Letter to Obama from a Dying Friend

My friend Robert Ellis Gordon is dying of lupus, with months left to live. He's spent more than a decade teaching writing to prison inmates, written a terrific book called The Fun House Mirror from those experiences and crafted a rave-reviewed novel, When Bobby Kennedy was a Moving Man, on Kennedy being sent back to earth to determine whether he deserved Heaven or Hell.

I often quote something Robert said to a group of fellow prison teachers, which seems an apt metaphor for any effort at change: "Some of the people we work with will already have redeemed their lives. Others, no matter what we do, will be back in here again. And for some, our efforts will make all the difference. We will never know which group is which, but that should not serve as a deterrent to our efforts."

Robert just wrote this open letter to Obama, challenging him to reach for his deepest levels of courage in being honest about what we face after decades of pillaging our economy. I'll miss his wise voice.

Dear Mr. President:

I am one, among millions, who recently received an email regarding your health care plan. Mr. Plouffe's email requested personal stories.

As a fifty-five year old man who has lived with a rare and serious illness since 1989, and who was recently referred to hospice, I am, I suppose, no less qualified than others to write about the challenges and unlooked-for blessings that accompany a fatal disease.

Upon reflection, however, I realized my story would be less compelling than others. For I come from a generous family. True, we were raised to make our way in the world and I started to work at age fourteen. Some forty years later, however, when it became evident that I could no longer hold down a job, my family cut back on their expenses so that my basic needs would be met. Hence I will not die, as thousands of my counterparts do, alone and anonymous in a hospital room or in the streets.

So? I deleted Mr. Plouffe's email and returned to the task at hand. But deleted or not I was distracted by the email, so much so that I left the computer and took my dog for a walk. At the park, as I tossed the squeaky ball to Rose, I asked myself a question: if given the opportunity to write a letter to the President -- a letter in which illness and impending death served a larger agenda-- what would I say to him?

The answer was immediate and impassioned: "Please level with the people. Now."

What do I mean by level? And why this sense of urgency?

The urgency stems from the peril I see in an unbalanced presentation of your economic scenario. I do not mean to suggest that you speak only of the most dire predictions. We need a substantive message of hope. It's been a long forty years since we heard one. But authentic hope, as you know better than most, is founded upon truth. You had the courage to speak it throughout your campaign, and the magnitude of your victory revealed a public yearning to hear it.

In order to sustain the trust of the people, it is imperative that you continue to feed this yearning. That you do as you did in your speech on race: speak to us as adults. Speak even more deeply from the heart as well as the head. Above all, speak in the spirit of Judge Learned Hand: "The spirit of liberty is the spirit of not being too sure."

So even as you speak words of hope and quell our fears with your steady presence, let us know that you proceed in the spirit of not being too sure because you cannot be; because no one can be; because a global economic meltdown is unprecedented in scope and nature.

Tell the people, as FDR did, in a style that is true to yourself, that there's no panacea for this catastrophe. A catastrophe that was decades in the making and is not yet fully understood. And that your approach, therefore, must be a flexible one that allows for a sliding scale of eventualities, among which is the possibility--remote or not-- that this economic Katrina may outrace your best efforts to both remedy the cause and mitigate the effects.

What is to be gained by leveling with the people now? And what are the consequences if you do not do so?

Your most precious resource, Mr. President, is neither your brilliance nor the elegance with which you wield the language. Your most precious resource is your credibility.

The consequences of an unbalanced presentation, one that tilts too heavily toward the rosy?

No adverse consequences if that scenario unfolds.

But if worse continues to lead to worse as numerous economists predict, and you deny yourself political cover by not allowing for that eventuality?

Your popularity will prove thin and short-lived. You will lose your credibility. Quickly. And once relinquished, it can't be restored.

Should you lose your credibility the people will, at the least, dismiss you as yet another president in a long line of presidents who opted to not be statesmen. As for your ability to summon our better angels? That remarkable gift will be squandered.

And that's the best case scenario, Mr. President.

The worst?

If , in the absence of a credible President, tens of millions--millions who are ill-prepared for adversity--find themselves living in a state of deprivation and want? And if fear of the unknown starts feeding upon itself?

