As I look back over the last four years, and recall as I watched on with horror as W manipulated his way back into the White House through preying on the homophobia and manufactured fear of middle America, it is tempting to take this time to celebrate how the mighty have fallen. A really obnoxious dance in the center of the end zone.
Things got so bad, particularly with the economy, that having an 'R' next to your name in the ballot box proved a death wish. Obama is great and ran an impressive campaign, but I would credit his victory to circumstances that were outside his control. The American people wanted a change and any of the 31 flavors would do.
Now the liberals are set to have an ally in the White House, someone who will stand up for them and work with the Democratic leadership in Congress to realign both foreign and domestic policy more to our liking. But, the lessons from the last eight years need to stay ingrained in the minds of the new policy makers: one party with a blank check will invariably disappoint. And something tells me they not interested in the lessons.
I choose cautious optimism. Human beings have this propensity for fucking things up once in a position of power. History teaches us this lesson. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and watch an incompetent leader and his ilk stumble into war through some renewed hunger for Manifest Destiny. It's a popular thing to protest and an even easier thing to pass off as being 'their' fault. However, the real lesson to take from the outgoing administration is that governing a country as diverse as the United States is best done thorough bipartisan consensus. Through a give and take where every side feels considered, feels a part of the process.
The temptation is the tell the conservatives to shove it up their ass. This would be a mistake. When you step back from the sensationalism of political discourse so represented today by Fox News on the right and MSNBC on the left you realize that Rush Limbaugh and Keith Olbermann are the same person. They are both extremists, both with egos large enough to fill their audiences insatiable hunger for hyperbole. The only thing that has changed is whose political party now holds the reigns of power.
The left has long thought of itself as the party of tolerance. The compassionate do-gooders that can come the rescue of those in need once conservatism has played itself out long enough. This, however, is really a facade. They, like everyone else, are tolerant of the things that they agree with and intolerant of all the rest.
Enter Rick Warren, the mega-church pastor and Christian guru that has been invited to give the opening prayer at Obama's inauguration next month. The secular left is crying foul. The gays are pissed. The drag queens are taking off their heels, reapplying lip liner, and weighing down their purses with paperweights for the perfect instrument to knock a bitch upside the head. And political pundits are dissecting it ad nauseum, reading much more into the invitation than it's worth.
The bizarre thing is this: a group of people that has been marginalized for so long in this country now have a taste of power and acceptance, and suddenly they seem appalled when their new president reaches across the aisle to include Americans that didn't even vote for him. I, personally, commend Obama for throwing the evangelicals a bone. Let's get a grip on ourselves, progressives. He is not appointing Rick Warren to the Supreme Court, or giving him a coveted cabinet position. He is saying a prayer, leading half the country in an oratory to their imaginary friend. Just grin and bare it. To do anything else is to continue this bitter divide the Republican's used to their political advantage over the last few election cycles.
Barack Obama ran on a message of changing the way Washington does business, and his selection of two Republicans in his cabinet and the steps he has taken to offer an olive branch to the evangelical community show me that he is on the right track. The Democrats certainly expect things out of him that he is simply not going to be able to deliver.
Self appointed gay leaders, like the Human Rights Campaign, need to be very careful about how they move forward. The risk of alienating themselves is very real. The conservatives find themselves in this position as a direct result of their behavior over the last few years. Real change in this country, be it in gay rights or a paradigm shift in how this nation interacts with the rest of the world, is going to take time. But that is the problem of power: once you have it, you don't see the future dilemmas and backlash that comes with brushing aside those that oppose you. The battle is really for the hearts and minds of individuals to join our causes, to put aside their old ways of thinking. And frankly, death is the great equalizer that guarantees change will come. The next generation usually offers social progress simply as a result of birthing fresh ideas into this world.
It would be a mistake to expect an Obama administration to cure all our ills. It would be wrong of progressives to feel neglected every time he bucks the party line in order the be the president of the entire country. Keep your coins, I just want some change.
