3.11

Back in February, I wrote a column about voting for Barack Obama (then in the primary) despite and, to some degrees, because of my cynicism. I wrote it after the election because my intention wasn’t to endorse but to explore and analyze, to try and figure out why I could let myself do such a thing and what that meant about me and everyone else who did the same.

My intention today is comparable. I haven’t hid my preference as much as I did then, out of various desires for parity (with my other columnists leaning conservative or being closet-liberals), honesty (pretending I don’t have a horse in the race is disingenuous), and, to some limited degree, advocacy. But, just as in February, I didn’t want to endorse, and I still don’t.

Instead, I’ve tried to present the idea that change is a long, gradual process fueled by idealism but gained through incremental pragmatism. And while this notion of social progress might seem bureaucratic and excruciating or naively quixotic (depending on whom you ask), we’ve used it, to varying degrees, to achieve immense changes within the past century.

Tuesday night, in his acceptance speech, President-Elect Obama highlighted most of them. In the past one hundred years, women gained the right to vote (and, as the century progressed, so much more). We survived an economic catastrophe and the most destructive and wide-reaching conflict the world has ever seen. We passed the Civil Rights Act. We’ve seen men walk on the moon. We’ve experienced incredible advances in communication, transportation, and computation. We, as an American people, have done truly amazing things.

We take so much of this for granted today, so much of it, but all of these monumental shifts and moments have taken place within (some people’s) living memory. Not all are positive. But I challenge anyone to successfully argue that we are less equitable and less enlightened, that we have not experienced incredible progress within the past century.

We still have giant problems to face. But, after this election, it will be taken as fact that an African American male can be elected President. It will be taken as fact that a Caucasian female can make a truly significant and almost (I’m convinced eventually) successful run for that Presidency. And those are facts that even ten years ago would sound far fetched.

When I look at all those changes, within such a relatively short period of time, how can I not have some faith in humanity? True, many of those obstacles were also creations of that same humanity, and it is that portion of humankind that profoundly informs my cynicism, but despite those efforts, progress won.

Obama’s election is also distinctly American. A biracial individual, identified as part of neither the dominant (white) or indigenous race of a nation, born to modest means who pursues and achieves great academic successes and, using this as a foundation, eventually runs a campaign fueled by small donors, grassroots organizing, and a message of inclusion to be democratically elected the leader of, arguably, the most powerful country in the world. Few nations can claim to hold such possibilities, and fewer, if any, can claim such realities.

But America can, and that’s what gives me hope: Obama as a symbol of American possibility.

As a living, breathing human being, though, I have little doubt that he will prove to be disappointing. I think he managed to avoid the significant diminishment, if not destruction, of integrity that McCain suffered, but, as with any politician, he’s promised more than he can deliver. He is intelligent, presents himself (and now the nation) well, and, I think, will be internationally respected. But policy wise, he has an incredibly difficult task before him. Whether he proves to be an FDR (with his face on a coin) or Jimmy Carter (well-intentioned, but circumstance and personality preventing success) is yet to be seen. As you’ll notice, though, we only have so many coins and they’re a pretty select crowd, for good reason. (Of course, when we’re reduced to printing hordes of new money to pay for all of our past transgressions, we might be able to create a particularly high bill to put him on, just for the occasion.)

So, once he’s in office, it’s back to devout skepticism. Nevertheless, I still think it’s good to pause and really reflect on the genuinely positive developments we’ve made as a nation. Whether you voted for Obama or not, I hope you’ll agree that we’ve made great progress over the past century, with Tuesday as an important milestone for many reasons that transcend politics. And I hope, as Obama does, that a century from now we can look back and say the very same thing.