The people may, as they have in the past, turn to a leader who uses the energy of ignorance and fear to summon our darkest impulses. We don't have to travel back to the Trail of Tears to recognize our capacity for looking the other way while our government pursues a policy of genocide.

We don't have to travel back to the torture and murder of Emmett Till to recognize our capacity for denying the humanity of a child.

Joe McCarthy's sheet of paper?

Ancient history.

A mere nine months ago John McCain chose a running mate who proved masterful at inciting fear and hatred of "the other." And if worse continues to lead to worse in the absence of a credible president, the hatred we saw on the periphery of her crowds could move to the center and burst into flames that consume our better angels as they fan out.

On June 2nd the headline for the New York Times lead story ran beneath this headline: "Obama Is Upbeat For G.M. Future On A Day Of Pain."

Upbeat on a day when the lives of 21,000 autoworkers and their families were shattered.

Upbeat on a day in which the closing of seven plants will translate into tens of thousands of shattered lives in other sectors of the auto industry.

Upbeat on a day when the Times ran an editorial devoted to yet a new wave of home foreclosures.

There's a dissonance here, Mr. President. And even from the standpoint of political calculation-- of the coldest Machiavellian calculation--this dissonance does not have to be. Last November the people rejected the politics of fear, rigidity, half-truths and lies, and embraced the politics of unity and truth. This was a tribute to our ability to discern and to the authentic nature of your message. A message of hope to be sure, but one that calls not for ease but sacrifice. And perhaps above all we came to appreciate a creative and compassionate vision that is tempered, at long last, by reality. Your vision represents the best and perhaps last hope for our children and for theirs.

You forged a bond with the people, Mr. President. But the glue hasn't set and the glue will not set if you do not re-calibrate your message.

The last and most important question: what is to be gained by leveling?

Perhaps the best way for me to address the positive, the potential for realizing your vision, is to circle back to Mr. Plouffe's request, and speak to you in personal terms about the lessons of illness and impending death.

You may be familiar with this quote from the poet, Sylvia Plath. "If only you could see me forge my soul, fighting and fighting to forge my soul."

Sylvia Plath succumbed to her despair, committed suicide in 1963. But her words still stand, maybe now more than ever, as tens of millions face the potential, at least, of entering the forging fire. And should that come to pass the people will look to you, just as the British looked to Churchill, for guidance, solace, and above all hope in the midst of their despair.

And where does my twenty-year dance with the fire fit into all of this? Where do you and I intersect? What have I learned that could possibly be of use to the President of the United States? What have I learned that might help this good man forge the soul of a nation?

Maybe something. Maybe nothing. But for what it's worth I offer a glimpse of my journey and a couple of nuggets I've picked up along the way.

The first nugget?

That we forge our souls not for ourselves but in order to be better disciples of compassion.

And how does an obscure writer and former prison teacher make a contribution this late in the day with a timeline, in all likelihood, of months?

Below, an excerpt from a recent note to the doctor who saved my life on numerous occasions over the past two decades.

... Suffering may teach but it is not an end in and of itself. And when the pain abates, during windows of peace, I write.

I have a book to complete before I die. It is different from the others. I want to leave something behind that may serve as a source of solace to a reader here or there; a reader who wrestles with despair during this era of incomprehensible suffering.

All those high-risk infusions? The fatal infection you warn me about? And my choice to continue, to run the risk, in order to buy time to write?

Like any man I fear a painful death. But after receiving Extreme Unction on multiple occasions, I no longer fear death itself. What I fear is a life not well-lived. And the best way for me to do so during the time that remains is to complete that manuscript.

It's just my body (not my soul) that is weary...

So that is my final task: to forge my soul on the page. I may die before I finish. Or I may risk all on the page and find that my skill is wanting; that the story implodes on itself. But if I fail in this task, I will do so in obscurity.

Because you sit where you sit, you don't have that luxury.

What you do have is the opportunity and responsibility to explain how we got here and enumerate the full panoply of outcomes.

If the rosy scenario comes to pass? The people will know, by dint of your honesty, that you are neither above nor below but of them.

