When hope is not enough
By Joan Vennochi | Sunday, December 9, 2007 | The Boston Globe
“…Barack Obama is promising to change politics as usual in America. As Massachusetts already knows, that can be one tough promise to keep.
Last year, Deval Patrick promised to do the same, when he ran for governor. Voters bought the message, making him the first Democrat in 16 years to win the corner office, and the first black candidate to do so. Symbolically, Patrick’s election represented dramatic change for this commonwealth. But his first year in office shows that it can be hard to get beyond being the face of change, to actually changing politics.
Viewed from the Bay State, the similarities between Obama and Patrick are striking. They go beyond skin color, personal charm, Harvard educations, Chicago connections, and a shared political consultant, David Axelrod. Obama’s message during last week’s visit to the Globe was an echo of Patrick’s: hope versus fear, the power of a less partisan agenda, and the appeal of a less polarizing tone. Of course, Obama already test-marketed that message in his 2004 run for US Senate and memorialized it in his book ‘The Audacity of Hope.’….”…BS
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