Tikkun Magazine, January/February 2008
The Presidential Primaries
Dear Brother Barack
by Obery Hendricks
I write to you today not as a politician, but as a brother in faith. And I want you to know that I have been watching you. I've read your words, listened to your speeches, and scrutinized your record. I have watched, not as one enamored of your charisma and oratory, but as one who has known more political disappointments than I care to count Yet, as I've trained my gaze upon you these last months I've come to sense the possibility that within you is a spiritual imperative, to serve God by serving your neighbors, that few possess in this—or any other—campaign season. I've sensed the possibility that you have the gifts, the spiritual depth, the moral courage and the sincere will to become an agent of constructive social and political transformation in our nation, the likes of which we have not seen in decades. It seems to me a real possibility that the motivating values of your politics are the same as the motivating values of our shared faith: love, justice, and service to those to whom Jesus himself gave special attention, "the least of these," our most vulnerable and needy sisters and brothers of all faiths, nationalities, tongues, and hues. I venture to suspect that we hold in common the belief that "love your neighbor as yourself" is more than just a quaint biblical saying; I suspect that you are as convinced as I that it is a biblical imperative that must be applied to all people in all walks of life.
I do believe that these are real possibilities. Yet it seems that thus far they remain only possibilities. That is why I am writing to you today, brother Barack, to encourage you to manifest the spiritual power of your vision in the hard, loveless terrain we call American politics. What would it take to manifest that power in your campaign and your presidency? I believe it is this: that you become a tireless and uncompromising seeker.
Seek to give full reign to the spiritual strength within you, to drink even more deeply from the spiritual well of your faith.
Seek to honor that faith by eschewing amoral image-crafters and poll-driven policies.
Seek to speak truly about the terrible betrayal of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that today stains the hands of the many who falsely claim to serve us.
Seek justice in education. Seek justice in wages and fair treatment of workers. Seek justice for the innocent, care for the aged, protection for the young.
Seek to end the corporate debasement of this nation's ability—and its will—to feed every hungry child, to safeguard their well-being and bequeath to them an ecological environment and a body politic that gives life instead of destroying it. That also means finding a way to rework your own healthcare plan to cover every American, as love for our neighbor demands.
Seek to attain the high perch of the presidency, yes, but keep your eyes on the greater prize: leading our nation to fulfill the promise of its creed.
Most importantly, seek to be a servant of love, mercy, and justice before every personal and political consideration.
Yet while you are seeking, there are also things you must stop.
Stop flirting with the pandering militarism of your opponents. Words of bombing and death are what you are called to silence, not repeat.
Stop attacking your political rivals. They are only symptoms of the problem. Correct their misstatements if you must, but be certain to voice the breadth of your vision and to exhort America to follow a more humane and righteous path at home and in the world.
Finally, brother Barack, there is something you must begin.
Begin to model—really model—a new politics of ethical and moral transformation before our nation forever falls from the high ground of moral purpose into the slimy swamp of corruption, cynicism, and selfishness that has all but overwhelmed us in these last tragic years. Make it your mission to restore America's love, to restore America's righteous works, to restore America's honor.
Let it be a hunger and thirst for righteousness, not a selfish quest for power that orders your steps, crafts your policies, and guides your pronouncements.
Jesus has said, "From whom much has been given, much is required." Barack Obama, in a very short time you have been given much. What is required of you as senator today, and perhaps president tomorrow, is that in all things, at all times, and in every way, you must ever treat the needs of the people you serve as holy, as before God.
In love and faith,
Obery
Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., is professor of biblical interpretation at New York Theological Seminary and author of The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus' Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted.
Source Citation
Hendricks, Obery M. 2008. Dear brother Barack. Tikkun 23(1):36.
