My title was going to be "Progressive Intelligentsia vs Obama" then I remembered that the last 3 Democratic Presidents had the same run ins with the progressive intellectuals to the point where one had to fight off a primary and lost his re-election bid and the other was pretty much reduced to use the loathed "triangulation" method to govern.
By all current measures, Jimmy Carter fit all the "progressive" check lists but the left at the time didn't see it that way and just couldn't believe how much of a mess he made of things..
And now I hear," oh, Carter was progressive even if he lost".
Have you ever had a friend who's had so much bad luck dating and always blames their exes but you just want to say.. " you know, have you ever considered that maybe it's just you?"
Of course, most opinions go all the way back to LBJ or Roosevelt : " Why can't Obama be ruthless like LBJ or rally the people like Roosevelt?" Why oh why..
It really baffles me. Seriously.
Besides the fact that circumstances are different now and then, has anyone actually read what the "progressive" wings were saying about both Presidents at the time?
Please do a little bit of research, it will sound awfully familiar to some of you...
Anyway, the reason why I'm even bringing this up is because I finally realized why most progressive intelligentsia is so frustrated and impatient with Obama and most of us ( I'll specify who the "us" is in a moment) are not and understood that resetting 30 years of right wing propaganda and conditionning could not and should not take less than 3 years.
When Clinton got into his tough years with the Lewinsky scandal, the people that rallied the most around him were African Americans. I actually thought that was a bad thing but when I asked around curiously, what made them strongly support this man who by all counts, had shown to be pretty much a liar and irresponsible in their personal lives, I often heard the same refrain.
The answers varied but the most common went somewhat like this " We know who our enemy is, hey, we lived under Reagan, and it's not Clinton.We will protect our own."
Now, another Democratic president is in power and again the elite progressives are gnawing their teeth and "disappointed", "angry", "disillusionned" etc.. and again, African Americans are not for the most part.
But they have every reason to be. Have they seen the wealth gap?? The unemployment gap between whites and blacks? The numbers are staggering. If anyone should be angry about this administration's seemingly inattention on jobs is them. But last I checked, Obama's approval has remained steady at around 80% among black flocks.
It can't just be regular "pride" that one of them has made it, can it ? I had my doubts... Mention the names Michael Steele, Clarence Thomas or the latest addition Herman Cain and you'll hear the giggles..
And then I read this comment from a certain " Tom" in Steve Benen's Blog .
He put it in words I've been trying to explain in a long time, why "US" black folks will always be patient. We know all too well that change doesn't happen right away.
We've seen setbacks, hopes rapidly dashed, cruel disappointments, people who we thought were friends ( JFK ? even LBJ.. read up) not moving fast enough, etc... And yet, here we are... Still full of hope and waiting.
As per Tom:
"
White progressives often think that African American elected officials are politically naive. We will far more credit to Cornel West, who has never been elected to anything, than to an elected state senator, or even the President of the United States. We think that Obama does not understand the nature of John Boehner, Mitch McConnell or Eric Cantor, as though he has not sat across the table from them. He doesn't understand how mean they are, we think.
Obama acts entirely within the tradition of mainstream African American political strategy and tactics. The epitome of that tradition was the non-violence of the Civil Rights Movement, but goes back much further in time. It recognizes the inequality of power between whites and blacks. Number one: maintain your dignity. Number two: call your adversaries to the highest principles they hold. Number three: Seize the moral high ground and Number four: Win by winning over your adversaries, by revealing the contradiction between their own ideals and their actions. It is one way that a oppressed people struggle." { Emphasis mine}
This diary is not to pull on your heartstrings or draw an oversentimental picture of the poor first African American President who has to deal with all the meanies in the playground.
No. Whether we like it or not, we elected him, with all the baggage that comes with it. I laugh when I read comments like " How can someone so smart not realize that they're out to destroy him???!!".
White progressives, please talk to one of your black friends who seems to fit in anywhere, among white, black , asian folks... Maybe they can explain where Obama is coming from. He's not blind, very far from it.
We just learned patience. And how to cope. I have friends all colors of the rainbow and sometimes, the older white parents from a different era can't stop commenting on " how polite and delightful manners you have"... as if that's surprising. LOL.
But I hold no grudge. Someone looks at me distrustfully, pointely ignores me or even rudely says something to me...guess what they receive from me? My biggest smile and several attempts at conversation, no matter how many rebuffs I get.
And let me tell you, if let's say we're at a party, they end up being shamed by their own behavior and their own friends and most of the time by the end of it, I will get a reluctant smile.. Why waste my time, say you? I don't know. It's just one mind at a time. One heart a time. We have to keep trying. At the end, no one will be left. I think LGBT people can somewhat relate to this.
Tom again:
" If white progressives understood much about the politics of the African American struggle in the United States, we would see Obama in the context of that struggle and understand him better.
Honestly, I have been reminded more than once in the last few months of those brave college students sitting in at a Woolworth's lunch counter, back in the day. Obama sits at that table, like they did at the counter. Boehner and McConnell and Cantor clown around, mugging for the camera, competing to ritually humiliate Obama, to dump ketchup on his head.
I don't think those students got their sandwiches the first day, but they won in the end."
Friends, Obama is not your enemy. Yes, he's slower than you would like him to be, yes, you have no idea how in the world he operates sometimes, yes , you disagree how he went about something but please remember, you are on the same team.
Nothing in his background shows that he's not one of us. I refuse to believe that someone who turned down lucrative employment at a law firm to become a community organizer in the poor slums of Chicago is all of a sudden beholden to Goldman Sachs.
I don't think that someone who was pretty much abandonned by his father and grew up bouncing around between his single mother and his grandparents is weak, does not have tough skin and did not learn to survive in a difficult environment.
I refuse to believe that someone who grew up relatively poor ( his mother was on food stamps) and who built a family on a lower to middle class income between him and his wife all of a sudden forgot the plight of the poor and the middle class.
Patience, my progressive friends and learn of the struggle. We will get there. Look around, he's actually winning. Once people have realized he's not this Kenyan Marxist Socialist bent on robbing their house, they're actually seeing that the Republicans are kinda crazy. And not the good kind. Slowly, the tables are turning. Too slow but it's happening.
One step at a time. Throwing the towel means you actually have a choice and you could afford it.
For many of us, we couldn't. It will get better.
Thanks for listening.