A situation similar to the present hath not appeared since the days of Noah until now. The birth of a New World<\/st1:place> is at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Certainly the situation of the ultimate world peril that now exists has not happened before. So one can hope the historic moment that Cleveland<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> saw in 1993 can somehow be resurrected by our new president, in cooperation with other world leaders.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Hopefully so.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kadlecek<\/a> has lived in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> since 1996, served in the Colorado Legislature and holds a doctorate in public administration. He\u2019s the author of the book \u201cCapitol Rape.\u201d His column runs on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month and other times that he gets fired up about something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. James \u201cJim\u201d Kadlecek \u201cHope is a good thing\u2026 maybe the best of things\u2026 and no good thing ever dies.\u201d – \u201cAndy\u201d from The Shawshank Redemption At a local restaurant the other day, I asked the young college student waiter if he was following the presidential race. He responded, \u201cYou bet. I\u2019m for Obama!\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kadlecek-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}