Hope, Change and The Long Road: One Year Later

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who wont agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government cant solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand."

Barack Obama,
November 4, 2008

November 4, 2009. It's been exactly one year since Barack Obama was elected, and it's becoming increasingly clear that the president hasn't fixed the whole world yet. Then again, he never promised such a thing. But despite some "setbacks and false starts," we're in considerably better shape than we were when the president delivered the above words on election night in Chicago.

One of his central goals, going all the way back to his 2004 convention speech, of building common ground between Americans of different ideologies and backgrounds is going to be more difficult than was previously anticipated. However, what's beginning to take shape is common ground between the far-right and the far-left insofar as they're both angrily lining up in opposition to this White House.

Of course the wingnut right -- the Beck-Limbaugh-Palin Industrial Complex -- has a significant head start. Plus, they're immovable. Nothing this president does, short of resignation, will ever be greeted positively and everything will be pegged as a Nazi-Communist-Nixon-Carter-Terrorist usurping of American exceptionalism. However, on the left, there's a growing discontentment that's rapidly metastasizing into a similarly virulent and unchangeable anger. It not only threatens to fracture the president's progressive base, but it could also force the president to retreat to the middle.

Everything for this president hinges on the promise of change. And, in many ways, he's delivered on that pledge, if you consider "change" to be a presidency both legislatively and stylistically different from Bush.

I'm not going to do the whole list, but the tent pole items include setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, opening up federal funds for embryonic stem cell research, equal pay for women, ending torture, passing a major economic stimulus bill, which has helped to boost economic growth and yank the Dow back from the cliffs of insanity, and it looks like we're going to have a fairly solid health care reform bill with a public insurance option sometime this year (unless Harry Reid fumbles it). Last week alone, the president signed historic new hate crimes legislation protecting the LGBT community, killed the useless F-22 program, ended funding for ineffectual abstinence-only education, and was able to ballyhoo the first quarter of economic growth since 2007. Plus, per the president's orders, the Senate finally voted to allow the Guantanamo inmates to be moved onto U.S. soil for imprisonment and trial.

Not too shabby on the change front compared with where we were on November 4, 2008. It's also important to underscore that these aren't merely good for the Obama administration, these successes are good for America. They should be celebrated as such without embarrassment or apology.

Even the most rabid wingnut in the throes of another schizoid embolism has to admit that these successes represent, at the very least, change.

But it's a perceived lack of change that's angering many activists on the left. For my part, I'm not in love with the old school DLC influence of Rahm Emanuel. There are growing indications that the moderation coming from the White House on the public option is mainly from Emanuel's office. The pledge for bipartisanship is also growing really old, really fast, though I understand the political calculus in at least saying that it's important. In reality, the only operational legislative bipartisanship we ought to be seeing is between the liberals and the conservadems -- together representing a de facto two-party apparatus while the Republicans tend to their conniptions.

Meanwhile, administration officials have made some frustrating moves in terms of state secrets, indefinite detention and civil rights issues like the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT). Changes on those fronts can't come soon enough, but at least we're being told they're on the way.

So we have some troubling sameness, but looking at the raw list of accomplishments, the "change" side of the ledger appears to be more robust at this point, especially given that it's only been a year.

But expectations have been unnaturally high, mainly because it's so damn easy to project both our highest hopes and greatest fears onto this president.

In terms of the wingnut right, they've shoehorned literally every boogie man into Obama's loafers. He's both Carter and Nixon. He's both a Marxist and a fascist Nazi. He's both Hitler and Chamberlain. Teabaggers have gone so far as to paint a Hitler mustache on a man who the real-life Hitler would probably have killed with his bare hands -- a mixed-race liberal with a Muslim name.

In terms of the left, we've set marble-man expectations, and then we're shocked and outraged when these expectations aren't met. Put another way, we want this president to be FDR meets Kennedy meets MLK meets LBJ meets Bobby Kennedy meets Rachel Maddow meets Superman.

We expect him to "get tough" and, I don't know, flip his shit. Snap some Republican necks on live television. We want the very pragmatic and even-tempered Barack Obama to transform into a roid-raging berzerker. But I don't think that's entirely necessary.

While I'd love to see the president go all elbows-and-fists on Glenn Beck's punch-me face, it's just not going to happen. The attacks and antagonism from the White House against the far-right are more nuanced and subtle. It's a gradual tweaking rather than a daily burst of rage. Over a four or eight year term, this could be much more effective than brute force. After all, it was this fighting style that defeated both the Clinton machine and a well-respected war hero.

