Now what?

by Rob Schofield

This time, we will have no illusions that the President can fix things without our help

Just four years ago, in the midst of a profound national economic crisis and a seemingly endless and disastrous war in Iraq, Americans elected a new and mold-shattering President whom, millions hoped and believed, would set things straight in short order and maybe even become a great and historic national leader.

The only problem with this plan, of course was that after having elected Barack Obama to office, a huge proportion of the people who supported him did what Americans frequently do after an election: They forgot about the whole business of politics and policy and turned their attention back to trying to stay afloat in the big casino that is the modern, trickle-up economy. It was as if they said: “Phew, glad that’s over! Now, let’s get back to real life.”

Meanwhile, millions of their Fox News-indoctrinated fellow citizens did just the opposite. Rather than tuning out, they got agitated and active and helped launch a large and easily manipulated movement called the Tea Party.

That movement, in turn, quickly adopted the agenda of the nation’s corporate overlords and social issue theocrats and went about the business of doing its utmost to block virtually every single initiative of the new administration. Its ultimate objective: To see that the Obama administration would fail and lay the groundwork for the rise of a new, ultra-conservative Republican president who would make Ronald Reagan look like a New Dealer.

Where things stand

This morning, we look around and see the aftermath of this four-year battle between our once-so-promising President and the thousands of ultra-conservative activists and billions of corporate dollars arrayed against his every move. The President has survived and won many important battles. A second Great Depression did not occur and the economy is rebounding. The war in Iraq is over as promised. Historic health care reform has become (and is becoming) a reality. And, of course, last night he was re-elected.

But President Obama’s future as a potentially great leader and the ambitious and inspiring agenda of change to which he originally gave voice both remain much in doubt. Having fought the powerful forces arrayed against him to just slightly better than a standstill, we still must ask: What will it take to push him over the top? And, what will it take to make the next four years the kind of success our nation so desperately needs?

There are, of course, many answers to these questions. Clearly, there is much for the President to do himself. Obama can and must do a better job of connecting with the American people and selling his agenda on a regular basis. The people need to see and hear the President more. They need more easy-to-get-your-arms-around themes and fewer wonkish details. He needs to show the fight and fire we’ve seen in recent weeks on a more regular basis and display the cool and unemotional side of personality less frequently. And he needs to become a better prodder and negotiator with Congress.

And clearly, the President needs to cast aside once and for all the notion that the forces arrayed against him can be cajoled into doing the right thing “for the good of the country.” At this point, there is no indication that last night’s results signal any kind of change in the obstructionist attitudes of the conservative forces that have been resisting progress over the past four years.

It’s up to us

Ultimately, however, the only way that Barack Obama’s presidency can become the historic one that so many progressives yearned for and expected back in 2008 is if the people who elected him get off their duffs and help. If the last four years have shown us anything, it’s that President Obama cannot do it by himself.

The President even addressed this matter head on in his victory speech early this morning when he said the following

“You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit. Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We’ve got more work to do.

But that doesn’t mean your work is done. The role of citizens in our Democracy does not end with your vote. America’s never been about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating, but necessary work of self-government. That’s the principle we were founded on.” (Emphasis supplied).

Put simply, times have changed in American politics. The hard and inconvenient truth of 2012 is that the forces of fear and reaction will not go away without a fight. The right-wing may be fighting a losing demographic battle as the nation grows ever more diverse, but it has boatloads of corporate cash and a passionate core of militant activists determined to resist progress with a level of intensity not seen in this country since the Civil War. To think that such a movement can be quickly overcome without a loud and effective progressive grassroots movement (especially in an era in which Congress remains so closely divided and well-stocked with far right true believers) is clearly naпve.

Cause for hope 

The good news in all of this, however, is that the environment and tools are there to create such a movement. The nation’s demographics and attitudes are changing rapidly for the better. The huge leaps in the numbers of minority voters and the stunning victories for marriage equality in several states herald these changes. Like so many other backward-looking movements in American history (from the free silver, anti-immigrant populists of the late 19^th Century to the segregationists of the mid-20^th Century) today’s right wing and the Americans of which it is comprised are clearly swimming against a tide.

But forging an effective, multi-issue, progressive movement capable of out-working and out-shouting the fearful and reactionary forces marshaled on the right – especially in the near term — will be no easy feat. The right is homogenous, unified, zealous and well-funded. Progressives must converse, organize, agitate, fundraise, lobby and mobilize like never before.

Let’s hope this is the central lesson progressives take away from last night’s results. Maybe, in this regard, it’s a good thing that President Obama’s margin of victory was so narrow. Now perhaps, relieved as they are, progressives will harbor no illusions about what the future holds and what it will take to realize the great promise of the Obama presidency.

The work needs to start immediately.

Rob Schofield

Policy Director, NC Policy Watch

rob@ncpolicywatch.com; 919.861.2065