The Cause Endures

We finally really did it...famous last words from the Planet of the Apes. We as a country have finally decided to elect a game show host as our leader. I have no explanation for the results last night except to paraphrase Patton Oswalt who said, " We are way more sexist than we are racist, and we're pretty fucking racist". 

We will have to live with this result now for the next four years at least and from the fallout from this for maybe a generation. Such is the democratic process. We take a chance every four years and the people decide who they want as a leader. Sometimes we choose hope, sometimes we choose fear, but we always get to choose. That's really the biggest takeaway from last night. I'm not happy with the outcome, but I am satisfied that the democratic process was served last night. 

As I have stated before, we get the leaders that we deserve. That may be a harsh statement, but it's true. Our broken and divided country will be led by someone whose rhetoric smacks of all the hallmarks of a despot. From locking up political opponents to shutting down press access to singling out people based on race or religion, it all sounds very much like so many of the dictators that we have around the globe. 

Our saving grace is that we have a judicial and legislative branch to provide checks and balances. The problem is that they will now be in the hands of the same party. No more gridlock. No more shutting down the government. It's onward and upward with the agenda that we, as a country have voted for. And as hard as that may be to accept, it's the truth. We as a country have voted for the Republican agenda and all that stands for. If you read their platform, it sounds scary. I can only hope that general ineffectiveness of Congress and the in fighting within the party itself will slow the rate of that change. 

We will be stuck with it however. The mid terms are two years away and the chances of changing the balance in the Senate or the House will continue to remain only a faint glimmer in Nancy Pelosi's eyes. Democrats seem to have a problem showing up at midterm elections. Now it seems they have a problem showing up for general elections. Hillary Clinton lost Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by 1%. Her vote totals are down by about 5 million from 2012. Those 5 million disinterested, disillusioned or disaffected voters are the difference between a landslide and a loss. 

We as liberals, progressives, democrats or whatever we are calling ourselves today, have no one to blame but ourselves. We couldn't help ourselves from piling on the Hillary Clinton hate train. All she has done is give her time and efforts to public service for the last 40 years and all we can do in return is react with faint praise at best. All public servants make mistakes. Hell, even the sainted FDR sent Asian Americans to internment camps and refused integrate the armed services. Hillary has done nothing to deserve the apathy and downright hostility she faced from her own party faithful. That, however, is an argument for another day. 

Four years is not a lifetime and two years will be over before we even realize it. Life as we know it didn't change last night and it will not change the day after Inauguration day. We will be in uncharted waters though. We have no idea what is coming with then next administration. Can you honestly say that you know what our foreign policy will be? or our domestic policy? Education, energy, etc. We will all take the leap of faith together as a country. Those who voted for this administration may take it with their eyes open (instead of tightly shut in sheer terror), but it is still a leap into the unknown. I would ask everyone who is predicting Armageddon to remember that eight years ago, Fox news had entire specials devoted to the nightmare that was about to take place. Our country was supposedly going to be unrecognizable in four years. Our children were going to be sent to camps to be programmed, our guns would be ripped from our cold dead hands and economic disaster would leave the country a wasteland. 

People today are asking what are they supposed to tell their children. You  tell them that the democratic process worked the way it was supposed to. That doesn't mean that your candidate or point of view always wins and that the goal of a republic is to work within the system for the betterment of our country. We must strive to make this a successful transition and and a successful presidency. If you are truly a patriot, you don't take your toys and go home just because you didn't get your way. That is too often the way that we react to a losing election. Are we better than our opposition? I certainly hope so. A loss like this definitely stings but as Ted Kennedy famously said after his run for the presidency came to end "For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die". 

Take the Money and Run

I have disagreed with the President on many occasions and I continue to be disappointed by some of his decisions. I am all for standing on principle as an outsider. However I also realize that politics is a different game. Politics is a game of give and take. From what I can see, the President is playing this game to the best of his abilities. He has limited support from his own party (the left and right both attack his policies), he has absolutely no support from the Republicans and very little support from the coalition that elected him.

All I hear from the progressives at this point is how the president isn't living up to the legacy of FDR. Well FDR had a chance to put health care for all in place and he bargained it away. He got nothing( I'm assuming those on the left would have been happy to do away with social security as well because getting only that would have been seen as a "compromise"). . Ted Kennedy had a chance to champion Jimmy Carter's deal for health care for all working Americans and he decided to go for it all we ended up with nothing. Kennedy did it because he wanted to run for President and didn't want to rubber stamp the Carter agenda. No one talks about that either. (But according to the left, that decision should be applauded because he stood on principle. Never mind the fact that he later in life said it was the biggest mistake he ever made in his political life.)

I have no idea what the standard is for this President. If he had stood on principle in the health care debate (meaning single payer), we would now have nothing. If he would have stood on principle during the fight for financial reform, we would have nothing. This president doesn't need to grow a set, he has a set. He has decided to set a course of attainable progress. It doesn't help him with the left (who want some progressive superman to take down the Republicans without so much as a nod to the procedural rules of Congress that wouldn't allow such a thing), the right continues to call the President a socialist, a communist, a traitor, a Muslim terrorist, etc. How much bravery do you think it takes for someone to act even though they know it will curry no favor with either supporters or detractors?

