The ultra right-wing, the Republican base, the twenty percent (or so) of Americans who believe Sarah Palin is a viable politician (and decent human being) are cowering in their bunkers, hands on their rifles, waiting nervously for the Socialist Elite to come storming into town, steal all their stuff and perform pot-fueled abortions on illegal immigrant lesbians using taxpayer money. It is, they are certain, Armageddon.
The ultra left-wing, meanwhile, the twenty percent (or so) of Americans who secretly long to be in the feared Socialist Elite, but only so they can inflict their fuel-efficient cars and organic vegetables onto an unsuspecting public, are becoming more and more outraged by the fact that it's nearly 2010 and the president STILL hasn't hung Dick Cheney for his war crimes. They are becoming disappointed in the man they assumed would steer the right-leaning country into a glorious era of peace, shared prosperity and unparalleled human rights.
In between: everybody else. Mostly, I think, they're feeling a little better about the economy and a little freaked out that the national debt is threatening to suffocate the financial lives of their future grandchildren, great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren.
Most people know I stand firmly on the left... especially on social issues, less so on fiscal ones, but generally I align with the Democrats even if I wish they were less wishy-washy. I share in some of the frustration that other liberals feel... worried that we are squandering this time we have in power... worried that we are not changing at as rapid of a clip as we should. I cringe, sometimes, at the compromises being made and the diluting of the message that the president rode to victory.
But when I stand back for a moment and try to look objectively at what's going on, I feel somewhat bolstered and reassured. I find myself standing in staunch defense of the president and his actions. Not because I agree with the outcome, but because I agree with the reasoning.
One of the things that made me livid during the eight years of GWB that the nation endured was his assumption that his presidential win, no matter how slight, was some sort of mandate from the masses. It was not. It was a psuedo-victory at best... an acknowledgment that just a smidge over (or under, as was the case in 2000) half of us thought he was the best man for the job. Bush acted as if he were representing all of us, as if he were given the reigns of leadership with our full approval and thumbs up. And he became a dictator. He did not lead with the will of the people in mind. He led with nothing but his own ideas (and Cheney's) to guide him. And he further split the poles of us apart while cementing his place as a terrible leader and a poor representative of democracy. He steamrolled his way through the presidency, and I hated him for it.
Now times have changed, the pendulum has swung enough to give my side the narrow (although impressively larger!) margin of victory and a liberal population held under the thumb of oppressive conservatism for nearly a decade snarled back to life and demanded a massive shift in direction to counteract the spiraling decline of the Bush era. In essence, now that we have the power, we want to do exactly what Bush did, except we want to do it for the right reasons. (Well, what we consider to be the right reasons (they totally are, though).)
But, despite the Democrats' victory, public opinion is not consistently on their side. Despite the fact that most Americans really would be helped by extending a public option for health care they still stand, somewhat unsurely, against it. While homosexual rights are the logical extension of the equality promised in our Declaration of Independence, a big contingent of Americans are still opposed to gay marriage. There is definitely righteous indignation in the voices of the left and I believe in what my ideology stands for... but this is a democracy, and for better or worse, that means public opinion is still supposed to hold sway over our elected, representative leaders. I hated Bush for dismissing the public in his decisions... I admire Obama for taking them into account, even when their views clash with his.
What will be gained by pushing forth an agenda that Americans are not ready for? The results of dictation, here, are never good. When an idea is foisted upon the public before the public is ready for it, it fails... and usually spectacularly. There is usually a violent and unproductive swing back to square one and progressiveness loses out in favor of tradition. When leaders bully their way through the American public, their agendas end up going one step forward and two steps back. Conservatives are feeling that right now. They are seeing the momentum of the last two years of Clinton and the first two years of Bush Jr. dwindled to stagnation punctuated by the loudest and silliest of their membership. All of the work they did making inroads into the public consciousness were lost as Bush elevated his concerns above that of the nation he was leading. He wasn't afraid to make an unpopular decision, but he should have been at least cognizant of WHY those decisions were unpopular.
The fact is, progress is being made, and although it's probably slower than we Dems would like to see, it's, in its way, remarkable. We're talking, on a national scale, about public health care. Everyone in the country is engaged in the debate... some of us are terrified, some of us are thrilled, some of us just think that, by God, we've got to try SOMETHING new. But this is the most viable conversation we've had about health care in my lifetime! And, yes, it's divisive. There's no way it won't be. But we're not dragging most of the country kicking and screaming into some new system... we're dipping our feet in slowly, mostly, trying to warm up, hoping not to have our toes eaten by sharks. If it seems like a small victory, think about where we were on the topic a year ago today. This is a massive undertaking. People won't accept a wholesale change without freaking out. They just won't. Right or wrong, that's the way it is.
So the president is moving slowly. He is making the attempt to sell his ideas to the public! What a novel concept that is. And yes, it drives me batty to see loony tunes folks shrieking at their congresspeople, but most of the town hall meeting attendees are not frightening psychopaths. Most of them just want to know what the hell is going on and how it might impact them. And while seeing the thousand page bill and hearing twice that many interpretations of it might not be altogether reassuring, I think there's a definite feeling of at least feeling connected to the process of legislating that we haven't had in an awfully long time. Listening to people unfortunately means compromise... And it means a watering down of the original potent message. But it also means bridges are built and a nation starts to be reconstituted after years of dissolution.
It's going to be slow and painful... moreso knowing we could just freaking do it because we've got the votes and even Al Franken for God's sake.
But that's a long term recipe for liberal disaster.
So I stand in defense of my president. I may not agree with his every move, but I think his motives are sound and his intelligence is immense. He's a strong enough leader to stand up for as many people as possible, even if that means, sometimes, disappointing his base in the short term. But I, for one, would rather put my trust in a man who doesn't cater to the far reaches of his side, but tries to tug the country, one battle at a time, in the right direction.
That's a foundation for long term success, not just for my party but for our country.
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