Obama Channels Jefferson

Last week Barack Obama engaged in an all-too-familiar political ritual of distancing himself from his pastor, a beloved confidante, in order to appease voters angered by the pastor's views, some of which are out of the white mainstream (to say the least), but fairly common among black Americans. It bothered me, but I wasn't ever angry at Obama. I'm a Christian pastor so I always hope for the best in people, but I'm also a former Washington semi-insider, so my hope is tempered with a fairly cynical realism. The wind was blowing in Obama's direction (the pastor just retired--how convenient!), so Obama's decision to disavow some of the pastor's statements but not the man and not to leave the church was only semi-courageous, but in Washington these days, semi-courageous is fairly rare and impressive.

Then Obama revealed once again why some of the greatest living minds in our nation consider him to be a genius politician and possibly even a great statesman. Obama's speech about racism made one thing clear---there is no greater politician working in America today. Obama spoke in detail of our nation's shameful heritage around race and class, of an imagined future of racial equality and economic fairness, and of his desire to facilitate the building of a bridge to that future.

Can he do it? Nobody really knows. It was supposed to happen in the sixties but the whole enterprise fell apart somewhere between the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. A whole generation of young adults who came of age at that time learned to think small, to make change around the edges and incrementally. Sometimes change happens that way, but at other times change is sudden, sweeping, and revolutionary.
I believe that Barack Obama has tapped into a deeply felt societal sentiment that now is one of those moments, a moment that calls for something more than progress at the rate of one step forward, two steps back. Is he the one to lead us? I can't say for sure, but I find the timing of the new HBO miniseries John Adams eerily instructive.

In episode two, Adams and the rest of the Continental Congress is declared treasonous by the King of England, forcing even the most reluctant and conciliatory among them to seriously consider declaring independence. The series is notable for portraying famous historical figures as the real people they no doubt were: Some (like George Washington) are uncommonly brave; some (like John Adams) are bold; some (like Ben Franklin) are clever and manipulative; and some (like Thomas Jefferson) are reluctant to seize the spotlight, even if they have something valuable to contribute, but all are recognizably human. (And, lest we forget, some, like Abigail Adams, are present only in spirit and allowed to contribute only indirectly, through their influence over the white property-owning males permitted full participation.)

At times they perceive themselves as masters of the fledgling nation's destiny; at other times they seem to feel like stray leaves swept up in an inexorable current of history. When the vote to ratify Jefferson's stirring declaration of independence finally carries unanimously, an awkward silence pervades the room for about half a minute, and as the camera pans around the room and lights on disquieted faces, viewers get to imagine our founding fathers thinking, What just happened? What on earth have we done?

Whether the shift our country is contemplating at this moment will prove to be as revolutionary as the one begun in 1776 remains to be seen. All I know is that I'm glad that in the intervening years that seatbelts have been invented. I'm fastening mine now, and hoping for a great journey.