In a November 5th op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro (a former 2004 Kerry intern) wrote:
“The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace… [N]o matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right. Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.”
I agree with Shapiro, but that is not my point. My point is to question whether Shapiro’s article could appear again in four (or eight) years with the name Obama substituted for Bush and still be accurate. The far right finds itself in a new and politically hostile landscape. The far left now holds the potential for pervasive control of the federal government for a long time. Nonetheless, the one thing that hasn’t changed is that each new day presents the opportunity for positive change for all Americans. Will we indeed witness “Change we can Believe in” (sic); a new and evenhanded quest for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all persons? Or will this day only mark a point when the advantage merely changed in a battle of bitterness and disfunction that continues unabated?
I’m not happy with either side of the aisle in D.C. However, I will soon have a new president worthy of my respect and my assistance. I have friends and family who voted differently in the historic 2008 presidential election and I still love them all dearly. Today my prayer for this still great nation is to become one again. The so-called conservatives and so-called liberals need to focus on taking real and logical steps to stop the bleeding in our economy, bring about a best possible end to our foreign wars, do all that is possible to create opportunity for all people, and protect us from the real and horrific threats to our lives that exist both inside and outside our borders. If the results are fair and commonsense, no one citizen will like all of it. But it’s not about the collective “me”. It’s about one “us”. The future should not be focused on a plan to get back what power we lost in the election or to settle the score for past inequities perpetrated on a political minority. Today and each tomorrow should be dedicated to one nation from now on.
Finally, Shapiro’s most poignant observation is that our disloyalty “has not gone unnoticed by our enemies”. I agree and I also believe that the “enemies” of whom he speaks are persons and circumstances both foreign and domestic. If we continue to fight each other instead of those enemies our situation is grave, our future is bleak, and our legacy will soon be squandered. One thing I will do to move toward unity and change is to respect my new president, to help him govern, and to do all I can to encourage the other folks in government to work toward unity and change as well. I’m going to do some other positive things, too. I’m just not exactly sure what they will be yet. Hopefully writing this will prove to be a good start.
Congratulations Mr. Obama. Hail to the Chief.
