On Cynicism
My family's email list has exchanged a round of email about the election. One of my uncles emailed everybody to celebrate Obama's victory, one of my aunts replied, basically, to say "Congratulations, and I hope you're right," and my dad responded like so:
Hi, y'all. Maybe it's because I've been sick since Friday, and I'm a bit of a curmudgeon anyway but it appears to me that nothing has been won yet.
President-elect Obama now has the privilege of negotiating a troop withdrawal agreement with Iraq, a country now perpetually on the brink of civil war, managing a worsening conflict in Afghanistan, repairing relations with erstwhile ally Pakistan while not offending India, dealing with the worst economic crisis in our lifetime.....well, you get the picture.
What I saw in this election that worried me the most was the deep distrust and fear that many Americans had toward each other. Although I have to admit I am pleased with his election, I'm not breaking out the champagne (right now, it would be water and dry toast anyway--ick!) until President Obama does something President Bush (and many others) never did--pick a Cabinet and policy initiatives which reflect the diversity of the country and lower even a little the level of distrust and fear.
Other than that, enjoy the moment!
I had a thing or two to say about that. Because I am apparently too sleepy to make an lj-cut work even when I copy the code verbatim from a previous entry, here's my response in its entirety.
***
Clearly President Obama (man, I love saying that) will face staggering challenges as he takes office, challenges that won't be resolved for years to come. But the fact that he was elected at all is cause for celebration--first, because I believe he is almost infinitely better equipped to face those challenges than Senator McCain, having demonstrated the ability to inspire a broad spectrum of the American people, articulate a path for them to follow to a better tomorrow, and surround himself with the sort of expertise that Democrats have so sorely lacked in recent years; and second, because, as you say, this election exposed some of the worst fractures in American unity and some shameful attempts to play on the fears and doubts about one another that still divide us--and it didn't work. The cries of "Country First" and "Drill, Baby, Drill" were not just ignored but shouted down, by a decisive margin, and this country spoke loud and clear that you've got to do more than scare us to get us to vote for you. This election is a referendum on failed lassez faire economic policies, failed imperialist foreign policy, failed corporate welfare policies--on the failure of the politics of fear and division (as Obama named them), at least for now. It's a clear signal to the Republican party that they are going to have to do a heck of a lot better than stale talking points, stupid buzzwords, and transparent bids to appeal to both sides of their unnatural, (finally!) fraying coalition between fiscal conservatives and social conservatives. I even dare to hope that some good, faithful social conservatives (hi, Aunt Carol!) will notice that only one presidential candidate in this election is a regular churchgoer and devoted parent who's never been divorced, who sounds a whole lot smarter and more substantive than the token social conservative on the Republican ticket.
Speaking as someone who has spent his entire political life under the thumb of a president and an administration I don't like, trust, respect, or support, who has had his patriotism questioned for arguing for what's right, who has seen inspiring figures like Howard Dean and the John McCain of 2000 thrown under the bus of party machinery and sound-bite "journalism" in favor of safe, dishwater-dull failures like Kerry and puffball politicos like Bush, who is deathly sick of seeing good people in both parties lied to by their leaders, I can't express how exhilarating it was to vote for someone who genuinely inspires me and to see that person take the stage as president-elect with (at least) 62 million other voices behind him--no half-percent margin, no stolen states and ugly lawsuits, but a clear and resounding victory and an electoral map noticeably different from the one I'd come to take as a given. Even if both sides of the debate have been a bit insubstantial at times, it's a nice change to see words of hope triumph over words of fear.
Yes, this is all awfully naive of myself and the other young people who helped elect Obama, who haven't seen so many other political hopes dashed. Yes, there's a real possibility that his best intentions and efforts will not succeed, that the challenges facing him are out of his control, that four years from now things will be worse instead of better, that we will once again elect those who cynically exploit power for the benefit of their own interests. Yes, there certainly is still cause for worry, fear, and doubt about the future of this country and the debate about its direction.
But for the first time in (at least) eight years, I'm excited, rather than scared, to see it all unfold.
And while this is a victory, it's the beginning of a journey, not the end. There's no sense from where I'm sitting that now this is over and we can all go home. Instead, there's a very real feeling that when the celebration is over, it's time to roll up our sleeves and do the work it will take to make this country great again. And, from where I'm sitting, that is a strange, wonderful, singular thing to feel.
