So much for "the first post-racial President in our history;" sounded hopeful...sort of like "hope and change" and "change we can believe in." This Presidency certainly will not be described as post-racial by any perspective of history. Not because it couldn't have been.
You see, the "we think it's cool" crowd doomed that possibility almost from that night in Chicago, when a sea of well-wishers gathered to celebrate this President's election. That certainly was a moment in history. But it didn't produce a post-racial result. You see, from that "moment" almost anyone who dared question this President's intelligence, fitness for office, ability to lead or wisdom in approaching the challenges facing the nation--has been tarred as a racist puppet of the Aryan Nation.
As I reflect back, all the (white) Presidents during my lifetime have been the subject of a national pastime geared toward laughing at their quirks, questioning their intelligence, reviling their politics and counting the days till the next election cycle. In this modern era, virtually nothing has been out of bounds. (Now, let me state for the record, I don't believe what we subject our Presidents to is good for the nation; that said, it's become the norm, not the exception. It's mean, but it's not racist.)
So, when this President stepped up to become the focus of the electorates ire, it's decried as racism. That is non-sense. Are there racists in America? Certainly. Is some the what we hear about this President racist? Certainly; just like some of what we heard about George Bush was hate speech.
This is America. We need to be able to speak our minds, thoughtful or otherwise, because that's a treasured right here. It's part of what makes us, us. My concern as we move into the the next Presidential election cycle, is that we'll forget who we are and what makes this nation great. I pray for a civil discourse. But I also expect it to be a spirited and opinionated discourse--as it should be. "Ideas" do that to people. People must feel safe stating what they think about this President and believe to be the best course for the nation...regardless of their agenda.
We make judgments about the ideas placed before us by politicians and the people that support them. This election cycle should be no different than those that came before it...but some would seek to prevent this process from playing out that way.
It's here that we see a tragic irony. The very people who anointed this administration as "post-racial" are the ones who continually play the race card to intimidate citizens; attempting to prevent them from engaging in a critical examination of the record this administration has produced. That is their end-game. If one cannot win on the facts, then win any way one can.
I am concerned that the election to determine the next President will be characterized by class warfare, race-baiting, vitriol and a "take no prisoners" commitment to win at any cost. Now is the time to brace for just such an election. Prepare now to be driven to a decision by the facts and your conviction about what you believe is the best course for our nation going forward. How can one do that?
- Critically consider your values and then ask, which set of ideas best represent those values.
- Become thoroughly familiar with who the candidates really are...not who they, or their handlers, simply say they are.
- Go deeper than the talking points. Think through policy and how it effects the nation going forward.
- Engage big ideas. Read, study, pray and reflect on the politics of the 21st century, then measure the ideas of those asking for your vote against your own understanding and perspective, born from that "due diligence."
- Refuse to be an ideologue.
- Measure twice and cut once.
- Seek guidance from God; Seek His agenda. Be willing to embrace it.
- Exercise your right, privilege and responsibility to vote.
We missed an opportunity to get it right under the leadership of this administration, one has to wonder, what could have been? The good news is, while we don't always get it right the first time, Americans keep working at it until we do. No, this isn't the first post-racial Presidency, but it's taken us one step closer to that vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...Sweet dream(s).