Frankly I'm of the mind that the President should just finish out his term and go on to become extremely rich as the foremost citizen of the world. Because even if those in the US don't appreciate him, he is without a doubt the most admired leader in the world today. If the US doesn't want him, then I guess we don't deserve him. I'm not defending his decisions. I've been just as disappointed in some of them as some of his most vocal critics have been. But I do understand political reality. And after the next election, when those on the left will be, I assume based on their current rhetoric, celebrating the end of the term of the great appeaser, we'll all get a dose of political reality, Republican style. And that, my friends, is all I have to say about that.

Hell is for Children

We, I mean those who label themselves as Liberals, Independents and Progressives are obviously a bunch of children! When we don't get everything we want, we cry and say that we are taking our toys home. Since when do we live in a land where our wishes our granted by our government with the speed and totality that we hope for? How long did it take to turn our economy around after the depression hit? I would argue that we didn't completely get out of the depression until WWII started. That means 1929-1941 spent digging out from financial ruin. Did the country dismiss FDR because he hadn't put everyone back to work by the end of his first year in office? How long did it take to get a civil rights bill? Did that mean that LBJ didn't deserve to be voted into office because he hadn't managed to pass a bill in the year that he had as President? Truman talked of universal health care during his time in office and LBJ got medicare passed on his watch. Is that universal health care? No, but at least those over 65 have health care coverage guaranteed by the government. Does the current health care reform guarantee coverage to everyone? No, but it's a step in that direction. Since when is incremental change no longer good enough? Ted Kennedy, until the day he died, regretted that he didn't take the deal that would have guaranteed that all employees would have health insurance. He held out for every thing and got nothing. He decided that he'd rather take his toys home instead of making a compromise. That is the state of left today. If we aren't going to get everything we want, then we will take our toys home and pout. That'll show 'em.

I don't really have a point here. I understand that people are frustrated. I understand that people are disappointed. But are those on the left any more mature than those on the right? Those on the left are quick to label the tea baggers as nuts, bigots, idiots, radicals, etc., but you have to at least admire their passion. On the left, we got excited about the possibilities of an Obama presidency. Everything was supposed to change. Well, inauguration day came and went and we still had the same problems we had the day before and suddenly everyone on the left started to wonder if they had wasted their time. What do you mean we still have unemployment? Why don't I have health care coverage? Why are we still at war? Why can't gays get married? Why is Gitmo still open? Why don't we have a green economy? Why are there still bad people in the world? And because those problems still exist, we have those on the left who are ready to abandon this administration. They are willing to take their toys home and just let the chips fall where they may.

When did those on the left lose their ability to understand reality? Have they not watched the Republicans oppose everything that this administration had tried to do? Have they not watched the "Blue Dogs" thwart the Senate from putting together a strong health care reform bill? Have they not watched this most partisan of political seasons? Has the President done everything that I wanted? Of course not. I have written angrily many times on this blog about things that I have not agreed with. Do I bitch and moan about the pace of progress? Of course. But am I ready to take my toys home? Absolutely not. The alternatives are to vote for the Republicans or not vote at all. Are those choices that those on the left are willing to make? I wonder when I here of people who are questioning their vote for this President. Are they now wishing that they had voted for John McCain? Perhaps those who are most disillusioned were initially Hillary Clinton supporters who voted for Obama because of party loyalty. Perhaps deep in their hearts they think that Hillary would be doing a better job. Frankly I don't know and it's pointless to think about it, because it didn't happen.

This is reality, not "what if" land". Barack Obama is the President and he is going to remain that way until he loses the next election or until his second term is up. If you regret voting for him because he hasn't addressed the issues that he thought he would or addressed it to your satisfaction, then you can do something about it. You can vote Republican, You can stay home, you can bitch and moan, but what you cannot do is take your vote back. If you feel that the Republicans would be doing a better job, then you are a Republican and that's fine. However don't pretend that you are a disillusioned lefty who is now realizing that President Obama is leading us down the road to socialism. I long for those days when the Senator Obama would give a soaring speech and we would all feel like everything was going to be okay. President Obama is a different animal. He doesn't just speak to his supporters, he speaks to the entire country. I would love to wake up tomorrow to an ultra progressive President, but that's not going to happen and that would not help get policy passed. In this political climate, small steps are about all we can hope for. That is the reality that we live with. If that doesn't work for you then there's always fantasy island.

I don't think that those on the left should ever stop pushing, hoping and dreaming for something better. The greatest social policies of the last hundred years have come because of those who dreamed of something better. The women's suffragette movement didn't give up when they faced their first defeat. Martin Luther King didn't give up after the first time he was arrested (or after the 5th or the 10th). Are we on the left so immature that we cannot continue to fight even though the fight doesn't immediately lead to results? Is there anyone on the left who believes that their agenda would have fared better under a Republican administration? Is there? Anyone? I am willing to hear the argument. So for those who say they are not committed to voting for Obama for a second term, I am waiting to hear your argument as to why you think the progressive or liberal agenda would fare better under a Republican President. Perhaps you'd rather just take your toys home and pout.

Goodnight and good luck.