Amazing Grace: Hallelujah and Get to Work

Americans wake today to a new dawn, a new possibility. You don't have to drink the kool aid to appreciate how extraordinary this is. We will look at one another with new eyes. We are a better, bigger, more generous, more optimistic people than many -- particularly the Rove's acolytes in the McCain campaign -- assumed.

And the world will look at America with new eyes. For a shining moment, we will be once more that city on the hill, the example of a free people choosing a remarkable new leader. A similar choice -- the son of a native born woman and an African -- could not happen in Europe, in Japan, in China or much of Asia. Amazing grace.

It wasn't easy. It took a candidate of remarkable intelligence, discipline and ease, organizing a truly exemplary campaign. It took the worst financial catastrophe since the Great Depression; the worst foreign policy debacle in Iraq since Vietnam. It took the self-immolation of John McCain. It took Americans deciding not to fall for the old politics of division -- not this time.

But this victory is grounded in far more than the campaign or the candidate. This is a country disfigured by slavery from the start. The Constitution even dictated that slaves would count as three-fifths of a person for apportionment (even though they couldn't vote). 150 years of slavery; 100 years of legal apartheid, known as segregation; a slow and hard struggle to overcome.

Yet this same country was founded on an idea -- that all men (and now women) are created equal, endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That same Constitution that counted slaves as less than human guaranteed the right to speech and assembly, freedom of and freedom from religion. Each generation has been given the opportunity and the mandate to struggle to extend freedom and to make America better.

Many sacrificed; many died to get to this day. Obama, as he knows, stands on the shoulders of giants. So this is a time to celebrate ourselves and to honor those who came before. Hallelujah

And now the work begins. Obama inherits the desert -- with the situation far more dire than many, even now, understand. Manufacturing is at levels not seen since the deep recession in 1980. Consumers are cutting back spending. The banking system is still reeling from losses and shocks. The recession now has gone global. Homeowners have lost $5 trillion in housing values.

So forget about the routine chattering class babble about how America is a "center right" nation and Obama must "govern from the center." (For a good mashup of quotes from ThinkProgress, go here. David Sirota tracks the "center-right watch" from ourfuture.org, here.) With independents and moderates looking more Democratic and liberal on issue after issue, the claim that this is a center-right nation was misleading even before this election. Americans are voting for a northern, liberal, Ivy League educated, African American, former college professor to be president, someone who campaigned on raising taxes on the wealthy, affordable health care for all, investing in new energy, getting out of Iraq and against trickle down economics. Conservative nation?

Govern from the center? Americans voted overwhelmingly for change. And to be successful, Obama will have to be bold. In reality, the center has moved. Bob Rubin now is for a large, deficit financed fiscal stimulus. Conservative SEC Chair Chris Cox now tells us "self-regulation" doesn't work, and calls for re-regulating the banks. Alan Greenspan admits his ideology blinded him to reality -- or at least that he got it wrong. "We're all populists now," says Will Marshall, a leader of the Democratic Leadership Council, the Wall Street wing of the party.

Mandates are not given; they are claimed. Majorities do not form; they are forged. The center is not frozen; it is molded by events, moved by leaders and movements.

But this beltway clamor about the center serves as a warning to progressives. The entrenched forces of the status quo are already in motion. Obama takes office as the Reagan era comes to a close, bankrupted by its own failures. But change, as Obama says, isn't easy.

Even the best presidents need to be pushed to act. Even the most calcified Congresses can be driven to move. The best of the New Deal -- Social Security, the Wagner Act that gave workers the right to organize, Fair Labor Standards that gave us the weekend -- came not from Roosevelt's first 100 days, but two years later, in what became known as the Second New Deal. And that was driven in large part by an active and mobilized labor movement, and by the growing political threat posed by a populist left -- Huey Long, Father Coughlin, Francis Townsend -- that gave Roosevelt both reason and excuse to move. "I agree with you," Roosevelt reportedly told labor's Sidney Hillman, "now go out, and make me to do it."

Obama will need that same kind of pressure. We will need to build an independent progressive movement to push for reform, to challenge those who stand in the way. So celebrate tonight. And then get ready to work.

Comments

[ecsiwingo]

So Mr. Borosage what you are saying is that now that Obama moved to the center to get votes to win he can now move back to who he really is.

[EasyCheese]

Yes, look at who he is picking for his staff...

[likeabite]

The work is yet to come and I'm glad you posted this Robert. The celebration is only for a limited time only.

[Lellie]

Let's stop with the Right or Left nonsense!!
Thinking people know that a blending of both concepts makes for both a healthy individual and a healthy society.
It's time to leave the fear behind and move forward.

The pictures of the Chicago Grant Park rally, with its multi-cultural faces made me think for a moment that I was looking at a rally in Toronto!

Now if that conciousness could only spread into those red states...

[PATina]

Wow... I was with you until you brought up the red states (maybe you should stop w/ the red/blue nonsense).

Anyway... I do agree that we need to get past parties... political philosophi­es.. and just do what is right for America. Some things may seem liberal... some things may seem conservati­ve... but if it's the best for America... that's what we should do.

[EasyCheese]

I agree...we should do what is best for America...

Its too bad that most people voted on what was best for them...aka who was gonna give them more money...

[0emissions]

Yes we can.... put democracy to ork everyday. Town hall discussion­s,neighbor­hood potlucks to discuss issues listen to opinions and experience, meet regularly with local reps.
What is the left right business.
Is it right to support corporate crimes.
Is it left to want Universal Health CAre that Canadians chose under the leadership and plan of Tommy Douglas.
Are you left of centre if you choose to protect the environment or you stand up for peace and justice?
If you support respect for workers and a living wage are you not right or are you left out of ever owning your own humble abode?

