"Spare Change: Change vs. Experience - Clinton vs. Obama" - excerpt

I just came across a brilliant post by my dear friend Andy Bonime. He articulates this better than I can, so I am pasting an excerpt. To view his entire article, go to cloudshine.wordpress.com

"Senator Obama, in my estimation, represents the most visible and visceral, if not symbolic break with the past. This country has undergone severe damage under George W. Bush. Aside from the measurable issues and events we all know about, the one truly damaging effect of the Bush presidency is the destruction of the American spirit and sense of who we are and what we stand for. You cannot claim that our enemies hate us for our freedom, and then use their existence as an excuse to destroy that very freedom. The willingness to fear-monger away the principles this country was founded on is an arguably treasonous and reckless disegard for the very bedrock philosophical basis for this country. Those freedoms so easily compromised are embodied in the very symbols of this country that those who destroy it so often put forth as if they ARE the country: The flag, our troops, our Constitution, The Declaration of Independence. Those are all symbols that politicians invoke when they want to stand as the apotheosis of the American ideal. Yet those symbols stand for something. And that something has been lost under the current President. We no longer have a right to be “Proud to Be an American” if that America condones torture, starts preemptive wars, and uses the tragedy of 9/11 as an excuse to move our democracy toward tyranny."