Ed. Note: This story appeared yesterday in the Eagle Times. CCB
by Chuck Bingaman, Contributing Writer
Dr. Anthony Lake, former National Security Advisor for President Bill Clinton, told a group of 30 people in a Walpole house party Tuesday that the Obama campaign has made him "more excited than any campaign since the first one I worked in to elect John F. Kennedy in 1960."
Lake, who is now Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy at
the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC, explained that a mutual friend from Chicago persuaded him in 2002 to talk by phone about foreign policy issues with a young state senator, Barack Obama, who was running for the US Senate from Illinois. Lake was impressed with Obama's quick grasp of the issues and his understanding of foreigners' viewpoints from his experiences in living abroad. A consulting relationship grew out of those initial conversations that continues very active today."He's authentic. He's real!" according to Lake. "This is very important for the kind of leadership we need. He is actually telling people 'here's where I think we ought to go'. He really is about change!"
Lake summarized his reasons for deciding to back Sen. Obama as political, as related to improving America's image abroad, and as related to Obama's determination to fight terrorism with a broader, more sophisticated policy emphasizing isolating extremists and not vilifying Muslims in general. On the political front, Lake suggested that Obama's record includes bridging policy differences with Republicans and that he would be more likely to break the gridlock in Washington. He also noted that the Obama campaign is the only major campaign that is not taking contributions from lobbyists and is apparently the most successful in attracting independent and even Republican voters.
Addressing the experience issue that some have raised with Obama, Dr. Lake stressed that Obama has, in his view, important experiences from spending part of his youth living in Indonesia and Hawaii, in having spent time in Africa on his own and with his father, and in having served for several years as a community organizer on the tough South Side of Chicago. "Sen Obama knows how the real world works. In the end what experience can give you is sound judgment and on this matter, he is unassailable. For example, he clearly predicted what we would get ourselves into with the Iraq invasion and his judgement then has proved very accurate."
"But what really excites me about Obama's campaign," Lake emphasized, "is that he is a unifier! That's why he runs better against Republicans than any other Democratic candidate--he appeals to independent voters and even some Republicans, more than any other Democrat."
That unifying ability, according to Lake, is also why he sees Obama as the most likely candidate to bring about change in the divisive, gridlocked politics we've experienced for the several years. "There is no 'Change' button to push in Washington. You have to bring Congress along, and you have to bring along the bureaucracy and public opinion as well. If there is a destructive, hate-filled Presidential campaign that leaves everyone angry and divided, it will be very hard for any president to get Congressional cooperation for any change. But I think Obama can and will run a positive presidential campaign and can come through it with the respect needed to forge a constructive working relationship with Congress and the bureaucracy."
Obama's unifying nature, even where real differences exist, is also, says Lake, the reason why a President Obama would have a good chance of succeeding on the world stage. "He tends to look at problems as a whole--their histories, their complexities, the consequences of various approaches. He's not an ideologue with preformed views on all topics. Rather, he's shown me the ability to listen to all points of view, to question them and to reach complex approaches that he can present in clear, understandable ways that everyone can understand."
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