Stand By Your Man

All these people are super pissed at President Obama. Even the people who like him are all: "Let's be honest, he's maybe not the man." Seriously? This guy is the fucking man. I'm haven't doubted that yet, and I'm not going to start now.

Bill Clinton and George W. Bush made us think that being President of the United States is like being the president of a fraternity. That you get first dibs on all the slutty drunk girls and that you always get to cut the line at the keg. That you can get as drunk and belligerent as you want and that all your bros will have your back. And that people will blindly follow your rules and let you humiliate them because they want to be part of your club.

Now, in the spirit of full-disclosure, I'd like to say that I have been known to be an outspoken supporter of bro-culture. I love fun. I love sloppy, reckless, indignant, entitled fun. And I think it's awesome that it's so awesome to be an awesome white dude.

I also think that a certain amount of bravado and unapologetic self-assurance is essential to the office of the President. I don't want some wishy-washy leader who hedges their bets all the time and defaults to others' opinions. I want my President to have clear preferences, to make decisions, and not be all: "Um... I don't know. Whatever you want is fine. I mean, where do you want to go?" every time you ask them where they want to go to for dinner.

So now that we are back in election mode, all these people on the Right and the Left are starting to talk a lot of shit about how Obama isn't tough enough. That he doesn't have a clear enough vision for what he's trying to do. That he can't get things done. That his whole rhetoric of "hope" and "change" turned out to be bullshit. Or a smokescreen for impotence or something like that.

What the hell is going on? Are we all really that myopic? Or were we in 2008? What exactly did everyone think was going to happen? And what exactly would everyone prefer Obama to do?

I'd like to think that people's complaints about Obama are substantive. That they actually do not agree with the content of the legislation and initiatives that he has supported and enacted. If that was true, then we'd be cool. It's fine to disagree on policy, on perspective, on programs, on spending, on priorities. And it's even fine to refuse to compromise on those things. But that doesn't really seem to be what this is about.

Republicans aren't actually challenging Obama's work, they are challenging him. Like as a person. Like he's in over his head. Like: "Obama sucks. We totally threw up insurmountable roadblocks every single time he tried to do anything and he couldn't even overcome them. What an ineffective wuss." Except, Obama did so much.

What did he do, you ask? Check this shit out... What the fuck has Obama done so far? (In case you're too lazy to click that link, the answer is lots of stuff. Lots of really good stuff.)

So why are they saying he's so ineffective? Because he won't pander to their histrionics? Was your mom a wuss when she refused to respond to your temper tantrums? Is there not a general consensus that going apoplectic in the supermarket because you can't get sugary cereal and trashing your own toys because you want new ones should not be effective ways to start a negotiation? That is what the Republicans have been doing. They have been lying in the middle of the cereal aisle, demanding that they be allowed to eat Lucky Charms, kicking and screaming, refusing to move, smashing everything they can get their hands on, and then they slam him for not getting the grocery shopping done on time. They're not reading Obama's bills and saying what they think is wrong with them. They are refusing to read them, and saying what's wrong with him.

But what about Democrats? The Left is also talking smack. Different smack, but smack nonetheless. Maybe it's like how you can say all kinds of crazy mean things to your family because there's a baseline understanding that you love them. But you're supposed to keep that shit in the house. For a long time, the entire rhetorical job (and responsibility, given what was going down) of the Left was to point out everything that was going wrong with the government. Maybe the Left got too good at that? Maybe in their efforts to keep the government in check, they all became haters?

Now, there is something very satisfying about being a Monday Morning Quarterback, and the view tends to be pretty good from the cheap seats, but who are we kidding here?

Just for a second, put policy and content aside. Just take a second to think about what it means for this dude to actually be the President. Think about what it means for just the following three things to be true:

He is the first non-white President.

He is the first Gen X President.

He's the first President to have a fucking computer on his desk.

His zeitgeist, his very presence in the Oval Office makes this a whole new game. And while the Right is trying to blitz every play, the Left is demanding a hail mary. Let the man run the ball.

When Obama got elected, Democrats were praising his vision. His forethought. His perspective. He said from the very beginning this was going to be a long process. He warned us that the opposition was going to try to get in our heads and shake our resolve.

Remember this:
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant ... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

Yeah, he said it was coming. But the next thing he said was this:
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

That is, simply, one of the most beautiful sentences about America that I have ever read. Just think about what it means. Think about how it's true.

Democrats need to think about what we signed up for and what we really want out of this. Out of Obama, yes, but also out of the American Experiment itself. Are we so shook of the forces of hegemony that we can't even conceptualize that this could (I'd say should) very well be the beginning of a whole new era in American politics?

The worst thing that could happen is not for Obama to fall short of achieving everything he promised. The worst thing that could happen is for Obama's presidency to be dismissed as a failure of good intentions. The fact that he is black makes it historic anyway, even Republicans think that's "good." But for those of us (Millennials) who are part of a generation that is something like 50% non-white anyway, the fact that he is a black dude is not even coolest part of him. The coolest part is thinking that he is the beginning of a power paradigm shift. A generational transition that could be be nothing short of an intellectual revolution.

Can you imagine that? Can you really imagine what it would be like if Obama gets to stick around long enough that people stop remembering what it was like before? If doing it his way (you know, like honestly and with some sense of responsibility and context) becomes the normal way to do it. Yeah, that's what we're talking about here. Let's not blow this chance.