We are Obama

I'm done celebrating for now. Obama's victory was an historic achievement for everyone involved. Hope beat fear in our nation for the first time since September 11, 2001. That was worth celebrating. And we helped move our nation closer to MLK Jr.'s dream. That was definitely worth celebrating. But now I've stopped celebrating because I remember something someone said at a Democracy for America group meeting in Indianapolis shortly after the 2004 heartbreak. Our group was scheming about what we could do to help bring progressive Democrats back to power, and Tom Hipple, an experienced Indiana pol said: "Hey, don't worry so much about how you're going to get the Dems back into power. Politics are cyclical, so they will be back in power eventually. Worry more about what they will do with that power."

Now I wonder what Obama and the Dems will do and what I can do now to make sure they do help put the country on a better course. We all realize that Obama can't do it alone. As he has said many times, this election is not about him; it's about us. And that means that collectively we are more responsible for making the Obama administration a success for progressive values than he is. He can't bring about positive change unless we push for it because his political capital is worth only as much as congress members think that not supporting progressive values will cost them elections.

Hence, this blog. Why do I think I should blog? Not because I think I have a particularly unique or insightful perspective on today's political issues. But there is a battle of viewpoints out there and quantity is just as important as quality, if not more. Look how effective conservatives have been at affecting public opinion by repeating over and over again the same ridiculous talking points. In the same way, the more progressives talk about and argue for their values, the less strange they will seem to people who have been getting most of their information from Fox News over the past decade. And thanks to the Internet and the Bush administration, we now live during a period of time when people are more passionate about their political viewpoints and are talking and writing about them more than any time I can remember. I believe that this ongoing public discussion is part of what has moved this nation to the left recently. As exposure to values and ideas from the left and right increases so does peoples' realization that progressive ideas are better than conservative ones. Thus I want to do as much as I can to keep the conversation going.