January 23, 2009

Inaugural Joy and Inaugural Bitterness

WASHINGTON – This inaugural week included a massive achievement in American racial history, an outpouring of civic participation and a gracious executive transition on both sides. But amid the celebration one could detect double standards all around.

If the outcome had been different in November, would John McCain’s inaugural coverage have been quite as worshipful as President Obama’s – during which the “shiver” up the leg of journalists finally became full-fledged convulsions? Why were the biblical references in Obama’s inaugural speech not considered a coded assault on the Constitution, as George W. Bush’s allegedly were? And I can only imagine the cascades of hilarity and derision that would have come had Bush messed up the inaugural oath, no matter the cause.

But an aggrieved sense of victimhood is not attractive from any political perspective. And so, in honor of the “era of responsibility,” I put aside such childish things.

Yet this week did clarify the contrast between two different types of Obama enthusiasm – one admirable, the other insufferable.

The first kind of enthusiasm concerned Obama’s racial background. It was reflected in the untethered joy of the Rev. Joseph Lowery’s benediction – the joy of victory against centuries of racism, violence, cruel humiliation and stolen labor, in a nation where one in six Americans was once owned by another.

A few days before the inauguration, I spoke with Rep. John Lewis, who, at 23, preceded Martin Luther King to the podium at the March on Washington in 1963. On that day Lewis was impatient, demanding “we want our freedom and we want it now” in a speech that had to be toned down before delivery. “We had faith and confidence,” he assured me. But at the time, the obstacles were massive. “Black men with doctoral degrees,” he recalled, “were flunking the so-called ‘literacy test’ – being asked to count the number of bubbles in a bar of soap or the number of jelly beans in a jar.”

“This is one of the finest periods in American history, to see the distance we have come in such a short period of time,” he concluded. “Some force – call it the spirit of history or God Almighty – is intervening.”

Any American with a sense of history should feel that sense of awe. Minorities of every background must feel it most deeply. As the father of multiracial children, I feel it deeply enough.

But there was a second, less sympathetic, Obama enthusiasm at work. In a Newsweek essay, Michael Hirsh mentioned Obama’s racial achievement. But he went on to say that “there’s something else that I’m even happier about – positively giddy. … What Obama’s election means, above all, is that brains are back.” Hirsh declared that the Obama era means the defeat of “yahooism” and “jingoism” and “flag-pin shallowness” and “religious zealotry” and “anti-intellectualism.” Obama is a “guy who keeps religion in its proper place – in the pew.”

There is much to unpack here. Can it be that Hirsh is “even happier” about the advance of liberal arrogance than he is about the advance of racial justice? And would the civil rights movement have come at all if African-American religion had stayed “in the pew”? But suffice it to say that some wish to interpret the Obama victory as a big push in the culture war – as an opportunity to attack their intellectual and cultural “inferiors.”

Most of us have witnessed this attitude, usually in college. The kids who employed contempt instead of argument, who shouted down speakers they didn’t agree with, who thought anyone who contradicted them had a lower IQ, who talked of “reason” while exhibiting little of it. They were often not the brightest of bulbs. Most people recover from this childish affliction. Some do not.

President Obama showed unfortunate hints of this attitude during the campaign, in criticizing those who “cling to guns or religion.” But he won the presidency, in part, by effectively blunting this edge of disdain – by extinguishing the culture war with his soothing manner and pragmatism instead of igniting it with liberal arrogance and bitterness. And that kind of ideological smallness is perhaps the greatest threat to the broad coalition of Americans Obama will need in the coming days of challenge.

So this week I stand firmly with Lewis’ joy and against Hirsh’s contempt. And I offer my own inaugural prayer: God bless President Obama – and God save him from some of his supporters.

© 2009, Washington Post Writers Group

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.