Hi, y'all. Maybe it's because I've been sick since Friday, and I'm a bit of a curmudgeon anyway but it appears to me that nothing has been won yet.
President-elect Obama now has the privilege of negotiating a troop withdrawal agreement with Iraq, a country now perpetually on the brink of civil war, managing a worsening conflict in Afghanistan, repairing relations with erstwhile ally Pakistan while not offending India, dealing with the worst economic crisis in our lifetime.....well, you get the picture.
What I saw in this election that worried me the most was the deep distrust and fear that many Americans had toward each other. Although I have to admit I am pleased with his election, I'm not breaking out the champagne (right now, it would be water and dry toast anyway--ick!) until President Obama does something President Bush (and many others) never did--pick a Cabinet and policy initiatives which reflect the diversity of the country and lower even a little the level of distrust and fear.
Other than that, enjoy the moment!
I had a thing or two to say about that. Because I am apparently too sleepy to make an lj-cut work even when I copy the code verbatim from a previous entry, here's my response in its entirety.
***
Clearly President Obama (man, I love saying that) will face staggering challenges as he takes office, challenges that won't be resolved for years to come. But the fact that he was elected at all is cause for celebration--first, because I believe he is almost infinitely better equipped to face those challenges than Senator McCain, having demonstrated the ability to inspire a broad spectrum of the American people, articulate a path for them to follow to a better tomorrow, and surround himself with the sort of expertise that Democrats have so sorely lacked in recent years; and second, because, as you say, this election exposed some of the worst fractures in American unity and some shameful attempts to play on the fears and doubts about one another that still divide us--and it didn't work. The cries of "Country First" and "Drill, Baby, Drill" were not just ignored but shouted down, by a decisive margin, and this country spoke loud and clear that you've got to do more than scare us to get us to vote for you. This election is a referendum on failed lassez faire economic policies, failed imperialist foreign policy, failed corporate welfare policies--on the failure of the politics of fear and division (as Obama named them), at least for now. It's a clear signal to the Republican party that they are going to have to do a heck of a lot better than stale talking points, stupid buzzwords, and transparent bids to appeal to both sides of their unnatural, (finally!) fraying coalition between fiscal conservatives and social conservatives. I even dare to hope that some good, faithful social conservatives (hi, Aunt Carol!) will notice that only one presidential candidate in this election is a regular churchgoer and devoted parent who's never been divorced, who sounds a whole lot smarter and more substantive than the token social conservative on the Republican ticket.
Speaking as someone who has spent his entire political life under the thumb of a president and an administration I don't like, trust, respect, or support, who has had his patriotism questioned for arguing for what's right, who has seen inspiring figures like Howard Dean and the John McCain of 2000 thrown under the bus of party machinery and sound-bite "journalism" in favor of safe, dishwater-dull failures like Kerry and puffball politicos like Bush, who is deathly sick of seeing good people in both parties lied to by their leaders, I can't express how exhilarating it was to vote for someone who genuinely inspires me and to see that person take the stage as president-elect with (at least) 62 million other voices behind him--no half-percent margin, no stolen states and ugly lawsuits, but a clear and resounding victory and an electoral map noticeably different from the one I'd come to take as a given. Even if both sides of the debate have been a bit insubstantial at times, it's a nice change to see words of hope triumph over words of fear.
Yes, this is all awfully naive of myself and the other young people who helped elect Obama, who haven't seen so many other political hopes dashed. Yes, there's a real possibility that his best intentions and efforts will not succeed, that the challenges facing him are out of his control, that four years from now things will be worse instead of better, that we will once again elect those who cynically exploit power for the benefit of their own interests. Yes, there certainly is still cause for worry, fear, and doubt about the future of this country and the debate about its direction.
But for the first time in (at least) eight years, I'm excited, rather than scared, to see it all unfold.
And while this is a victory, it's the beginning of a journey, not the end. There's no sense from where I'm sitting that now this is over and we can all go home. Instead, there's a very real feeling that when the celebration is over, it's time to roll up our sleeves and do the work it will take to make this country great again. And, from where I'm sitting, that is a strange, wonderful, singular thing to feel.