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POLITICAL NONSENSE OR SERIOUS BUSINESS
01/02/2009
As the inauguration of Barack Obama approaches, there has been a lot of political nonsense in the news.
Some women's groups are castigating Obama for not appointing more female cabinet secretaries, even though he has brought a lot of female voices into the administration at all levels. Apparently, that isn't good enough for some.
Gay Americans and many supporters are angry that Obama has chosen evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration because Warren is opposed to gay marriage and has spoken negatively about homosexuals. Adding this voice to the inauguration is unacceptable to some, even though it will only be a small addition and means nothing in terms of Obama's policies.
The Senate Democrats are threatening not to seat Roland Burris as the junior senator from Illinois because he was appointed by the soon to be indicted governor. Even Obama has voiced his opposition to the appointment though the appointment is legal and the opposition seems fairly inconsequential with all the problems this new Congress and administration is facing.
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have been on a legacy tour of sorts, trying to rescue whatever reputation they can after the many failures of their administration. In light of the economic meltdown the country is experiencing, and the reality of the damage brought by these two, it seems pointless, absurd, and tone-deaf for them to be engaging in damage control for their reputations.
A candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee sent out copies of an anti-Democrat CD for Christmas including the song "Barack the Magic Negro." Apparently, Republican big wigs are divided about whether it was appropriate to do so, or in bad taste. That they are divided on this is telling of how low the party has sunk.
All of these things seem completely irrational and utterly petty when you consider what the new president faces when he takes the oath of office: a crumbling economy with increasing unemployment and mortgage foreclosures; a dangerous escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; two ongoing wars; business failures; enormous budget deficits that will only grow, and a warming of the planet about which almost all climate scientists are issuing dire warnings.
Our biggest and most consequential problems today aren't whether women have achieved full parity with men in all arenas, or whether or not gay citizens can marry today, or whether George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will be remembered fondly. Nor do they include whether Rod Blagojevich is indicted or Roland Burris is seated as a senator, nor whether some in the Republican Party are racists. Haven't we known for many decades that there are racists in the Republican Party? Isn't the utter devotion many have to Rush Limbaugh enough evidence of that?
One thing that has bothered me about the Democratic Party for years is how many issues they want to take on, giving each of them top priority, insisting their leaders give their complete attention to each one. There are so many groups putting pressure on Obama to attend to their specific issue, that were he to try to attend to all of them he would get nothing done.
It is understandable, of course, that liberal, progressive and traditionally Democratic interest groups are trying to get Obama's attention, in that many of them have been ignored for the past eight years. And they all have valid complaints and requests. For the first time in eight years, and perhaps for the first time in twenty-eight years, there is a real possibility that the country might move in a more just and inclusive direction, and interest groups are lining up to get the ear of the new administration.
But first things first.
And the first thing we have to deal with is the serious business of the economy. We have to help struggling businesses, bring back jobs – which means encouraging manufacturing to return – tackle the issue of health care now that so many people are losing their health insurance along with their jobs. We have to set up regulations to prevent the greed and destruction caused by Wall Street and the banking and mortgage industries. We have to get people back to work and get banks to start lending to businesses and citizens again. We have to set up a prosperous but responsible green economy.
At the same time we have to finish up what we started in Iraq and Afghanistan and get our personnel and our dollars out of there. We have to stop wasting the billions of dollars in misbegotten wars and stop doling out money to independent contractors who can't account for most of the money.
We elected Barack Obama to do these things. Yes, some elected him because they assumed he would also address their specific issues. But we must be patient. President Obama will have his hands full dealing with the issues of the economy and the wars. Nothing else will matter if we don't fix these two things.
Obama is determined to unite the country to work together on the solutions to the problems that we have inherited from twenty eight years of conservative ideology that infected government even during the Clinton administration. That ideology was that government was the problem, that the free market and low taxes could solve all economic problems, and that war could be the first choice rather than the last.
It is going to take time, energy, unity and a lot of luck to get out of this mess. Obama deserves to be given that time without everyone tearing him down. He needs all the support and friends he can get.
He needs the evangelical community as well as the gay community.
He needs women as well as men.
He needs the employed and the unemployed.
He needs the old and the young.
Mostly, he needs people who ask how they can help return this country to the strong and vibrant nation it used to be, rather than people who condemn him because he doesn't give them everything they demand.
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