The Obama Project@WindonWater.net

Elvis Dingeldein asks a thoughtful question in a post called “Also, Don’t Blame Muhammad“, at bobcesca.com: what we can do to prevent the spike in violent religious extremism whenever the religious right is out of power in the US?  His original post was further clarified in the last segment of his radio show here: (June 4 podcast).

I’m going to take my time answering, because I don’t want to come across as having “the answer” – I don’t think I do.  But the question, now fully articulated, seems to suggest some immediate thoughts, and I wanted to share them.

I think, fundamentally – what CAN be done, is what IS being done, and we need to find ways to follow suit.

First – the beauty and challenge of American democracy is that it is predicated on freedom of conscience.   As long as we reserve the right to our freedom of conscience (expressed in the 1st amendment jointly as a restriction on government making any laws that would seem to “establish” a religion and the freedom from government interference with the expression of religion amongst private citizens), we will always have religious expression in the public square.  People hold ideas, be they religious or philosophical, and they reserve their right to act upon those ideas.

Second – and this is one that really hit me the other day – we need to remember that the howling of those who are now “out of power” is not just because they are out of power – it is because the foundation of their world is shaken.

That second one is a biggie.  I had a small glimpse of it the other day, when I saw the headline “Yankees drop 8 in a row to Bosox.”  Something in my stomach turned – and the world felt just slightly off kilter. Let me put that in context: I’m not a “fanatic” – I typically ignore baseball all year long, and only pay attention the the playoffs if the Yankees are in them.  All the rest of the year, baseball goings on are background noise.  So you see what kind of baseball fan I am.  At the same time, I know a lot of Yankee lore.  I know about the House that Babe built, and I remember  Reggie Jackson as Mr. October, and I know about “The Curse.” In fact, I know enough about the curse to have been worried, when the Yankees swindled Alex Rodriguez from the Red Sox, that the curse would be broken.  And sure enough, it was. As disinterested a fan as I am, this makes me feel a dreadful sense of anxiety.   All is not right with the world.  Perhaps the Yankees are the ones who are cursed now, I wonder.  And I’m angry.  I’m angry about the new Yankee Stadium (don’t like the idea at all).  I’m angry about the Alex Rodriguez deal.  I can’t stand Alex Rodriguez – never have liked him, and what little bit of liking I could have had for him dissipated when the Yankees lost to the Red Sox in the pennant.  All of this emotional investment over…. baseball.

Thinking on this slightly irrational reaction to a simple newspaper headline, I suddenly had a grasp of what the world must feel like to some people.  I’m talking about the people who remember when abortion was illegal, and only “those kinds of girls” had them.  I’m talking about people who remember segregation, and especially who remember when there just was no way a black man OR a woman could figure so prominently in national politics.  I’m talking about those whose foundational understanding of the world includes white men on top, all the time.  I’m thinking about how they must feel every morning when they wake up and think “WTF??” I’m thinking about how their knees must knock a little bit, and their stomachs roil whenever they have to hear on the news that there is someone called President Barack Hussein Obama.  Irrational though it may be, I suddenly had a great deal of sympathy for these who history has left behind.  I suddenly realize that for them, nothing may be more important than restoring balance and order to THEIR universe.  What would it take?

Well – there are a bunch of very wicked people who are playing on their fears.  Understanding that quaking sensation in the belly, these wicked people promote these fears, make it seem justified, for their own gain.  But President Obama has chosen another approach – he’s created safe space for those fearful ones.  He speaks in the language of faith to reassure these fearful ones that the world has not turned upside down.  He invites the religious in – because religion is that last bastion of stability that they hold on to.  In short – he reminds them that after all, they are NOT left behind – he’s bringing them along for the ride.

Many on the left decry these efforts by the President, but I think they are wrong to do so.  The toxic atmosphere can only grow more toxic unless people predisposed to feel displaced are instead empowered – but to do good, and to contribute to, rather than be left behind by the march of history.