And if worse continues to lead to worse? If tens of millions find themselves living at the extremes of deprivation and want? And you've retained your credibility?

The dreams you've resurrected may still be realized. Realized in ways and to a degree that would be unlikely during less uncertain times.

You'll be able to protect us, protect the children, from those who would prey upon fear and unleash violent thought, language and deed.

And as this economic Katrina continues to strengthen? As the people become increasingly aware that economic security is not a birthright? And are overwhelmed by a sense of vulnerability?

As the people walk through the fire together, the differences so artfully exploited by your predecessor will assume their proper perspective. And compassion may well fill the void. Shared adversity has a way of doing that.

And after the worst has passed, Mr. President? And the people, having been tempered by the fire, emerge stronger and more compassionate? Emerge with a visceral understanding of what it means to be dispossessed?

That, Mr. President, is when your vision may be realized. For the people who revealed a desire to serve at the outset of your candidacy, during times of relative prosperity, will still be here when the fire is extinguished. But the people will not be the same. They'll be more able and willing to answer your call. And their progeny will learn through their example.

This is not to say that the fire is pleasant. At times it's excruciating. I know that well. At times I want nothing more than to escape, and it is only faith that sustains me. Faith in God, yes, but also in man. Indeed, as I approach the River's edge, the distinction between divinity without and divinity within seems merely to be one of choice. And a simple choice at that: towards violence or towards compassion.

This is your hour, Mr. President.

I, like you, am both a child of God and a member of the body politic. And as I ready myself to leave this bittersweet world, I want you to know that it affords me much peace to know that you are the President. A President who quietly rescued the Constitution. Who can forge the nation's soul if the need arises. And who re-ignited the flame of hope and compassion months before the general election. A flame that was muted but not extinguished some forty years ago.

And this speaks to the most important lesson I've learned from my twenty-year dance with the fire. Certainly all people wish and deserve to be treated with dignity and compassion. But the human heart is bigger than that. We wish, as well, to experience our magnanimous natures, the divinity within. This is what Gandhi knew and tapped into. This is what my favorite saint knew: "It is in the giving that we receive." And this, Mr. President, is what you know.

So. A dying man's prayer for you and the nation: that the light that burns so brightly in you and your family will extend through generations. And if the children of the children choose to be their brothers and sisters' keepers simply because they listen to their hearts; hearts that tell them they're here to improve the lot of others?

Well, they may never know it was you who reminded their forbears of who they truly are. They may never even know your name.

But what of it?

If the words you spoke on election night come to fruition, they will not bring an end to suffering. But they will bring forth the better angels of which you speak; of which the last great candidate for president spoke.

And when I hear you summon our better angels forth, I hear echoes of the poet Robert Kennedy quoted on the darkest night of his brief campaign. And what greater legacy could he ask of you, and you, in turn, ask of us, than a renewed commitment to the age-old call to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world?

Sincerely,
Robert Ellis Gordon
Seattle, Washington
[e-mail]

Robert Gordon is the author of When Bobby Kennedy Was a Moving Man and The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison. He's written for Esquire, the Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Ploughshares, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and taught writing in Washington State prisons, juvenile institutions and inner-city high schools. He wrote Funhouse Mirror while undergoing chemotherapy, collaborating with six of his incarcerated students to let their voices be heard. The book won the 2000 Washington State Book Award. As one critic wrote of Bobby Kennedy, "Gordon's vision is at once radical and healing. It teaches us a little about Heaven and a lot about Hell." Robert can be reached at [e-mail]

Comments

[swkidder]

11:28 PM on 07/21/2009

Robert: I just finished reading a copy of your letter to Barack Obama. As I'm sure you already know, our friend Paul posted it on Common Dreams - from whence it has probably traveled all across the web by now. As I blink back tears I just want to say, "We'll miss you." Those of us who never you until now, much less knew you - we'll miss you. You are one of those who "go before," and leave a trail of silver bread crumbs for others to to follow - glimmers of light and wisdom that help to guide those who wish to walk a path that matters. God Bless ... and go gently. Suzie

[Paul Loeb]

11:05 PM on 07/07/2009

[Here's the post by Robert's doctor continued]

You have demonstrat­ed this balance of self-care and self-heali­ng in your personal and profession­al life, and have taught and shown others how to do the same. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report several years ago stated that over 50% of healthcare expenditur­es were for problems related to or caused by individual "patient" choices and behaviors. We all must learn how to do things differentl­y for our selves, and for the common good.

