A New Spirit of Patriotism

I wrote this column last fall, and it took a reminiscent tone at the time, which makes it doubly retrospective now I suppose. But in light of the victorious passage of the Health Care Legislation, I felt it would serve as a reminder of where we are coming from, the work we have yet to do, and the great potential held in this election year 2010....

“We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people. Yes we can.”
Barack Obama, New Hampshire, January 8, 2008

Time has a way of sneaking up on us. And this fall, some things have really taken me by surprise. October has sped by, spurred by a dizzying combination of Little League, deep family loss, and rare sunny days where the best thing to do was sit silently on the back porch soaking up as much of the sun’s warmth as possible. We’ve been slow to get the decorations out, the pumpkins ready to carve. But I was still caught short when I realized that waiting right around the corner is the 1 year anniversary of Election Day 2008. What a wonderful moment in time! Americans worked around the clock leading up to that day, and our relief when it passed in victory was immense. We could hardy hold ourselves in, filled with wonder that after 8 years of frustration and bedevilment, we were going to be able to take this country in a new and hopeful direction.

And when America’s voters spoke, we also knew it wasn’t the end of anything:

“The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth."
Barack Obama, St Paul, MN June 3, 2008

And now, our work to reclaim our civic duties as Americans has just begun. It was an election like no other, and now it is an administration, a time of keeping promises like no other. I remember other words of Barack Obama’s, stuck in my head from so many various campaign speeches, that I can only paraphrase them here: “I am going to need your help. I can’t do this alone. When we win the Whitehouse, we are going to have to keep working and I am going to turn to you all to do the work."

This was something new, not a campaign promise of rosy-colored-glasses proportions, but a campaign challenge. It rang out to me like the legacy of the famous JFK quote “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

The Obama administration wants nothing more than to see America’s political will restored. Civic responsibility placed back in the hands of the people. Do we want health care reform? We must organize and make our will known. Do we want energy policy that will create jobs, new investments, and a bright prosperous future? Then we must take action and educate. Do we want to see the poor lifted up as Jesus taught us, see middle class families protected, and create a marketplace of justice and true democracy? Then we must get busy envisioning our future and make this world real through our work. Americans, it is the least we can do to give back to this country so great.

“This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.”
Barack Obama, Chicago, IL Nov 4th, 2008