It’s not often that people, or my country which is really just made up of people, surprise me. They did last night.
I did not think I would see a black president in my lifetime. Part of me is glad I was wrong. Another part of me is angry, angry at how we got here, angry at the price that had to be paid to make this happen. I am angry that my fellow Americans’ short-sighted selfishness and apathy led us down the path we have been on, that their greed and closed-mindedness dug us into the dark hole we now find ourselves in, economy in a shambles, reputation in tatters around the world, and the scum of fear and divisiveness clinging to everything.
Does Obama’s election open the doors for real change in America, change that will finally begin to address the rampant sexism and institutionalized misogyny that are so much a part of our culture? Does his election mean that the black community in America will finally stand up and take responsibility for the state and shape of its own culture, that the ceaseless calls of “the community ought to provide” and “you’re only doing/saying/thinking like that because I’m black” will finally be silenced? I don’t know. Part of me wants to hope so: another part of me stands aloof.
My boss is not a very good communicator. This is more than marginally ironic given that his job title is Director of Communications. He’s not a flexible thinker; he gets mired in the details and has an inability to see aspects of a problem or ramifications of a proposed solution when the issue or the area in which we’re working isn’t in his direct experience. As a consequence, I find myself as the technically oriented person on the team, and the one with experience in Internet media, having to find simple ways to explain the most basic concepts – like the principle that you don’t want to link out from your site’s homepage; you want to provide context for something on your site before you send someone away to get more in depth information.
Because she is often able to find more easily a way to phrase things so that they make sense to our boss I have taken to sending a blind carbon copy of these exchanges to my fellow sufferer in our department and I did just that a couple of weeks ago when I had to explain that very linking-out concept. I was able to communicate the rationale to him concisely and in such a way that he did not fight it, did not try to find a way around it to a meet his short-term goal. When I wrote back to M. that I was surprised, half joking that I wondered if that was wrong her response was that we are a product of our experiences.
I watched Obama’s acceptance speech and I was struck by how genuinely humble the man seems. Part of me wants to believe that good intent will be enough, and that the good intent he evidences is true and not merely political cloaking. Part of me wants to believe that he will have the strength of will to make those in his administration manifest that same good intent, that the concept of a strong, benevolent leader could be actualized.
Another part of me is worried by this.
Historically when one party controls two of the three branches of government things have not gone well in this country. That it has usually been the Republican party likely has something to do with it but who is to say for sure.
Will all those volunteers, all the faithful who did all that door knocking and donating and phone calling be willing to work as hard without a concrete goal in sight? My experience tells me no.
My experience tells me that large groups of people, which is really all a country is, tend to slide toward complacency and literally work to find the path of least resistance, and, despite John McCain’s magnanimous concession speech, there will be resistance.
Maybe we can but me, I’m waiting to see some results before I believe.