Robert, another patient of mine asked me to coauthor a book with her, YOU DON'T LOOK SICK: LIVING WELL WITH INVISIBLE CHRONIC ILLNESS. In it Joy Selak tells stories about her crisis phase of illness, where hope was needed. Our country is in crisis, and Obama has mobilized us through hope. However, during the stabilizat­ion phase of the illness, one must increase confidence in self-manag­ement. Obama needs to be more clear about the importance for each of us to become more confident in our personal healthcare­, in our nation's healthcare and in our earth's healthcare­. This you so clearly articulate­. Only by fulfilling your call for Obama to describe the seriousnes­s of our problems can each of us really embrace the personal changes and sacrifices we need to make. Then we can find meaning and wellness in our collective­, societal illness journey.

Dr. Steven Overman, MD MPH

[Paul Loeb]

11:04 PM on 07/07/2009

PS--Here's a comment that Robert's doctor,
Dr. Steven Overman, just passed on

As one of your physicians­, I have learned much from you over the years, and again with your letter to Obama. Your communicat­ion expresses my unsettled feelings recently - that Obama may be losing the window of opportunit­y to implement "life saving" strategies for our national psyche and our systems during this national crisis. I don't perceive that the pulse on the street has risen much. For the majority there seems to be a complacent feeling that this "bump in the road" will pass. However, a large minority of solid citizens there is a continuing downward spiral, which was described eloquently to me by patient, real estate broker and confirmed in an article in the New York Times last weekend. Hard working people struggle to not foreclose on their mortgages, but get no relief from our banks or government­, while the same bank gladly accepts the large write-off when these hard working people do foreclose, because our government is paying half of the bank loses. This corporate relief without individual relief is not fair and is perpetuati­ng a continued downward cycle.

I am afraid that the same lack of focus on the health of the individual will "foreclose­" our healthcare system as well. I sadly do not hear the President'­s call to each of us to balance our "right to healthcare­" with our "responsib­ility for our self-care and healing".

[Hit length limits--se­e next post]

[kalioned]

01:12 PM on 07/07/2009

Robert,

Thank you so much for sharing words of love and light, while still finding the strength to fight off an interim end, and making a joke about Gopher Anus Chili. :)

Tim,

As a writer who is pulling together a book, Shake That Cream, I wish you all the best. I agree with Robert - your book will be sold, and I look forward to purchasing a copy!

Good luck to both of you...

[boboh]

10:10 PM on 07/06/2009

Dear Mr. Gordon,

Your letter to Mr. Obama is magnificen­t. I am a member of the Unitarian universali­st Church and though Mr. Obama and you too, I guess, are not, I still see your writings as consistent with my church's principles­. Although Unitariani­sm has no creed or dogma, we do have principles which we state as follows:

We, the members of the congregati­ons of the Unitarian Universali­st Associatio­n, covenant to affirm and promote:
- The inherent worth and dignity of every person
- Justice, equity and compassion in human relations
- Acceptance of one another and encouragem­ent to spiritual growth in our congregati­ons
- A free and responsibl­e search for truth and meaning
- The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregati­ons and
in society at large
- The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all
- Respect for the interdepen­dent web of all existence of which we are a part.

I believe these are principles Mr. Obama, you and your friend Paul Loeb are also living up to in your everyday lives. Bless you, My name is also Robert

[GlennPG]

08:05 PM on 07/06/2009

Robert,
An accurate and well written letter, let us hope that President Obama reads your heartfelt words and remembers why he was elected to the highest office in the land.

Let's hope that all who read your words, not just Americans, but citizens of all countries and all faiths read them and remember why we are on this planet and that we do not have to choose the ways of the past but are free to rise above our fears and become better then what we have been.

I am reminded of part of King Arthur's solliloquy from Camelot, " We will come to know a time when violence is not strength and compassion is not weakness".

