For nearly a year now I've been a person who tries to calm people down. "How bad would it be if McCain/Palin would have won?" I kept asking. "President Obama has only been in office x months." "The Supreme Court, 'nuff said." I can't tell you how hopeful and patient I have been.
I'm ashamed of myself.
The people I was trying to pacify had better instincts than I had. They were outraged about Rick Warren, about Rahm Immanuel, about the Goldman Sachs team. I had some fairy tale mentality that we finally had a leader on our hands. Finally. He sounded like a leader on the campaign trail.
But leaders focus the will of the people and help us to achieve our goals. Leaders build on what they say is important. I'm not going to criticize Barack Obama as a person, because I really believe he is a decent man. But he isn't leading the lower and middle class Americans to real healthcare access. He isn't leading our fellow Americans into an understanding that civil rights are for everyone.
I got the same letter from Barack Obama and the DNC that Kos got yesterday. I read it and I thought "fighting my ass." If our president fought for the things he talked about I wouldn't be writing this diary.
The problem isn't Barack Obama or any of the other elected officials though. The problem is the American people. We are just fine with politicians trading our access to healthcare for fat piles of cash. Or perhaps it's better to say we aren't even aware enough to realize it's happening. The people on this site are aware, and we are active and we are mad because we see the problem. But anytime I talk to people I run into on a daily basis about anything political I'm way more likely to see their eyes glaze over and hear them say some excuse about why they haven't been paying attention.
Paying attention to politics is heartbreaking. It takes a lot of effort and a little arrogance too. It takes believing that my opinions matter as much as the president's opinion matters. Paying attention to politics requires me to believe that I can get to the bottom of all the spin and understand what is really happening. And most Americans don't believe that. They don't believe me when I talk to them about the healthcare fight. They don't believe that we the people can make a difference.
But history is full of moments when the people have made a difference.
Nobody likes a civl war. No one wants one. But what's the alternative here? We keep putting our money and faith in a party that takes that energy and hands the 2010 election to the party that fucked us up so bad in the first place? I'm not doing it. I'm putting my energy into electing representatives that actually will vote for change, reps who will lead the people toward change. Because electing democrats got us here. Because I talked my friends into working for Barack Obama and he isn't the leader I hoped he was. Because middle and lower class American people need real help.
And so far, we aren't getting it.