To the extent that we can, we who are in President Obama’s corner, need to be reaching out for these displaced people, and showing them how they are empowered by the changes happening, rather than leaving them to the vile intent of those who seek only to manipulate their fears.

I said in a comment on Bob Cesca’s site that I was glad that Pat Buchanan was so thoroughly embraced on MSNBC.  He is one of those displaced people I’m talking about.  Surrounded by people who want to hear his opinion, but who disagree, sometimes sharply, his voice can be a part of the change that is happening, a dialectic that propels us forward, rather than a disruptive and destructive force that pulls us down.  I continually remember the anecdote of the campaign when a young canvasser knocked on a door of a poor white family.  The woman who answered, had to ask her husband who they were voting for… and upon the husband’s reply, repeated for the canvasser “We’re voting for the n*gg*r.”  You know what? I’m sure we were glad to have the vote.

QT

I’m off to bed – but it looks like North Carolina will flip – and I promised North Carolina organizers that I would give them rainbow crowns if they flipped the state.

McCain’s Muslim Supporters confront religious intolerance at a McCain-Palin rally, and officials from the campaign have to intervene. Its unfortunate that McCain’s allowed his campaign (especially with Palin on the ticket) to attract this kind of thing out in the open, but I at least appreciate the effort to push back against this, and am grateful for the courage the muslim McCain supporters showed.

Here in the United States, the nation is embroiled in the political season as we gear up for presidential elections on the first Tuesday in November 2008.  We’re winding down on the primary season, and will immediately pivot into the general election campaign thereafter.  It is likely that Barack Obama will be one of the candidates for president.  As a result of the primary campaign, a number of disturbing trends have come to light – these include racism, sexism, religious intolerance, anti-intellectualism, classism, and a complete lack of unity.   The Obama Project is an effort to address this in the spirit of what WindonWater.net is all about… namely producing small ripples to push against the current…

What:  The Obama Project will be a series of posts focussed on presenting factual information about candidate Barack Obama that negates misinformation about him – but with the specific goal of NOT promoting the candidate, but rather, promoting the eradication of racism, sexism, classism, religious intolerance, and anti-intellectualism.  Of course, I hope that focussing on these things will yield more unity in place of divisiveness.

How: The mission statement of WindonWater.net is “conversation for a better world, and a happy soul.”   The idea is that by changing the way we talk about stuff, we turn the tide on cynicism and negativity.  How necessary is THAT these days?

Why: Why Barack Obama?  Well, largely because his candidacy has called all of this stuff to the forefront of public discourse.  With this candidate, we have room to talk about racism, and religious intolerance.  We have room to talk about the meaning of love of country (patriotism).  We have room to talk about classism, and sexism.  And of course, the candidate has given a groundbreaking speech on race, that gives us a starting place.

As a Baha’i, I’ve been hesitant to start this effort.  Baha’is are not supposed to engage in partisan politics, but rather, are supposed to simply vote their consciences.  I’ve fallen short of that mark often this cycle, because of being so very partisanly in support of candidate Barack Obama.  Notwithstanding, I have concluded that this is something that I can do, and even should do, and I do believe it is doable without trending toward partisanship (at least I hope it is).

Anyway – as a woman and as an African-American, I’ve been sucked in to the process because the issues are very real to me.  And I do feel a personal need to have a direct response to these issues, and a need to do so in a way that avoids the persistent negativity that has dominated the blogosphere.  I hope others will join the conversation, and lend thoughts and ideas – especially out of the box, especially with a spiritual perspective, as we work through these tough issues.

My goal is to produce one post a week – that’s ambitious perhaps – that pushes against the wind.  Everyone is welcome to continue the conversation – and of course to start topics of interest throughout the thread.  The front page will be adjusted every week to promote the latest Obama Project post.

We’ll see how it goes!

Finally – since it really is more of a blogging project than a forum effort, I’m blogging here, instead of on my main forum site.  I’ll try to RSS to WindonWater.net, just the same.

QT