My worry, though, regarding the left is that we're nearing a zero barrier of sorts. Unless the president is able to cajole some of the more pissed off activists on the left, they'll entrench and will become equally as immovable as the wingnut right. In other words, if the president is unable to win back a level of liberal support rivaling last November, nothing he achieves will be good enough to generate the same grassroots support he enjoyed during the 2008 campaign. The silence surrounding last week's list of successes was deafening. And that could congeal into a serious electoral silence in 2010 and 2012, not unlike what we saw in 2000 with the left retreating to support Ralph Nader.

So what's next?

On Tuesday, Arianna wrote about the president's timidity. While I don't necessarily agree considering how, for example, no other president -- including one whose giant mustache is carved into Mt. Rushmore -- has ever gotten this far in terms of reforming health care, she's absolutely right in terms of style.

Perhaps the White House would be better served by simply bragging more. Take these achievements and really amplify them. The administration has a respectable syllabus of accomplishments, so why not get loud? Let fly. This isn't difficult to do, especially given the president's oratory skills. Ultimately, this could serve to further antagonize the right, driving them deeper into political irrelevance; it could also mobilize the left, possibly disarming some of the "not good enough" criticisms; and it could remind independents why they voted in record numbers for Barack Obama one year ago today.

As promised in Grant Park, the road is much longer and steeper than can be traveled in a single year. But I'm both encouraged and excited by the fact that we're moving in the right direction -- "calloused hand by calloused hand."

Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!

 

Comments

[rgblue]

Best writer on HuffPo.

[Jonah Barcelona]

More of Bob's excellent work:
http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2008/01/this_is_an_actu.html

[Camarosc35]

Something is missing and it is not solely because of the right-wing’s opposition and the left-wing’s disillusionment. It is what you can see in the nation's soul; what inspired it to believe in genuine change has proven hollow. First, Guantanamo prisoners can still be held in indefinite detention, we are still pursuing a war in Afghanistan, have capitulated on a genuine health care overhaul and to the pharmaceutical industry. Another example of a failure of leadership is with the Swine Flu pandemic. We were well-warned and should have been much better prepared with ample TAMIFLU vaccine; but were not. In addition, the stimulus flies in the face of the record unemployment rate and the fact the bailed-out banks will increase credit rates, tighten restrictions and reduce lending limits. Yes, we are still hemorrhaging as a nation and when I look around I don't see any work crews laying down track for a high-speed rail, rebuilding our roads, our bridges or any other evidence of a massive public works infrastructure program. People are still losing their homes, their jobs, their financial security and their lives; this sense of urgency that filled the Oval Office only a year ago has now devolved to the stale and same ol’ tactics of political posturing and positioning for the next election cycle. To think that this site showed an illustration of the metamorphosis of John F. Kennedy to Robert Kennedy to Barack Obama; now seems sadly mistaken.

[GoDems2012]

Perhaps people shouldn't have elevated their expectations so high.

[vorpalmusic]

Yes, we should all simply give our money and houses to the rich people like good little children.

[ReedYoung]

Excellent article.

This "democracy" is not a spectator sport, people! When was the last time you e-mailed your House Representative? Your two Senators? They don't read them all of course, but their staff do notice when they get several thousand with the same message on the same issue.

[mmahamngttia]

"When was the last time you e-mailed your House Representative? Your two Senators? "

Funny you mention this, reedyoung, as I just emailed my two state Democratic Senators tonight, one of them for the first time ever. In the emails I said ". For years I have been urging my Republican Congressman to support Universal Health Care and Reform. Maybe I should have spent more time lobbying my Democratic Senators instead."

It finally dawned on me that even though both of my Senators fully support reform, they needed to understand there's intense pressure on them and the party as a whole to make sure their colleagues fall in line.

[ReedYoung]

That seems to be what it takes. You can't just tell them once, and assume they got the message. Every day, they're being lobbied by corporations, which they know will hire them for high six figures or even seven afterward, if they just sell us out enough while they're in Congress.

[Malkin72]

I don't know that I've ever disagreed with Cesca, but...

Here is why patience is not a virtue and progressives should NOT be patient...

In 1964, LBJ and a huge Democratic Congress were elected. In 1966, the Democrats were thumped as the GOP won huge in the elections.

BUT WHO CARES....in the two years in between, they passed:

Medicare
Medicaid
The Civil Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act
The War on Poverty
Federal Money for Education
etc. etc. etc.

I DO NOT CARE if the Democrats win or lose in 2010. If after the get elected, they do NOTHING in the hopes of getting reelected again, what is the point?

