The late great James Baldwin, my favorite author and intellectual, wrote in The Devil Finds Work, a brutal collection of essays on American film:
"IDENTITY would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one’s nakedness can always be felt and sometimes discerned. This trust in one’s nakedness is all that gives one the power to change robes."
Seems to me, Barack has trust in his nakedness. I've always seen him as a man comfortable in his skin.
He has no identity crisis, political or otherwise.
All the noise I'm hearing about him being a traitor to the left and other such nonsense has worked my last nerve.
Changing his robes doesn't make him a flip-flopper or a traitor or a fraud.
It makes him utterly human.
I'm not feeling betrayed, people. After all, how can he bring the country together, as he has claimed he would try to do all campaign, if he doesn't reach out to the most disparate of interest groups and constituencies and invite them all to the table?
Is he supposed to be a mouthpiece for the dogma of the left while turning his back on the right?
It's gotten so out of hand that we're now parsing his every word for something to get pissed off about as though we are the frightened neocons who see in him the crumbling foundation of their perceived power.
I read Dreams from My Father. And it was clear to me, at least, from the first chapter that Barack is conservative. Certainly more conservative than many of his supporters and detractors appear willing to realize.
But he has little trouble attracting folks from all backgrounds, across all political ideologies, because he's so comfortable with his nakedness.
He wields the power to change robes.
Criticize him. Hold him accountable. But understand there's a line that need not be crossed if we are to do our part in making sure he's elected President. Waging a self-righteous war on him because you see him as a traitor to the cause is self-destructive.
Demanding that he return your donations on his campaign website is wacked.
The devil always finds work.
If you refuse to see Barack's humanity, if he has lost your support, so be it. Donate to, volunteer and vote for someone else. But there's simply no need to harm Barack's campaign with petulance and melodrama.
Perhaps we ought to look in the mirror and become more comfortable with our own nakedness.