P.E.W.S. for Obama
P.E.W.S. – Post Election Withdrawal Syndrome
urbandictionary.com
After Obama got elected I became depressed. Not for the usual reasons political junkies get depressed post election. It was a question asked of Tavis Smiley that night that got to me. He was asked if he thought this meant “the issue of race had been put behind us once and for all.” It’s a question conservatives have been asking since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. Tavis answered no and gave his reasons. They were the same reasons I would’ve given on November 3rd. And yet somehow they sounded shockingly anachronistic.
Obama had gone up against every single racist and every single racist institution in this country and beat them. To go back and talk as if we hadn’t just witnessed a tectonic shift in our democracy seemed ludicrous. The burden had clearly been shifted. The ball was in our court as African Americans in a way it had never been before.
I watched the average of all the public polling ten days prior to the election. Obama maintained a 6-8 point lead heading into Election Day. I cut the average in half and estimated that Obama would win by 3-4 points. He ended up winning by 6.7 points or roughly 7%. The polls had been dead on.
My practice of cutting the polls in half to account for racism was anachronistic. I was doing the same thing Tavis did. I was thinking about this country as if it were stuck in one place. Obama didn’t assume that institutional racism was gone from the political scene. He formulated a strategy for overcoming it. I had failed to take account of that.
America will give anybody a shot. Whatever remaining doubts there were about that are gone. It gave me a visceral sense of what people mean when they say this is the greatest country on earth. I’ve always had my qualms because of the legacy of slavery and what that meant for my ancestors. But this cast it all in a new light. I began thinking maybe it’s time to wipe the slate clean. Start fresh.
And what about the rash of violence directed at the black community post election? Growing pains, I thought. The very idea is a bit startling. That this country, at this late date, is still growing; still reaching for some sort of dynamic equilibrium with its citizens. Obama was right to point out that it’s a mistake to think of this country as static. That single insight probably explains better than anything why he’s president-elect. He took his own advice. He lived it.
And while minorities shouldn’t have to overcome anything more than anyone else, there are obviously plenty of whites out there who are willing to make the effort worthwhile. That’s actually kind of cool.
Does this mean we need to abolish Affirmative Action programs, once and for all? If we can get our public school system properly funded the answer is a resounding yes. I never thought I’d live to say that. But I’ve come to realize that this has to be the goal. It’s what reconciliation means. Everybody gives a little.
The correct answer to the question put to Tavis Smiley is that we’re at the one yard line now. Or maybe it’s the ten yard line, but certainly no more than that. We have to decide both individually and collectively, whether to punt or go for the touchdown. The burden is on us to show the kind of grit and determination Obama demonstrated with his victory.
Barack Obama has provided us with a model for achievement that runs across color or creed. He’s shown us an America we didn’t even know was there. For that, we as a nation are already forever in his debt. He’s given us hope. The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name. Powerful forces will line up against us. They have hopes too. Obama wants to bring us all under the same tent and forge a compromise. I’m not sure any of us will be happy with it. But we’ve come too far to turn back now.
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