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Reverend Obama At USC: Here's Hoping For A Sermon Worth Hearing

Kevin Douglas Grant |
October 20, 2010 | 3:55 p.m. PDT

Executive Editor

As President Obama took the stage at Ohio State University on Sunday, flanked by his wife Michelle, he looked familiar.

He looked like the man who had stopped through Columbus two years before, in October of 2008.  Demonstrating the trademark swagger of Candidate Obama, the now-embattled President Obama joked "She's kinda cute, isn't she?" after taking the podium from Michelle.

Speaking to some 35,000 Buckeyes, Obamas showed support for incumbent Democratic Governor Ted Strickland, embroiled in a tough midterm reelection campaign.

Speaking to the Trojan Nation at the University of Southern California on Friday, Obama will get behind Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and Senate incumbent candidate Barbara Boxer.

For all we know, Obama is the same guy we elected two years ago, though it feels a little different when the economy sucks, much of the country has turned against his policies, and Obama comes through town saying we should hold tight with two less-than-thrilling Democratic candidates.

In the swing state of Ohio, Obama encouraged the young audience to get out and vote.  He tried to scare them about what will happen if they don't, saying: "The other side is counting on all of you having amnesia.  Just forgetting what happened here.  We can’t return to a philosophy that nearly destroyed our economy and decimated the middle class right here in Ohio.” 

It's a little different here in California. The President will be speaking to an audience used to living in its own nation-state, and which loves its Democratic presidents.  The eighth largest economy in the world.  Completely comfortable with massive government funding and an unbalanced budget. 

And we're destroying our middle class just fine by ourselves, thanks.  (Although two wars and a global economic meltdown helped some.)

At USC, he'll be speaking to mostly well-educated people, many used to spending time on the cutting edge of the American economy.  Used to following politics but not expecting too much.  Used to hating their state leadership (hasta la vista, Governator). 

And more than anything, we're used to living in a place that now regularly inspires hyperbolic lamentations like "failed state" and "death of the American dream."  But like the United States, we're still here at the helm, for better or worse. 

If I were Barack Obama, I would take a close look at the similarities between California and the United States.  Looking out at a sea of liberals, I'd point directly at the growing socioeconomic disparity, the failing schools, the decaying infrastructure and the anti-immigration mania.

But I'd also look at the support for green jobs, the blending of Latin and Anglo cultures, the willingness to push forward the national conversation on issues like marijuana legalization, charter schools and transportation.  Los Angeles in particular is a strange and uniquely damaged place, but (among other things) it has also given birth to a pretty incredible bicycle activism movement and a pragmatic (if severly underfunded) approach to gang prevention.

It's no bed of roses here, and nobody thinks so.  But it would be nice to hear Obama talk specifically about our state, blue as it is, and give us some specifics about why we should take his recommendation for Brown and for Boxer. It would be nice to hear about real issues, like the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Guantanamo, health care reform, and education. 

If it comes down to: "Look, guys, I can't go into all the issues now but we simply can't lose Congress and still expect to get a damn thing done," then fine. But Obama's making a stop in Los Angeles to essentially preach to the choir about the importance of keeping certain liberals in key seats.

It would be nice to be reminded about why we should.

 

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