In Process

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

Are we having fun yet? Are the hostage situations — the people’s good being tossed like a beanbag between the political parties, First Amendment guarantees being assaulted in the WikiLeaks cyberwar, the tick-tick-tick of the climate change clock proceeding without us — proving entertaining to you or just stressful? Perhaps both? Would you miss all this if it was gone tomorrow, you excitement junkie, you?

No worries. Not that long ago I asked, whatever would we do without George Bush to keep us twisted up, on the edge of adrenal exhaustion and frothing at the mouth, but look where we are two years later. Still twisted, still frothing. And so it goes.

I’m sure that some of you must be good progressives, triple-pissed at our ever-pragmatic President for capitulating to the Republicans, trading middle-class protections for renewal of Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy. Pleading concern for those citizens soon to be thrown to the wolves, Obama has proposed a two-year extension of the tax cuts — while pointing to the Republicans as the heavies in no uncertain terms — and has promised to work toward a high-end tax repeal in 2012. This is not a popular proposal with either the public or the political class, blue OR red.

Nothing’s written in stone yet. As I write, Christocrat and Bagger-spokesman, Jim DeMint, is pledging to filibuster further reckless spending on the lazy, drug-addicted unemployed; similar possibilities from the left are led by Independent Bernie Sanders, who is not happy with an additional $70 billion borrowed to bless the burgeoning coffers of the filthy, and largely ungrateful, rich. Between these two poles stand the vulnerable citizens of the nation, waiting to see what — if anything — leadership is planning for their relief. If neither side gives an inch, we don’t move forward at all. In fact, Sanders is not the only politician who fears we’re headed for a government shut-down at the hands of a Republican House.

As for me, I march to the beat of a different drummer on this issue. In my mind, this time frame is about something much more dramatic than simply a crisis point in American superpower or a planetary emergency of resource and earth change. I believe we’re in a r/evolutionary process, and I believe this is a ‘proofing’ period.

Looking over the cast of presidential hopefuls in 2007, I wasn’t looking for an “as usual” candidate, one with an establishment track record, but rather one with highly unusual attributes. Obama stood out as one who had enough flex in him to make it through this period without losing his focus. He had proven his even-handedness in a contentious campaign that exposed the raw nerves and vulnerabilities of each candidate and pitted them against one another. We saw his heart in his address on race-relations and his relationship with Jeremiah Wright. His were the words of a conciliator; he remains one today, although we’d prefer a fighter.

Bill Maher has called Barack a “wussie.” Still, for those who fear Obama is too “nice” to be anything but wimpy, here is an encouraging quote from the director of an Asian advertising firm: “As the senior leader of one Chinese state-owned enterprise said to me, ‘I used to think Obama was nice. Then I realized he was intelligent. Now I know he’s shrewd, just like Hu Jintao. Your leader is a strategist.'” That means he’s nice with a plan.

Obama’s Neptunian qualities encouraged us to superimpose our own projections on him: ninja, chess master, newest iteration of FDR, the One. I won’t list the fanciful allegations from the right. It is true, if ignored, that he has kept most of his campaign promises, more than the average politico. He has made systemic changes that will outlast his presidency and define his legacy well into the future. It is also true that liberals have kept a detailed list of promises he has not kept, and complain bitterly about his attempt to work in bipartisan fashion with an inflexible right. Finally, with this tax cut compromise, and coming off an election that his base felt he did not invest in, Obama has proven all too human, perhaps our biggest disappointment. How will we ever forgive him?

For a while the Dems compared Obama to Lincoln, then to FDR. Not long ago he was likened to Truman (and shortly thereafter, the anti-Truman) but most recently Howard Fineman accused him of channeling St. Ronnie the Reagan, and also courting a similar end as one-term president, Jimmy Carter. We are compelled to cast this man in the role of one that has gone before. Me, I don’t think there’s been one like him before now. I appreciated the measured comments of Bernie Sanders, who writes that he feels for the president’s dilemma and position in this tax debate, but that he strongly disagrees with the tactics he’s chosen to employ. This is a respectful statement of disagreement. Whenever I read something demonizing this president, especially from the left, I’m disheartened that us/them thinking is still epidemic. The world is full of genuine enemies; we needn’t create them because we disagree with one another.

What I do know about Barack Obama is that he is liberal at his core, pragmatic in his methods, and his view of life, hence politics, largely transcends the duality we expect in typical discourse. I don’t compromise well with people whose basic principles differ from mine, so I’d prefer to see Obama hoist the Republicans on their own mean-spirited, self-serving petard, allowing the tax breaks to expire and showing the public the degree to which the minority party cares about them, while illustrating what their 2010 vote has cost the nation.

A good politician makes the tough calls. It turns out Obama is a better politician than I am, willing to lose some to gain some and move the ball forward, seeking a stronger position down the road. I couldn’t have done it. Perhaps we on the left wouldn’t be so sensitive to all this if we hadn’t lost ground, bit by bit, for over three decades so that each new cut threatens to bleed us out entirely. The class wars have us exhausted and touchy and looking for a champion. If Obama has no S on his chest, it seems like we’re back where we started.

I think it’s also clear that those of us who live over here on the left of center have a different view of establishment politics than most of the nation. We’re not newly awakened to the push/pull of money and corruption; we’re savvy consumers and critics of the empire. It’s difficult for us to grant forgiveness to anyone unwilling to redefine this flawed system in dramatic ways. Obama threads a broader needle, and if he is not so much a trust-buster as we’d like him to be, that is partly our fault for allowing the broad base of activism FDR enjoyed to fade into memory, just when we need it to push a liberal president farther to the left. Good times turned us all too soft, I fear. We lost that sharp edge decades ago.

It’s hard not to like Barack Obama, and I do, yet I don’t know if, ultimately, history will see him as an effective president, shifting the nation back toward progressive principles. We’re too close to the trees. But we have this in common, Obama and I. Apparently, we both trust the process. As important as the selection of president in 2008, in my opinion, was the very energy that was beginning to form around the 2012 quickening. Nothing political — or personal, for that matter — is happening in this world that isn’t defined by that energy signal and the powerful currents that are reshaping our consciousness. In this mysterious and confusing build-up to a shifting of ages, we have drawn to us an enigmatic leader who has not made us more comfortable in our old paradigm behavior, but challenges us daily to see things differently. Somehow that seems perfect to me.

When you make bread, you proof the yeast by adding water and sugar and waiting for bubbles, indicating robust activity. If Obama was the yeast, then the 2008 campaign turned out the dough. The last two years was additional proofing of the product, allowing it to rise and ferment. Midway through that process, there’s typically a punching down of what has formed, a breaking down of form so that it repeats the proof, preparing itself to become a final product. 2010 was a pretty brutal kneading. There are two more years of proofing before we have a product ready for the oven. We’ve got all the ingredients of our grand experiment gathered together, the ferment is working, and it’s not time to judge yet. When it all seems too much, trust the process.

Note: This is a wide political lens on the topic — for a more narrow one, see yesterdays post at Political Waves.