Can you imagine how changed this nation could have been if they had said, we'll take our chances in 2010, fixing the country is MORE important?

Cowards.

We have been so patient that the midterm elections may have already ended the chance for meaningful change.

[wltdnfaded]

He ended federal funding for abstinence-only programs???? OK, WHY was THIS NOT a BIG headline here at the HP???? One of my major political platforms is responsible FACTUAL sex education, and this a HUGE news! I am so pleased.

[Malkin72]

He did no such thing.

Jon Stewart highlighted this a few weeks ago as an example of Democrats caving on everything.

They just approved another obscene amount for abstinence only education.

[wltdnfaded]

Would you be so kind as to post a link with that info?

[unitron]

It's been one year since people started complaining that a man, whose predecessor would still be President for 77 days, hadn't fixed everything.

That being said, there are a few things I wouldn't mind discussing candidly and confidentially with him.

[chrematophobe]

Thank you, Bob. It takes a discerning eye to see the patterns begin to emerge as a craftsman applies his skills to his task. So many of the loudest media voices seem to lack the ability to see beyond their noses, and as a culture we've come to think if the gratification's not instant, it won't be forthcoming. He also said he'd be needing our help. The far left, one of which I thought I was, could stand to do a little less hollering and a lot more helping. I hope it has not lost its capacity for nuance; ---where's the art? The music? Where's the dance and drama? Why does mainstream media just keep repeating itself?

[Malkin72]

Maybe because people are losing their jobs, homes, lives, etc. on a daily basis and we don't really have time for "art" or "music" or "dance" or "drama"...we need SOLUTIONS.

[wltdnfaded]

Ya know, instead of b*itching here, why don't you b*tch to the people you're mad at?

[Tim303]

Nice one Mr. Cesca. As I said to a colleague on 11.5 "Adequate would be just fine by me." He has been far better. Hang in there guys.

[ba121046]

Okay, I agree to a degree, but I have just finished a comment for Arianna's (sp) piece and I still feel that a more agressive President Obama is what we need, A little tear gas in his face wouldn't hurt.

[mac33z]

It’d be nice to see Obama be more like Dwayne Johnson’s “The Rock Obama,” and be much more assertive, and deliberating.
The next couple of months should start to be very clear what is actually happening, with healthcare, Afghanistan, and the Copenhagen climate conference around the corner. These are hot issues that demand an answer in the imminent future. Once Americans see how these issues are handled, then some conclusive evidence will be in, and Obama’s true colors will start to be defined in real time.
So hope; yeah, change; maybe, the clock is ticking, and these issues will be very defining, and will be revealed very soon.

[VikingQuest]

"Hope and Change" was a MARKETING SLOGAN . . .

If you bought into it, you are the only one to blame for being naive.

The man is a career politician . . . that's all you need to know.

[Tim303]

Like Reagan then.

[wltdnfaded]

No, not Saint Ronnie!!! Never speak ill of the Chosen One!

[bob8jv]

In less then a year, Obama has built a strong foundation in critical areas: 1.By being honest & respectful in all areas & to everyone, which earned the American people & other countries trust. 2.By hiring & successfully managing top gifted political professionals in critical areas, which includes health care, energy, education, & infrastructures. Even thou Obama will invest large amounts of money into these investments, the American people still support him because they know that they will produce excellent results for generations to come. 3. By quickly using diplomacy to build partnerships with other countries. Diplomacy & sanctions must be exalted until our national security is threatened before starting a war. We must be trusted worldwide, assuring that the US will never start any war until the last resort has been reached & verified. Developing partnerships with other countries will help in sharing ideas, resources, & information in order to defeat and manage the war on terrorism. Trusted united partners & allies should be a strong deterrent in diminishing terrorism. The more trusted partners & allies we have, the better.

[VikingQuest]

"By hiring & successfully managing top gifted political professionals in critical areas, which includes health care, energy, education, & infrastructures"

Too bad the top issue on everyone's list is the economy.

[wltdnfaded]

Which is getting better by the week.

[Smatch]

Thank you Bob for writing what has needed to be said.

As Americans we have to get away from the 24/7 news cycle and realize how difficult getting this country back on a path to intelligence, prosperity, and positive discourse will be.

Change in this country with all of the entrenched interests on both sides can only come in very small increments. Like trying to turn a moving ship that is 100 miles long.

[dsdrane]

He's missed a few. Clearly.

As for "slamming", I would hardly call frustration with not fulfilling campaign promises when given the chance "slamming".