Despite the joy and sense of relief almost everyone on the left is feeling today, I can see storm clouds gathering on the horizon. I'm not talking about the obvious things... the financial crisis, two wars, a national reputation for torture, violence and brutality. I'm talking about our impatience as a movement.
In my opinion, the biggest challenge we have facing us as progressives is that President Obama is going to make some decisions we don't like, and it's likely to start happening very soon indeed. It's going to be enormously difficult, but we need to not hold our collective breath and turn blue every time the Obama administration makes a move we would not have made ourselves.
This is not to say that we shouldn't speak up and make our voices heard on the direction of this new administration, nor to say that we shouldn't lobby for the causes that are near and dear to our hearts. It is to say that we have been fortunate enough to have elected a very smart and exceptionally savvy guy. We need to have some trust in him to make the right decisions even when we don't agree with them. We need to put down our magnifying glass and put on our binoculars, so to speak. That magnifying glass has served us well for eight years, allowing us to ferret out all the corruption, waste, and immorality that the previous administration wanted to keep from seeing the light of day.
At this moment, however, it's just as important that we pick up those binoculars so we can look down the road a stretch instead of focussing so much on "right this minute". We need to have some faith that our next president may know a little more about the situation and be a little better informed than we are, and that extra knowledge coupled with his excellent mind might be the reason he made a certain decision that might be unpopular within the movement. We need to let go of the idea, built-up over many long and difficult years, that anyone who arrives at a conclusion that isn't to our liking is a corrupt, morally bankrupt criminal trying to leverage our nation to line the pockets of himself and his crony pals.
Like a battered spouse, it may take us quite a while to learn to trust again, and I truly think this is the greatest challenge we are facing as a movement over the next four years. I have faith that we can do it. If November 4th, 2008 taught us anything it's that optimism and positivity can indeed triumph over fear-mongering and hate. It's up to all of us to make sure we don't sink back down into the abyss we've only so recently risen above.