October 2009

It is nearly one year since we Americans implemented hope.  Reflection and perspective are proper accompaniment for anniversaries.

A glass version of the rising sun emblem of the Obama campaign hangs on our bedroom wall.  Just under the cross.  It is for me a proper juxtaposition.  What we do together in the name of all is an elemental part of faith lived.

My personal commitment to Barack Obama grows from deep roots.  That he offered to be our President and that we accepted creates a bond beyond any individual political issue or period of time.  If not, we cannot sustain our form of government.

During the Obama For America campaign I had the luxury of time to give eight months of more than full-time volunteer work.  Witnessing his oath of office was more than adequate pay.

As I observed many people respond to campaign symbols one, more than any other, captured the heart of the collective effort:  Shepard Fairey’s Hope poster.  The American Age of Darkness, fully entered in 2,000, nearly extinguished hope.  Over time, hope takes many forms.  In the campaign, we each firmly held a personal knowing of hope.  In day-to-day governance external forces mold the shape of that hope.

Year one conclusions:

§  The election of Barack Obama was a transformational event for America and for the world.  Alone, it is cause for a Nobel Peace Prize.

§  The unambiguous ending of torture and working toward closing Guantanamo is a singular step toward restoring American honor.

§  Seeking consensus among nations is the only strategy to unravel a twisted world community.

§  Denying access to health care for any American is a national sin.  Repentance does not most effectively result from baby steps.

§  Real action, not rhetoric, creates economic stability.  Reform of our financial system should always precede bailout.

§  “…all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness….”  We remain in violation of our most emphatic first Declaration.

And so year one of the Obama Administration is for me more like an accomplished year in a Clinton Administration than a Kennedy’s.  I still hope for Camelot.

The World Series opens tomorrow.  Basic strategies seem clear.  The Yanks and Phills are not small ball teams.  Seeking a single here, some steals, sacrifices and a methodical run or two isn’t their style.  While good enough to carry out any game plan, the National and American League champs are big inning teams.  Get leadoff hitters on base so the long ball sluggers that follow can bring them home.  We can only dream about players like these in Washington D.C..

In the midst of the worst health care crisis facing any modern, industrialized nation our elected representatives struggle months on end to implement any solution.  Senate Leader Harry Reid’s rejection of those pronouncing the public option dead is welcome.  But can you even call it small ball?

Reid’s public option offers the choice of a government run insurance program to maybe ten percent of the American people.  They could actually make that choice in about seven years.  And that’s if they don’t live in a state that chooses to opt out of the plan.

Almost one year ago the American electorate embraced a historically radical shift in public policy.  George Bush to Barack Obama is a 180-degree turn.  We now watch electeds who hang back at perhaps the 30-degree turn mark.

America needs a big inning.  Americans chose the big inning team last November.  It struggles to cross a minefield of ignorance, stupidity and crass power seeking.  The scene slaps the face of millions struggling for health and life.

We’ll of course take any progress on health care.  But as Peggy Lee sang a generation ago:  Is that all there is?

That Franklin Roosevelt’s wisdom is timeless is clear amid the current contentions over health care reform.  Listening yesterday to what passes as debate in the Senate Finance Committee fear was invoked relentlessly by Republicans.  Their argument:  we cannot take a bold step toward reform because the American people are afraid.  In other words fear rules.  Do whatever is necessary to push it back even if it is wrong and destructive.

Finally one lone Republican has surfaced who has ears to hear the call of history.  Let us applaud Olympia Snowe for her courage in the face of threats from her caucus.  Let us not cede control in shaping the final Senate bill.  One Republican vote in the name of a barely audible whisper “bipartisan” is not a fair trade for a real public option to compete with the multi billion dollar health corporations.  More than cost containment it stands for simple humanity in how we treat the ill and advance health for all.

There are miles to go on health care though considerably fewer than was the case two days ago.  President Obama suddenly has a gravitas not discerned before by our silly pundits.  In realizing a sane reformation of health care in the United States, the only thing we have now to fear is fear itself.

For those who believe world peace is possible only through a process of international engagement and consensus:  “Thank you Nobel Peace Prize committee.”  Their decision is as stunning as November’s American decision to turn 180 degrees.  The Nobel Peace Prize for Barack Obama is a formal international recognition of the courage of America’s electoral act.  It is an international acknowledgement of the promise our decision contains.

As stunning as the awarding of the prize is the reaction in the United States.  Traveling recently in Europe took me out of our current national context.  We have become a nation of wildly opinionated critics who relate to life through the context of the negative.

I am one among most who greeted news of the award with disbelief.  Stunning surprise for me does not result from a sense of undeserved.

What has Barack Obama accomplished?  Let’s start with his election.  He played no small part in it.  That America chose such a radically different course last November brings historic consequence not only to our country.  Inviting the world to bring its dignity and join to resolve intractable problems is no small matter in the face of our recent past.  Establishing a national priority and beginning the work to rid the world of nuclear weapons is no small change.

Many nod to political fallout from this award with a sense of regret.  If we thus shape our actions we will forever cower in the corner from Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steel and their fellow travelers.

Let us celebrate this honor.  With humility, clearly knowing much hard work stands before us.  Before all great advances there was first their promise.  No small thing promise even worthy of a prestigious award.