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We had a lunch gathering of our local Democrats today. The planned program had to be postponed due to the illness of the presenter, so, following the usual announcements and other business we had a kind of "open mic" session. We each took a turn to bring up something that Democrats need to be addressing.
One of the first to speak up was a gentleman in his 80s, a stalwart who describes himself as being 'genetically predisposed to being a Democrat.' He spoke passionately about how hard we all worked in 2008 and about how excited and proud he was to campaign for Obama. Then he stunned us into silence as he struggled to continue speaking through tears; he's profoundly angry, primarily about the tax situation, but he's also extremely angry that Obama seems to be unable to stand up to the Republicans. He said he wasn't sure he could continue to support Obama.
The next speaker, maybe in his 70s, said that we were all impressed with our "community organizer" candidate, that he was so extraordinary in being so unlike any other. Obama's scholarly gifts and humanitarian work history were luminescent in comparison to the dark and proudly ignorant cynicism of the Bush administration; thus, our expectations got a bit out of whack. This speaker then reminded us that the work of a community organizer relies on an ability to persuade disparate factions to work together. Having said that, he asked why we were so angry that Obama is conducting himself according to the training that brought him to our notice in the first place. Damned good question.
Then everyone had something to say. The gist of the comments were along the lines of our needing to redouble our efforts to speak up until we're heard. We determined to speak/write to the President and our Senators and congresscritters, that we call them and visit their local offices, keep them apprised of what "real" people are thinking. We need to be writing letters to editors of newspapers and other publications, locally and statewide and nationally, expressing either approval or disapproval of the actions of those in elected office. We talked about having workshops to develop writing and speaking and blogging skills.
Mainly, we reclaimed the essence of the "WE" in "Yes, we can." And in so doing we resolved to support Barack Obama by doing our part so that he can do his.
As for the the older gentleman who started the discussion: as I was leaving the restaurant I noted that he was now seated across the table from the fellow who reminded us of Obama's community organizer status. They were engaged in very lively and optimistic discussion about what they could do to help the country's healing. And he was smiling. Sweet.
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