All Posts Tagged With: "truth"

The only political cliché more abused than “Nixon goes to China” is “speak truth to power.”

Both of these are supposed to be courageous acts—it takes guts for a hardcore anti-communist to jet over to Beijing and schmooze up Chairman Mao, they say. Just as the ultimate act of oratorical valor is supposed to be getting in the face of the President or the CEO and blasting away with both lungs.

Like all clichés, they both have a grain of truth in them, and like most, the remainder is pure, distilled bulls**t. Not only is Nixon going to China an easy, applause-line move—who doesn’t admire a leader who takes the bold step of reaching out to his enemies—but Nixon is the worst possible example of “Nixon goes to China.”

That phrase assumes that Tricky Dick’s lifelong red-baiting arose out of deeply held conviction instead of its real source, deeply held conviction to do anything it takes to get Richard Nixon elected.

Speaking truth to power is similarly overrated. All it takes is the impishness to talk back to “The Man.” And it doesn’t even have to be the truth because everyone hates The Man and loves to see him squirm.

Barack Obama’s Father’s Day speech at Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God—where he preached a fire-and-brimstone sermon on the failings of some African American men to an African-American congregation—is already being called his Nixon goes to China moment.

Google “Nixon goes to China” and you’ll find lots of links to that speech. But the real power in Obama’s heartfelt rant comes not from its setting, but from its target.

In Chicago, last Sunday, Obama did the most difficult, courageous, forbidden thing of all. He Spoke Truth to the Powerless. The cardinal rule in politics is “never blame the people.” It is never their fault, someone else is always to blame, usually The Man. When Barack went off script and ad-libbed “Any fool can have a child” while insisting that real men have the courage to raise their children, he was speaking truth to the powerless. Because he knew that some powerless fools needed to hear it.

Mr. Obama is not the first prominent African American courageous enough to deliver that message where it counted most—Bill Cosby has been doing the same thing for years, and it’s cost him. But he’s the first one with the chance to be President of the United States of America.

It may cost him nothing; speaking truth to the powerless may even help him get elected. But that doesn’t matter. What does is that he told them the truth.

A politician tells the truth—now there’s a Nixon goes to China moment for you.