There are a handful of rather pathetic diaries floating around (e.g. this, and comments like this) that say, in effect "Wah! Obama hasn't solved the world's problems and given me my pony yet so I won't vote or fight for change any more!" These are diaries that in some ways I can understand, because fighting for change, particularly against wealthy and entrenched interests, is tough. Damned tough. And frustrating. It is easy sometimes to despair.
But when you write a diary that tries to take not voting in 2010 or refusing to lift a finger to help any candidate any more sound like some kind of noble act, it is time to realize you are going to get creamed by those of us who have been fighting for a long time already, often seemingly against all odds, and plan on continuing the fight from here, often against all odds. And what keeps us going is not that people like Obama deliver to us all that we want, but because the incremental changes add up, make a difference, and produce the next generation of leaders. If we don't help produce that next generation of leaders, then it will be those we oppose who do.
Some more thoughts below.
In Hamlet the main character is faced with a tough task, and he pretty much dithers and whines his way through ineffectual Act after Act, retreating at any setback. These whining surrender diaries remind me of the dithering Hamlet trying to decide whether to do what he thinks is necessary or to throw in the towel and taking a very long time to dither over it:
Hamlet mostly leaves me flat, except for adolescence when Hamlet seemed as good a mirror for teen angst as the music of the Doors. You just want to whop him upside the head and say, "Get on with it already!"
He represents those who are all talk, easily deterred, unable to keep to the task if it takes too long or gets too hard or doesn't give them exactly what they want immediately. Fine when you are a teen, but not great when there's work to be done.
By contrast, in Shakespeare's Henry V, on the eve of Agincourt, fear and despair in the ranks of the English threaten to defeat them before the battle begins. Henry V gives a great speech that basically says, this is a noble fight, whether we win or lose, live or die. Those who have not the stomach for it are not worth dying with.
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
I have always loved that speech because it recognizes that sometimes you just have to fight, win or lose, because it is a good fight. Now of course the reality of the 100 years war is that there was no noble cause or real honor involved. But that doesn't matter because we aren't talking history, we are talking a damned good Shakespeare play with a damned good speech that sums up the determination that is needed in difficult times, difficult fights and what it takes to actually change the world.
When there is something hard to be done, you don't want Hamlets hanging around whining about giving up the moment things get tough. You want those around you who have stomach for the task at hand.
Change doesn't happen in one election. It is something that takes years of work. And it doesn't come from the top most of the time, so electing Obama was only going to ever have limited effect. I happen to like Obama and much of what he is doing, but then again I never expected him to be the savior of progress and liberalism. I just expected him to be smart, competent and much better than most who aspire to the presidency with any shot at making it.
I had the unenviable task of refounding the campus Democratic Club at UCSD during the Reagan era and fighting for Democrats in one of America's most conservative cities during one of the most conservative times. Man it was hard and, except for getting to meet the very beautiful daughters of Walter Mondale and Gary Hart, there really wasn't much to show for it. But it was still worth doing because SOMEONE had to fight against the Reagan agenda of drowning government in a bathtub.
Recently I spend as much time fighting corruption among Brooklyn Democrats as I do Republicans. They are both tough battles. The corrupt machine locally has tons of developer money to win elections with while us reformers have little and often wind up fighting amongst ourselves. But we do win from time to time and actually have defeated the machine in some critical judicial races and even a handful of other races. It has gotten to the point where people notice that the party boss has been losing some battles. But we have to keep fighting them.
The local battle that meant the most to me involved a friend running for a judicial seat. This friend was smart, compassionate and honest almost to a fault. His opponent in the Democratic primary was a cynical, quite possibly mildly corrupt, conservative who openly expressed his admiration for Scalia and Thomas and had written an amicus brief against gay marriage. The conservative had all the money and, probably (behind the scenes) some help from the corrupt machine. My friend had us and some other progressives. It was a rough fight. Really rough. But we won. We actually won. Due to our hard work, among many other lost battles the same year, we assured that when people went to court there would be a compassionate, honest judge presiding rather than a mildly corrupt, cynical conservative.
THAT, my friend, is change and is what we need to remember about politics. It isn't just about Obama. It is about thousands of local races that affect people every day. Races that matter on an intensely local level...like on the level of families who have to go to court.
The real fights that make change really happen come from the bottom up. The most important battles are the ones too often ignored. From Texas School Board elections that will determine what is contained in our kids' textbooks across the country and for years to come to some progressive candidates running in Arizona who could be our first chance to reverse the right wing extremism that has recently gripped that state...there are fights that we all can help with that are far more important than Obama in many ways. From Al Franken in the Senate to Alan Grayson in the House, we have some good folks who need our help. From the secretary of state races that actually allowed the recount that got Al Franken into the Senate to some progressive state-level candidates in Pennsylvania, there are always races that need our attention.
Howard Dean never said a 50 state strategy would be easy or fast. He never said contesting every district would be easy or would give us some sense that we were ever finished.
And look back to the labor movement. It was damned hard to get unions accepted and the songs from those days were fight songs better than any college fight song, and they talked of courage and determination, not about giving up:
So don't give up over set backs. Or if you do, we understand your frustration but won't really pat you on the back and tell you "good job for giving up." The best thing to do is each and every year find the one person, locally or nationally or some district across the country, who you know is worth fighting for. Then fight for that person. If that person is not local to you, well blog, write, donate, phonebank from home if possible. If that person is local, get out there with your candidate and meet the people and make your case. We will lose most fights because they have the money. But we will lose some of those fights and that makes it all worthwhile.
So once more unto the breach lads, once more unto the breach. There is much yet still to do.