Why Don’t The Conservatives Love Obama?

I’m being serious here. That was the thought I had after listening to Obama’s speech to the parliament in Ghana on Saturday morning. If you missed the speech you can find it here, and it’s well worth a read.

The speech contained a healthy dose of optimism (a.k.a. ‘hope’, Obama’s rhetorical trademark), mixed with elements of his own family history in Africa – his grandfather, who worked as a cook and despite being a respected village elder was called “boy” by his British employers, his father who started out herding goats in a rural village. The vignettes were meant to convey the message that no matter how humble your roots, we can all achieve something greater. He mixed in some religious elements, “we are all God’s children”, before he launched into the main message of the speech: that Africa, and Africans, must take responsibility for their own future, they can no longer give their tacit approval to corrupt governments and despotic leaders. Nor can they rely on foreign aid as a way of life, Obama, in so many words, said that America was happy to offer a hand up, not a hand out to Africa, and was eager to work with Africans to help spur their own development.

All in all it was an excellent speech and a message that governments across Africa needed to hear. But it’s also a speech that conservatives in America should have eaten up since so much of it was straight out of the Great Conservative Handbook.

Think about it - the speeches of the most revered conservative of the past generation, President Ronald Reagan, were filled with optimistic images (“it’s morning in America”), one of Reagan’s most often quoted rhetorical flourishes was his description of the United States as “the shining city on the hill.” Reagan also tended to use his humble mid-western upbringing as a way of illustrating the unlimited possibilities America afforded to anyone willing to work hard for their future.

George W. Bush, our most recent conservative leader, often worked religious imagery into his presidential speeches, like Obama’s “we are all God’s children” line. And the call for personal responsibility (from Obama’s Ghana speech: “you have the power to hold your leaders accountable and to build institutions that serve the people”) , has been the cornerstone of more conservative speeches, talking points and op-ed pieces than I can count.

Of course the conservative talking class has been nearly universal in their condemnation of Obama’s foreign policy, handling of the economy and health care reform ideas, even tarring him with their ultimate insult: he’s a socialist! And that’s too bad, because if they could set aside the politics for a minute, they might find a guy who, on some topics at least, is speaking their language.