Tired of Warren diaries? That's OK, because he's peripheral here, as he is in the grand scheme of things. This is mostly about Us and our relationship with Obama. It's not a STFU, or a SYFPH; it's an attempt to understand broadly in a sincere effort to get past the short-term problems.
I think what we are really reacting to is Obama burdening us, instead of rewarding us with a long-hoped-for lightening of our burden. We don't understand and approve his decision, and we're taking it to him. But as progressives, we will always carry the burden of change, and wear the mantle of sacrifice.
Every movement to gain civil rights has been and remains a struggle.
Every movement to improve labor rights has been and remains a struggle.
Every movement to preserve and clean the environment has been and remains a struggle.
Every movement to stop a war has been and remains a struggle.
Every present and future movement will similarly be a struggle until we pass some cultural tipping point, after which we will nationally, communally possess sufficient knowledge and understanding to achieve and cement the milestones of progress that will set us on the progressive path for the foreseeable future. Whether that day is near or far, we do not, and can not, know today. It will be recognized by a small number of people when it happens, and only in retrospect will it be widely recognized. Point being, progress is difficult.
Let's take a momement to remember why we supported Obama. While no two of us will say it exactly the same way, we saw a dedication to neglected aspects of leadership: ethics, transparency, partisan transendence, thoughtful consideration, and sterling character. Does anyone deny those qualities now, because of this decision to include Warren in the inauguration? Did they vanish? No. What happened is that we got angry, and we lost sight those qualities.
I can't say I'm angry, and I can't lie and say I feel the same visceral hurt of those who bear the brunt of Pastor Warren's ignorant prejudice. This is probably what lets me write, and I'm guessing it's similar to Obama's relationship to his choice and its effect. He seems to be a very level guy in general: unless he has the best poker face ever, he seems fairly immune to highs and lows. About the only sign he's struggling internally is his extreme deliberation in choosing the exact word he wants to diplomatically address a tricky situation.
In any case, Obama is supremely aware of the struggle embodied in every movement to improve society and the world in general. So much of his life is intimately tied to the experience of those struggles in one form or another. And I think one of the things he learned is that since the struggles are not going away anytime soon, those who carry the movements forward must learn to bear the burden of the movements.
That's Us. We are the burden-bearers, and we always shall be. Destruction/regress is easy; creation/progress is hard.
This is not cause for self-pity. It IS a call to realize that if we can't handle Pastor Warren, how can we handle the more substantial burdens we already carry? And have we not endured worse? Ah, but Bush was SUPPOSED to burden us, you might say. Obama is supposed to be on our side; he's supposed to make it easy for us.
As Jeremiah Wright put it: "No no no!"
Here's the hard truth: it is We who must make it easy for Obama. He is here to represent us, but not only us. He made that clear. "To those whose support I have yet to earn: I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president too."
Obama is Pastor Warren's President too. That's hard for us to accept, IF we believe that Warren is the Enemy.
He's really not. He's just not our friend yet. He might never be our friend as much as we would like. But Obama's not going to listen to our excuses for refusing to build a bridge toward Warren and his national followers. Obama is serious about this, and he knows that means the burden is still ours to bear. We're the only ones responsible for our outreach. We can't control what they do, but we can control what we do.
Think of it this way:
If you've ever cared about someone who has a serious problem, such as alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, suicidal tendencies, you know that person is not always capable of loving you back as you'd wish. Sometimes caring for that person seems thankless and more difficult than you can bear. Well, welcome to your fellow Americans. If every criticism we've leveled at the ignorant, hateful sheeple of the Right is accurate, well, damn... they are our brethren, and we are their keepers. We can't just keep ridiculing them; we've got to step up and heal them, even if it's less satisfying to our egos.
Even if they hit us in the face from time to time. The burden is Ours. If we can reach out to Warren, even when he hits us in the face, we win. Regardless of where he is now, he is capable of understanding that his take on homosexuality is insufficiently loving and Christlike, and that's more likely to happen if we love him ove rto our side isntead of beating on him in an effort to diminish and marginalize him.
The most disturbing thing I've ever read about Obama was in Ryan Lizza's New Yorker piece, "Making It." It was the implication by Obama's Chicago friends and supporters that Obama did not display enough gratitude toward them once he'd gotten elected. Maybe this is a major flaw in Obama's character. If so, we're right to feel affronted, unconsidered, unappreciated, insulted, or hurt. Certainly in the context of our suboptimal Congressional leadership, any similarities between their actions and Obama's are worrisome. Not again, we groan.
However, none of those reactions solves anything. Maybe instead Obama simply recognizes that his supporters who worked to elect him will know they must keep on working to enact the progressive plan. And Obama has nowhere else to go; he's risen to the top. There is no higher level to ask us to propel him. He and We have jobs to do, and our first job is the one FDR gave his supporters: make him do it. Now that we have power, the burden of responsibility is on us in a way that's new to many of us, myself included. This simple fact is the greatest Change many of us seem to skip past without giving it much thought.
As others have written recently, our mode has been criticism. It was the only power we had, since we lacked political power. Now that we have the political power, we must devote more energy to work, to pushing our leaders in the best direction. Yet those who see their duty to keep our officials honest are absolutely right. We are not exchanging our one duty for another; we are adding duties. Adding burdens.
This is not easy to accept. We may have thought things would be easier. Some things will be. However, while prospects for Change have hugely improved, the burden on us to create that Change is not lightened but increased. Let's hope--and if applicable, pray--for the strength and determination to move forward with optimism and even joy under that extra weight. It's the work of Life.
This is necessarily simplistic, and I've left unanswered problems raised by these concepts. One thing at a time; I want to diary other problems in political reconciliation later. I only hope this particular pontificant bloviathan of rambling conveys the point OK.
Peace, y'all.