Summoning the messianic campaigner from 08 to save the nation from decline

The Washington Post's E. J. Dionne was a commentator I respected prior to the 2008 Democratic primary when he joined his JournoList colleagues in smearing Bill and Hillary Clinton in order to ensure Barack Obama’s nomination. Back then Dionne boasted:

 "One of the politicians who spoke before Obama at the{Wilmington} rally, Delaware state Treasurer Jack Markell, cited the New Testament letter to the Hebrews in which Saint Paul spoke of "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It was a revealing moment: While Clinton wages a campaign, Obama is preaching a revival."

In today’s op-ed, Dionne tries to summon the messianic campaigner from 08 to save the nation at a critical point in its history:

WASHINGTON -- American decline is the specter haunting our politics. This could be President Obama's undoing -- or it could provide him with the opportunity to revive his presidency.

But there’s been a noteworthy change in Dionne’s rhetoric since 08. Instead of his earlier grotesque distortions of the truth in his attempts to defame  Bill and Hillary Clinton and disparage the former president’s administration, Dionne writes:

George H. W. Bush followed, and he deserves great credit for his management of the Gulf War and the larger international transition after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bill Clinton built on Bush's unpopular but necessary budget and restored the federal government's solvency while also serving as a careful steward of American influence and our image in the world. Charles Krauthammer, my columnist colleague, likes to refer to the 1990s as a "holiday from history," but the truth is that American power reached its zenith under Clinton. If that was a holiday, we need more vacations like it.

But still hoping for an old-timey “revival,” Dionne concludes:

For Obama, political renewal requires a bold and persistent campaign for national renewal. This would challenge his political opponents. But more importantly, it would challenge all of us.

Although Dionne is now expressing appreciation for the Clinton years, he apparently hasn’t figured out yet that the nation needs a statesman to lead it forward in these complex and perilous times, not a politician who has mastered the cadences and crowd-pleasing techniques of an evangelical preacher at a camp meeting.

Awaiting the Day When All American Children - Not Just Male Children - Are Free to Fulfill Their Potential

Looking out on the courtyard from my apartment window I see a dusting of snow this gray November morning, reminding me that before Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009, the holiday season awaits.

Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away, and my son and daughter-in-law will be here for dinner. I’ve been stocking up: the turkey is in the freezer, and I’ve got cranberry sauce, olives, water melon pickles and other essential menu items on hand that have become traditional in our family over the years.

Thanksgiving Day is about gratitude and despite this bruising election year with its jarring realization that sexism and misogyny are alive and well in America, I feel as if I’ve grown from the experience of blogging the 2008 presidential race and for that I am grateful.

Ironically, much of what I’ve learned has been what Obama preached, especially during the early months of his campaign when rhetorically at least he was all about transcendence, transformation, and bipartisanship in a new politics for America.

The rough and tumble of the Democratic primary removed the scales from the eyes of this lifetime Democrat as I watched in dismay the DNC, the superdelegates, and the media force Hillary Clinton out of the race and hand the nomination to Obama. Sick at heart, I officially withdrew my membership from the Democratic Party last June and re-registered as non-affiliated.

Although I was never caught up in the euphoria of Obama’s far left supporters, even I was stunned when shortly after becoming the nominee, the One broke most of his campaign promises in his lunge to the center. As president-elect he continues to demonstrate that he’ll do whatever it takes to win. More evidence appears daily that Obama, the self-described harbinger of a new politics, is instead a skilled apprentice of Richard Daley - hell-bent on bringing the tactics of Chicago operatives to Washington.

Today I’ve no regrets on my decision to abandon the Democratic Party.

Rather I’ve only begun to appreciate a new reality in which all of my former partisan stereotypes have been shattered, and I’m now capable of seeing the world through the eyes of conservatives as well as liberals, recognizing that each perspective has its strengths and its weaknesses and that America needs to draw on the strengths of both in order to successfully resolve a raging international financial crisis, two wars, and a planet endangered by global warming.

At the same time, in the aftermath of a presidential race in which American politicians and the media demonstrated to the rest of the world that women in our country remain second-class citizens, leaders from both parties need to recognize that we’d better clean up our own act before preaching to other nations about their failures to uphold human rights.

In the meantime, I will look forward to the day when all children in America, not just male children, will know without a doubt that they are free to fulfill their potential.

I began this post in a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving for lessons learned – however painful – in this election year, and I'll conclude on a similar note. In these admittedly ominous times, I’m reminded once again of the importance of beginning my day with a spiritually nurturing routine. At my kitchen table I record in my prayer journal dreams from the night and reflect on the previous day’s experiences. I then read a page or two from the writings of religious teachers such as Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, who - while remaining true to his own tradition - finds kinship with the followers of Christianity. I complete my morning ritual by practicing a few minutes of meditation.