One Year Later

It's been one year since the seismic moment in American history when Barack Obama was elected president. That was a euphoric night, though not for everyone. It turns out some of the forty-seven percent who did not vote for him retreated into the hills and regrouped, and then came back down, machetes swinging. The off-year election results weren't very good, and prospects for next year don't bode well, either. What went wrong?

I have no gripes with Obama. I was adult enough to not take literally the poster of him changing into Superman. He is not a magician or a miracle worker, but I still would rather it be him trying to solve this country's problems rather than almost anyone else currently in public life. The criticisms from the left that he has been too conciliatory and is wishy-washy have some merit, but overlook the political realities of Washington, especially since the legislature has such fucked up rules that allow one or two senators to gum up the works out of reasons ranging from pique to insanity.

Then there's the rabid hatred of Obama from the right. This should be a surprise to no one, it happens to all presidents. I remember taking particular delight from a poster that The Nation did with George W. Bush as Alfred E. Neuman, so the poster of Obama as the Joker, or as Hitler, doesn't faze me (the more racist depictions go beyond the pale, though). What's troubling is that a small group of lunatics have captured the imagination of the media, on both sides. Teabaggers, birthers, people who carry guns to presidential events are a fringe minority, but get overvalued by the press so much that a person starts to believe we've all gone crazy.

This group of wingnuts are different. During Bush's eight years as president I never stopped to think that I wanted him to fail. I'm not some rich guy who is sitting on a pile of money that is unaffected by the vicissitudes of economy, or callous to the never-ending stream of coffins coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. I want this country to succeed, out of both selfish and humane considerations. Not so the Obama-haters, who would rather see unemployment rise and soldiers die than bestow Obama one bit of credit. I thought conservatives were the ones who had cornered the market on patriotism? Is it patriotic to hope things so further south?

Some of this has been comical. The reaction to Chicago not getting the Olympics and then Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize made for some interesting responses. To those who took delight in the former and dismay in the latter, why do you hate America so much? Most Americans would be proud to get an Olympics or see our President win an exalted award. But no, conservatives are much more interested in making sure that a man who puts the interests of the poor and disenfranchised ahead of them are too petty to put aside their hatred. I think the most blatant example of this was when the American ship captain was rescued from Somali pirates. Rush Limbaugh actually went on the air and sounded sympathy for the pirates, blasting the administration for taking out armed criminals and rescuing an innocent American citizen. Of course, that citizen was from Vermont.

So a year later the election results were not good for liberals. Virginia and my state of New Jersey flipped governors. I had no real affection for Jon Corzine--things stink here and it's not a travesty when the guy in charge gets the ax. Chris Christie, oleaginous though he is, is a new face, and he gets his shot to turn things around. I'm not optimistic, as I think he's corrupt as the day as long, but the voters have spoken. More depressing is the vote in Maine to repeal the gay-marriage law. Of all the public issues before us, this one confuses me the most--why does anyone oppose same-sex marriage? There is no logical explanation, I guess it can be chalked up to religious hysteria.

There was one positive note: the attempted putsch by conservatives in the 23rd district of New York failed when a Democrat was elected there for the first time in over a hundred years. Some, like Eric Erickson and Michele Malkin, are claiming this is a win for conservatives, but I see it as an identity crisis in the Republican party. For as Obama's numbers have gone down (and they aren't that terrible--a 56 percent approval rating) Republicans are worse. At this stage they show no signs of winning back the White House in 2012, just in making life miserable for those who want universal health care and civil rights, and an end to global warming. Malkin refers to us as "unhinged."