[augiemarch]

As soon as the dust settles and everybody gets his or her feet under their desk, there should be some consideration given to the matter of redistricting of Congressional seats. Notwithstanding that this is a state matter, something needs to be done to raise the level of competition. As things stand, the level of gerrymander- everybody knows this- is such that 90 % of those who choose to run for reelection are successful. We also need to head off the wrong-headed impulse to term limits.

[moonwatcher]

Now we are hearing that Obama must govern to the center. Just how much to the center did Bush govern?

[justShareandbeNice]

Hey let's celebrate!!!!! But....

..... right after that, could we get together and OVERHAUL THIS STUPID MESS OF AN ELECTION SYSTEM?! Yes, we did win despite the incredible barriers set up to discourage voting, not to mention the outright cheating. Very impressive, to say the least!!!! But it is simply immoral and undemocratic to put up with this system we have.

Can you imagine how different our country would be right now if everyone was registered and almost everyone voted? This should be our goal. There is such a long history of voter suppression, and it all needs to END. This will lead to a huge change in the electorate and that in turn will change everything.

The list of things that need changing is so long, and I am certainly no expert on the subject. Here are some of my ideas/thoughts. Add your own!

* Make election day a holiday

* Registration made SUPER easy

* Congress and OBAMA need to take the lead and FIX things

*Electoral College system is inherently discriminatory -- change it, change the world.

* Paper ballots

* private sector NOT allowed, by law.

* Proactive campaign to get disenfranchised voters registerd.
*
*The long lines must go.

Does anyone know if there is a netroots-type movement to get a convention (or something) organized to set goals about what we want changed within the next, um, two years? Another big election in 2010!

[wildecat1]

"Americans are voting overwhelmingly for change."

Uh, no, they're NOT.

It's 10:20 p.m. in New York right now and the popular vote between Obama and McCain is nearly neck-and-neck - Obama with 50% and McCain with 49%. I don't think you can call a 1 percent difference "overwhelm­ing."

Yes, Obama will win, but the popular vote results show that nearly half the nation did NOT vote for him. I certainly hopes he keeps the concerns of the other half in mind when he takes over. If he truly wants to be a uniter, he cannot govern too far to the left without disenfranchising nearly half the voters in this country.

[EbonBear]

Bush won a smaller margin of the popular vote in 2004 (and lost it in 2000) and governed as far to the right as he could concieve of. 338 electoral votes (according to the BBC right now) is a mandate. If Bush had a mandate in 2004, as the right claimed he did, Obama has one now.

[Elmo]

b-b-but bush? already?

so, you're offering geedub as an example of how obama should govern? cool.

[robbor]

the 50% who don't want to change are either ignorant, fearful, or lacking in imagining new possibilities. when they begin to see change having positive outcomes then they will join the ranks of the believers.

[Elmo]

that's funny, they said the same thing about you.

[bird63]

"This just about says it all, "It took a candidate of remarkable intelligence, discipline and ease, organizing a truly exemplary campaign. It took the worst financial catastrophe since the Great Depression; the worst foreign policy debacle in Iraq since Vietnam. It took the self-immolation of John McCain. It took Americans deciding not to fall for the old politics of division -- not this time."

Thank you for celebrating with America. I will be up until it is over.

MJ -- North Caroina

[PATina]

Did they ever call North Carolina..­. when I left home this morning... it was still too close to call. I know it's merely academic now... I'm just curious if that became another red state turned purple ; )

[momof3inGA]

Excellent piece.

[julianne]

Yeah, we all loved Mitt Romney.

[ProgressiveInAZ]

Yes we are the center!
Nixon was a pinko commie compared to the extreme right wing crap we have had to endure for the past 8 years.
Obama is totally center right - I hope he moves a little bit more to the left and holds corporations accountable and gets us the hell out of the wars as soon as possible.

[pm247]

With the big Democratic majorities in Congress, we should be looking to retake the Supreme Court from the corrupt cabal that installed Bush in 2000. Congress can now add new seats to the Court, positions for Pres. Obama to fill.

[jacq8411]

Read "Men in Black" By Mark Levine. Please. I implore you

[Elmo]

yeah, stacking the court was a big winner for fdr.

[MajorKong]

And yet in 2000 .1% was somehow mandate.

[RRonin]

Great post by Borsage. One of the fundamental truths that is ignored by the MSM and the punditocracy is that this country was founded by LIBERALS. Every good thing that has become ingrained into our institutions from the fight against slavery to women getting the vote to the minimum wage, the 40 hour week, the GI Bill, and the creation of the great American middle class (the engine that drives the economy) came about through the efforts of LIBERALS.

[PATina]

What people don't seem to get is that it is liberal... or day I say Socialistc­... type programs that make Capitalism possible. Without the Homestead act granted free land to settlers..­. many of our early farmers in the midwest would not have had the collateral to provide tools and seed to become the nations breadbox. Without higher wages and a forty hour week... we wouldn't have suburbia and the malls. You can't have Capitalism­... if the majority of the citizens don't have capital. It's the social programs (i.e. pulic education, minimum wages, organized labor)... that help provide capital to the masses. Who then use that to start or support business.

[NetProphet]

Great reply RRonin!

. . . .don't forget to mention FDR ( a WORK program like his we need now), Kennedy, and yes !
Eisenhower whose foreign policy outlook mirrors Obama's!

Soon those "conservative" War Hawks, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and all those others from Gengrich to Rove, will be only part of our SAD history!