Greetings from Cleveland. Sorry I've been so quiet on the blog. Life has been quite busy, and I haven't had much opportunity to follow what has been posted, let alone post things myself.
Just wanted to offer my congratulations to you guys on last night. It was a hard-fought race with much nastiness and negativity coming from two candidates who promised at the outset not to do such things. McCain could not have been more gracious, positive, healing, and on-target in his concession; since he lost, all he has are words without responsibility. One might argue that made it easy to say them, but I believe he was sincere and did the nation much good in speaking them. His speech should give pause to anyone who villified him during the campaign. He wasn't my first choice of candidates, but he is a good and honorable man who loves his country and the people in it. Obama spoke beautifully also, which we've come to expect. Unlike McCain, he now has the responsibility to follow through on his words and fulfill his promises of post-partisanship and healing. That has to be something more than, "All you Republicans, come on over here to the far left wing side of politics so we can march together toward posterity in harmony," for that is NOT harmony at all; that is hegemony. Granted, he has a mandate, and all the responsibility that goes with it. How he handles that mandate, though, will determine whether he seeks to be a great president for all the people or not, whether his talk of bringing people together is based in anything more than rhetoric. Publius, in Federalist #10, points out rightly that the suggested solution to the problem of faction in politics of having everyone follow the same line fails because it is unrealistic and impossible to achieve. Rather, we need a multiplicity of interests to cut across our divisions and give us opportunties to come together instead of focusing on what pulls us apart. The job for shepherding that effort inclusively instead of exclusively now falls to President-Elect Obama. As John McCain said, he's now my President. That's the right perspective and how things should be done here in this great democratic republic of ours (though it would take me no time at all on YouTube and Google to come up with countless examples of folks - prominent and not - who failed miserably at this eight and four years ago). I begin this transition to the Obama Administration with nonpartisan appreciation for the great moment in history that took place last night. Thomas Jefferson - philosopher, politician, statesman, President, slaveowner - wrote of the race issue in the United States as like having a wolf by the ears: you can't let go for fear of what it will do to you, yet you know you also can't hold on forever. As much as my vote for John McCain had nothing to do with race, my appreciation for President-Elect Obama's victory celebrates the great step forward on race that we took as a nation in electing him. I pray we will someday see the day when the every voter will cast a ballot for a man or woman of any race based purely on the ideas and policies they profess. While the ideas and policies candidate Obama professed cause me great concern, I hope that his election moves us closer to that ideal. More broadly, though, I hold out hope that President Obama will, indeed, forge a legacy as a unifier and not as a divider. That is up to him, not simply to be skilled enough at manipulation to craft support for his far-left agenda, but to recognize, value, and include what those who hold ideas different from him believe as we move forward together. I believed John McCain would do that as President, and doubted that Barack Obama would. I now wipe clean the messy slate of the campaign and maintain the audacity of hope of that President Obama will include me and others like me in shaping his plan for America, rather than merely offering me the ultimatum of jumping on his bandwagon or getting left behind.
Thanks for all your civic participation through the campaign. This is what it's all about, friends.
-BRM
Thanks for the post, BRM, and here are some of my initial thoughts.
ReplyDeleteUnlike McCain, he now has the responsibility to follow through on his words and fulfill his promises of post-partisanship and healing.
It should be the responsibility of all, McCain, Obama and both parties, to achieve post-partisanship. Losing does not absolve McCain and Reps of that responsibility, especially when you believe that McCain was the true post-partisan candidate. Takes two to tango, and many to govern. To say that Obama and the Democrats must do everything to include the Republicans and compromise with them at every juncture is not fair nor congruous nor realistic. The Dems won the election; it is their turn to lead the country, meaning the agenda for change is theirs. The Reps have had their shot for a long time. The "hegemony" that you speak of has been there when either party was in power, and the Reps have been running the show since 1994, if not since Reagan.
It is plainly obvious that the Reps are geared and psyched up for 2010 and for any missteps by Obama to accuse him of being partisan. A "what are you going to do to include us?" attitude rings a bit hollow and sounds like sour grapes from a landslide election and preemptive contempt for the Dems in power, based on prejudiced motivations to regain control and speculation on Obama's intentions, in the guise of bipartisanship.
As we agreed over the phone last night, it remains to be seen how things will play out. However, any sort of degradation into the usual partisan politics will not be only Obama's fault or the Dems' or the Reps'. We also agree on the hope that Obama is able to rise to the occasion and become a true statesman, managing crises, partisan politics and new opportunities simultaneously.
Thomas Jefferson - philosopher, politician, statesman, President, slaveowner - wrote of the race issue in the United States as like having a wolf by the ears: you can't let go for fear of what it will do to you, yet you know you also can't hold on forever.
I don't know exactly in what context Jefferson said this about the race issue, but it strikes me as an unfortunate indication of how Americans of all races may see the race issue, even if his comment doesn't quite apply to 21st-century America. Why should there be fear? Why does it have to be held back? Is there still a fear of a race war? What did Jefferson mean exactly, and how does it apply to our time? Perhaps you could explain in a separate post?