I am grateful that I am your friend and student. My wish for you is the strength and time to finish what you must, the wisdom to know what is essential and the courage to know when to let go.

You are my friend, my mentor and I will be forever grateful for the time we have spent and will spend together.

Namaste, Glenn

[lwise1129]

06:22 AM on 07/06/2009

Dear Mr. Gordon,
I just read your letter to the President, posted by Paul Loeb in the Huffington Post. It was beautiful, touching and honest and I felt compelled to write and tell you that.
I think you're Catholic, as I am, and I felt your spirituali­ty as you face your final days. I was trying to guess your favorite saint; mine is The Little Flower and Saint Elizabeth, who loved Mary, as I do, so very much.
God bless you and I pray that you get your wish and finish your book.
Sincerely,
Liz Wise

Mr. Loeb - This is sent per Robert's wish. I wish I could do more.

[RetiredMilitaryPatriot]

11:20 AM on 07/05/2009

It is people like you who keep me alive with the hope when I am just approachin­g 69 years on our planet that we can find a way to respect each other and work together to save our world. As a sometimes too pragmatic politician­, Obama does need to find the courage to take a stronger stand on our economy and health care with his corporate opponents. He talks a good game, but at some point soon he has to inspire us to the higher calling of sacrificin­g for others as I am sure you have done throughout your life. Thank you so much for taking the time before your departure, to inspire us to a higher calling. I will keep your words in my mind as I strive to build a better world for my three grandsons and all those will walk with them into the future.

[Robert Gordon]

10:12 AM on 07/05/2009

While the email below is not in the spirit of civil discourse, I post it along with my response because we cannot overcome what we do not acknowledg­e.

Gordon:


Your mind is far sicker than your body. How dare you trash the only Godly person in the election, Sarah Palin. And you praise the sorriest SOB on the planet. there’s a reservatio­n for you in burning hell. You’ve earned it, as much as Obama.


G. D. Manuel


Friends:

Thanks for your kind letters. 

Above? The exception, the one that speaks to the darkest side of the American Spirit. I pass it along because regardless of what happens at the upper echelons, it’s up to us, the people, to not be daunted by those who speak from a place of fear, the womb of violence. 
And so, as citizen to citizen, as friend to friend, I ask you to respond not through argument or vitriol, but to rise above a small frightened man who lives in a Hell of his making. 



His letter makes the choice so clear, so visible, so simple: to use what time we have to shun violence; embrace compassion­, and re-dedicat­e ourselves to the ancient call: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. 
As evidenced by your letters, we’re not yearning to heed that call; we’re already acting upon it. 
The people lead; the leaders follow. 
The motif of our history; the reason for hope.

Robert

[1nala1]

01:56 AM on 07/05/2009

Dear Robert
I read your letter today and wept. I wept in sorrow for the pain that you have to endure. I wept for joy for your ability to show your pure humanity. I recently publish a book about my partners journey through the fire and the healing she found in contemplat­ing her life as it's curtain fell. Pain, love, giving, receiving and beauty and that cherished prize, a glimpse at her own precious humanity,t­he final healing.
Gordon, your words have inspired me and I will share them with my students, my children and my grandchild­ren so that they will know what true humanity looks like. And perhaps they will recognize it within themselves­. I will remember the letter to the president and the power of your words. And I will remember you and Bobby Kennedy the poet.

[Robert Gordon]

03:57 AM on 07/05/2009

So many thanks for your eloquent letter. This is my first foray into the world of blogging, and I am reminded again and again-- through your comments on Huffington­, and the deluge of personal emails, that so many share a common common dream. This, in and of itself, is a source of hope. The people lead, the wise leader listens and follows. Our new President is wise. He heard your voice, my voice, the voice of millions months before he announced. He heard our yearning to embrace the world as it is, to improve the lot of others. And his actions this week-- taking his Health Care plan on the road-- tells me that he is listening again; that those heady first 100 days when, perhaps, any man or woman would lose touch because of that "bubble"..­. well, he has, as his predecesso­r feared to do, ventured forth. And wisely held his eloquence in check: chose instead to let the people tell their devastatin­g stories. And their stories touched the nation.

