Letters to the Editor
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Here is Barack Obama's platform:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
The conventional wisdom is that Obama is all inspiring hope and no substance, and I see people repeat that a lot, but somehow I feel like he has a platform when he has dozens of links and thousands of words of policy proposals on his website.
There are moderate independents and Republicans in this nation and in the Congress who agree with Obama about government accountability, healthcare reform, the minimum wage and the war. We will need their agreement to avoid filibusters and pass laws. Barack wants to reach out to them so that we can pass the reforms listed on his website. He thinks this will be more effective than the kind of partisan bickering that has produced the "general betray us" condemnation and the freedom fries resolution and other useless nonsense this decade. He believes that he is the one candidate who can reduce the level of partisanship and increase the level of productivity in Washington (and judging by the speeches of the other candidates, it seems he is the only candidate who is interested in reducing partisanship). Obama's support comes from people who agree with this approach. I think that's a pretty straightforward message, and I must respectfully disagree with Walter Shapiro's "elusive" and "vague" characterizations.