I'm an ordained minister specializing in psychotherapy. I bring to the political conversation in America informed respect for the power of "realistic empathy." This term has legs not only in psychotherapy but also in international relations, much less relationships in general. James Blight a psychologist and professor of international relations at the Watson Institute at Brown University, used this term in Wilson's Ghost, the book on international relations he co-wrote with Robert MacNamara. They advocate the straightforward version of intellectually credible empathy, the sort that involves only getting to know players' positions and motives thoroughly. They take pains, as most psychotherapists do, to distinguish empathy from sympathy and argue that empathy in problem solving ventures should never involve agreeing with ones opponents. This turgid distinction misses the point that sympathy never has involved agreeing with it. It involves feeling for the plight of the other. In my view, that should be the test of the accuracy and thoroughness of any attempt to empathize. If your word picture of the other doesn't evoke feeling for, or sympathy, you're less likely to solve problems by empathic means.
I'm for Obama because he knows how to construct an empathic picture of, for instance, blue collar workers, well enough to evoke both sympathy and respect. Because of that ability, I believe he will do truly great things as president.
My wife and son and I live in San Francisco and are involved in the Latin American community here, as well as the Hawaiian and Russian communities. Our son is adopted from Russia, and although he had a horrible start in an abusive orphanage, he is thriving, especially as a trumpet player. He is first trumpet in the All City Band for Middle School Students. My wife is a painter and collector and a lifelong student of the life and works of Frida Kahlo and indigenous Mexican arts and crafts.
