Obama's Mencian Themes

I was as happy as all of those cold people out on the Mall in Washington DC yesterday, even though I watched the proceedings in the warmth of the local movie theater, transformed into a public square for Obama's inauguration.  And as I listened to the speech, I heard some resonances with Mencius.

First this:

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

I want to focus here on the phrase "the force of our example" and think about it in a broader context than foreign policy, in terms of leadership in general. (I should note, however, that the state-controlled media in the PRC cut away from the line about communism in their live feed.  Still scared of Mencius, I guess...).

Leading by example, not by coercion or force, is central to Mencius, and Confucianism generally.  Take this:

Mencius said: "The noble-minded teach in five ways. They transform like rain coming in its season.  They realize Integrity.  They perfect talents.  They answer questions.  They cultivate themselves and so stand apart as examples.  These five ways are how the noble-minded teach. (13.40)

Let's hope Obama moves in this direction.  It may be impossible, in modern politics anywhere, to rely sole or even predominantly on leading by example.  But being able to do so is founded upon a certain kind of acceptance and legitimacy.  If Obama can lead by example, it will be a sign that he is doing things well.  And I like that line about transforming "like rain coming in its season." It captures something of the feeling that many Americans have today.  It was time for a change, and Obama is the embodiment of change.  He is the rain in season.  Now he has to get on to the other forms of Mencian teaching.

And I must say that I was heartened to read that the first phone calls to foreign leaders went to major players in the Middle East, including Palestinian President Abbas.  Helping to rebuild after the horrible Gaza attack and working to prevent further violence there, on all sides, is critically important.

There was another, more prominent, Mencius moment in the speech, here:

...What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

If Mencius had been on the speech writing team he would have included reference to our duty to family and neighbors and friends (which I suspect Obama would have accepted), but he would have accepted the gradually expanding universe of duties running to nation and world.  Remember the bear paw and the fish:

Mencius said: "I want fish, and I also want bear paws.  If I can't have both, I'll give up fish and take bear paws.  I want life, and I also want Duty.  If I can't have both, I'll give up life and take Duty.  I want life - but there's something I want more than life, so I won't do something wrong just to stay alive.  I loathe death - but there's something I loathe more than death, so there are disasters I won't avoid. (11.10)

He puts things rather more starkly than does Obama but the emphasis on Duty is clear.  

The thing about Duty and Mencius, however, is that you have to actually do it.  You can't just talk about it, you have to enact and fulfill Duty.  So, Obama's speech was good, but now is the time to do it.

Comments

[The Western Confucian]

Your post reminded me of another Mencian analogy, which I made into a post of my own: Ann Durham and Mencius' Mother.

[bob]

wow just wow

[isha]

1. To quote Confucius:

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions

2. Mencius might like this:

BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) — China’s State Council, or Cabinet, passed a long awaited medical reform plan which promised to spend 850 billion yuan (123 billion U.S. dollars) by 2011 to provide universal medical service to the country’s 1.3 billion population.
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The plan was studied and passed at Wednesday’s executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
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Medical reform has been deliberated by authorities since 2006.
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Growing public criticism of soaring medical fees, a lack of access to affordable medical services, poor doctor-patient relationship and low medical insurance coverage compelled the government to launch the new round of reforms.
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According to the reform plan, authorities would take measures within three years to provide basic medical security to all Chinese in urban and rural areas, improve the quality of medical services, and make medical services more accessible and affordable for ordinary people.

[isha]

1.

It was the cutting of the "commie" words by the CCTV that made U.S. media crying foul, I am wondering since when did CNN, BBC, Fox News give a live coverage of a Chinese president's speeches,both in China and in U.S. or in any West country??? Did anyone ever cried foul for Western media's censorship?

2.

Maybe it is right that some people in Beijing don't want Chinese people there to remember that they are the commie in the eyes of Washington. It doesn't matter that Deng had long ago betrayed commie doctrines and are actually practicing hyper-capitalism for quite a while while U.S./U.K. is turning "commie" themselves by nationalizing these "bad banks"!!!
Guys in Beijing, you are still the "other." in the core of the empire, suck it up don't change a bit and you have this in-coming to deal with.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/54030466-e8a3-11dd-a4d0-0000779fd2ac.html
3.
Well, here is the result of what these commie turncoats, brought for their people by unconditional surrendering and I am sure Putin remember it and he showed his memory to the Europeans in the dead winter by turning off the gas pipeline.
Well, what goes around comes around... that IS the eternal Taoist theme ...

========================================================================
Soviet sell-offs led to deaths, says study
By Andrew Jack in London

Published: January 15 2009 01:04 | Last updated: January 15 2009 01:04

”Shock therapy”, or rapid mass privatisation, in the former Soviet bloc in the first half of the 1990s was responsible for the early deaths of 1m people that could have been prevented, according to a paper to be published in The Lancet, the medical journal, on Thursday

An analysis of the 3m working age men who died across the former communist countries of eastern Europe suggests at least a third were victims of mass privatisation, which led to widespread unemployment and social disruption

The study adds to growing research in recent years demonstrating how far the economic transition led to widespread suffering through death and physical and mental illness.

The research, conducted by David Stuckler and Lawrence King from Cambridge University and Martin McKee from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, takes a specific swipe at the legacy of Jeffrey Sachs, the US economist, who advocated shock therapy at the time

Mr McKee stressed that death from alcohol poisoning was the most important immediate explanation for the surge in deaths, while poor diet and the increasing gap between western and communist healthcare from the 1960s also contributed.

However, he said redundancies, particularly among the less well educated and those without forms of social support, was one of the main underlying reasons.

Mr Sachs called the paper ”analytically profoundly flawed and did not establish a causal link.” He said a number of the countries studied such as Poland had experienced rapid privatisation accompanied by rising life expectancy, while others like Belarus had little liberalisation but the health of its citizens suffered during the 1990s/

A comment accompanying The Lancet’s paper written by Martin Bobak and Michael Marmot from University College London warned that studies were difficult because communist countries varied in their economic strength, health status and ability of governments to respond to transition.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/44a495ee-e276-11dd-b1dd-0000779fd2ac.html

Isha