| A Ken Burns endorsement in New Hampshire is big news; Senator Obama should count himself as lucky to have it.
But the even bigger story riding on top of this is why the Walpole documentarian decided to speak out. He says we need "a leader who calls upon on each and every one of us to heed the better angels of our nature and not - and not - our basest fears." Clearly this is a reference to the Senator Clinton's terrible, awful, not very good last week, courtesy of Billy Shaheen.
Looking beyond that, though, I see in Burns someone who speaks Obama's language. And I mean that quite literally. Here's Ken talking about his WWII doc, a little over a year ago: World War II was the last time America was united behind a common goal, what Burns called "the greatest collective effort in the history of our country." Common sacrifice is lacking today, he said.
"We now have a military class in this country that suffers apart and alone, whereas there wasn't a family on any street in America that wasn't in some way touched by the war," he said, adding that during World War II, everyone had to do without and had to deal with rationing and shortages.
"When 9/11 happened, what were you asked to do? Nothing. Go shopping. That's what we were told," Burns said. "Go shopping. It's ridiculous. Nobody said, 'This is a war borne of oil. Turn your thermostats down five degrees.'" Now listen to Senator Obama, from less than two weeks ago:The sacrifices made by previous generations have never been easy. But America is a great nation precisely because Americans have been willing to stand up when it was hard; to serve on stages both great and small; to rise above moments of great challenge and terrible trial.
One of those moments took place on September 11, 2001. Whether you lived in Manhattan or here in Mount Vernon, you felt the pain and loss of that day not just as an individual, but as an American. That's why we lined up to give blood. That's why we held vigils and flew flags. That's why we rallied behind our President. We had a chance to step into the currents of history. We were ready to answer a new call for our country. But the call never came. Instead, we were asked to go shopping, and to prove our patriotism by supporting a war in Iraq that should never have been authorized, and never been waged.
We have lost precious time. Our nation is less secure and less respected in the world. Our energy dependence has risen, and so has the specter of climate change. Add to that the fact that Burns' collaborator and fellow Walpole man Dayton Duncan already endorsed Obama a while back, and today's news makes perfect sense. |