I believe this man is learning what Bobby Kennedy learned-- that the heart unchained-­- inner divinity unchained.­. well that heart is not a lonely heart but a hungry one. His compassion will grow. As will ours. This is what your letter tells me. Yours and countless others. He calls on our better angels and we call on his. An upward spiral toward compassion­. Thanks so much for taking the time. Robert

[Robert Gordon]

04:41 AM on 07/05/2009

"Faith without action is like a body without a soul." Those words come from James but they are, as Joseph Campbell might be quick to remind us, universal in nature. Belonging to no single religion or country. Belonging to no single man or woman or race or class. But to all.

As I've told others, I've never blogged before. Your words remind me that even in the darkest personal moments I am not alone. And your willingnes­s to live your creed tells me, your students, your progeny and our President something of far more import. And this collective voice will be heard, is being heard, and brings me much peace as I depart this world, knowing that the ripples of which Bobby spoke, are indeed tearing down the mightiest walls of oppression­.

Thank you.

Thank you.

[amboycharlie]

05:00 AM on 07/04/2009

Robert,

Great letter. I couldn't agree more. Obama has definitely sold out to the money men and will no doubt herald an era of darkness and depravity to follow.

Anyway, I hope you're still around to receive this. I've often wondered about you since taking your class years ago at UDubEx. I knew you were not well then and I'm devastated to read that you are now in a hospice.

The novel I started in your writing class (Gopher Anus Chili) ended up finished a year or so later and in the hands of a reputable agent who took it to New York but never sold it. I dragged it out of mothballs recently and revised it in the hope of getting it published now that the times for it are suitable again.

Tim Chambers

[Robert Gordon]

10:07 AM on 07/04/2009

I'm still here and have not one but two reputable agents in New York who've managed to not sell two novels! But maybe if I purloined your title, just kind of borrowed it for a few submission­s, they might have better luck...

With regard to Obama: I am more sanguine. I wish he'd heeded Einstein's advice with regard to his economic advisers: "You cannot solve a problem on the level it was created." But he did say, this week, that 3 million jobs have been lost since he was inaugurate­d. (Can you imagine the Great Decider acknowledg­ing that?)

If there's a cabinet shuffle within the next month, I wouldn't be surprised. I am hopeful.

With regard to your novel: any book with a title like that has to sell.

It's a done deal. Done.

I look forward to your tour.

Robert

[GrainOSand]

02:45 AM on 07/04/2009

Yes!

SIncere gratitude flows, this was a beautiful gift from a loving and kind spirit. Reading it is to know hope and love.

Thank you, the message was powerful and it will linger.

[Robert Gordon]

08:59 AM on 07/04/2009

You are more than welcome! So many of the comments and emails I've received (this is my first foray into blogging!) speak of hope. Which is so much more powerful than fear. Yes, the message, mine, yours, and many others' will do more than linger. Will manifest itself into innumerabl­e actions to improve the lot of others. Or so I believe. More so, by far than I did before this was posted. Makes it easier to let go whenever the time comes. Thank you for that gift. Robert

[Lovell]

02:16 AM on 07/04/2009

It has been my privilege to befriend Robert, belatedly, in the last year. I have shared his hopes for Obama despite disappoint­ment about his compromise­s, while understand­ing that the public life inevitably requires trade-offs­. I hope Robert is wrong about what could happen if Obama's vision loses credibilit­y,. It seems a strange coincidenc­e, however, that Robert happened to cite Sarah Palin just as she resigned her governorsh­ip with a reference to true American patriots, with its dangerousl­y ambiguous implicatio­ns about those who don't fit that category. Working with prisoners for several decades as Robert has, one cannot sustain compassion without recognizin­g just what we are capable of when fear and hopelessne­ss overcome the better angels of our nature. One also understand­s just how much our community has already been damaged by the politics of fear and contempt. We must all remember that nothing human is alien to us.

[Robert Gordon]

09:29 AM on 07/04/2009

Thank you for your thoughtful comment. When I turned from prison teacher to counselor, I was required to read criminal history files. Not light, not pleasant, and not, I always hoped, the full story. When I met a new client for the first time, I went in with the assumption that he was bigger than his jacket; that he possessed the capability and desire to transcend the worst thing he'd ever been convicted of. Often this was the case. From time to time it was more than the case: we've both met once-viole­nt men who emanate peace, and change those around them simply by being who they are. That is such an important distinctio­n: that it is our essence, not our vocation, that sends out ripples of hope if we so choose! To witness these transforma­tions-- from one who wages violence to one who wages peace-- is to witness divinity within. It is dazzling, humbling. But as you know better than most, this wasn't always the case. Sometimes, for whatever the reason, the file was the man: a trail of human wreckage. I ask our gifted young President to level so that-- whatever adversity comes our way-- we will, as a people, and in the spirit of Gandhi, "be the change we wish to see in the world." It starts with the self, true, but peace, thank God, is contagious­.

[Forsterk]

01:43 AM on 07/04/2009

I fear that "the machine" is making our President cautious, more closed, less frank. I believe that what Robert Gordon asks of him is simply a return to his courageous campaign self, who spoke to us like grown-ups. Somebody is telling him we can't take it. Dear Mr. Obama, tell it like you see it. It will help us prepare. We are yearning for straight talk, not glossed over with false optimism. Nobody knows how far this crisis will spread or how long it will last. We need to get out of the clouds, look with compassion at the displaced workers (who are seemingly being hidden by the media. Where's Michael Moore?), put on our boots and prepare to help each other weather the storm. Conservati­ve or Liberal, we are all in this one together.

[Robert Gordon]

09:46 AM on 07/04/2009

How well and simply said: we are all in this together. That's it, right there, Obama's own message. I was encouraged to see him take the Health Care debate on the road. He is brilliant, he is eloquent, but wise enough to know that he cannot impose change from above. And that gracious though he is, it was the stories he heard, we heard, that made his case with such power: poignant stories, heartbreak­ing stories, devastatin­g stories. This is a man who is not afraid to listen, not afraid to grow. Let us hope that he continues to grow, that he achieves his potential for greatness by remaining in a constant state of becoming.

Thank you for your wise words.

Robert

[anniebay]

12:47 AM on 07/04/2009

Mr. Gordon
I think you have made an important point about the need for an honest (non-polit­ical) response in these difficult times. The question is : does Obama have the courage to step outside of the political survival mode, and into something entirely different. Can he? Yes. Will he? We can hope. Thank you for the inspiring thoughts.

[Robert Gordon]

08:45 PM on 07/05/2009

Honest questions deserve honest and thorough answers, so I'll answer in three parts.

Part One:

Obama. This visionary is perhaps the most brilliant president since Jefferson. And possesses political intuition of Jack Kennedy. So what's missing?

Darwin pointed out that it is not the strongest species that survive, but the most adaptable ones.

President Obama's writings reflect something that we glibly (and erroneousl­y) call caution or lack of courage,. His reflection­s run deeper than that. He's a reformer, yes, but one who sees value in the approach of the British statesman, Edmund Burke. And Burke's view-- a valid one-- was that it is better, if possible, to work within existing institutio­ns; that if change is to be legitimate (and not bloody) it requires persistenc­e, patience, and a willingnes­s to strive for a goal -- even a bold one-- in increments­. (Had the Clinton's done so with health care: portabilit­y one year, no pre-existi­ng the next, perhaps they would've succeeded.­)

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[Robert Gordon]

08:47 PM on 07/05/2009

Part Two

Which is to say: during stable times, this approach allows for non-violen­t change, even non-violen­t revolution­s. Nelson Mandela went into prison a violent angry man, but over the course of 27 years, achieved some sort of union, peace, acceptance­, God knows how. And so, working with his white counterpar­t, apartheid ultimately came to an end with an election not a war. An unknown Polish labor leader and an unknown Polish cardinal worked within the existing institutio­ns-- the unions, the Church-- to set off the dominoes that brought down a repressive world power. (Yes, Reagan took credit for John Paul's work, A vain politician­. How surprising­!) The people brought an end to the repression and that is what matters.

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