Been thinking today of Obama’s speech at the 50th anniversary of Selma, IMO the finest of his career. In direct response to an accusation from a now disbarred lawyer, who said he “didn’t really love America,” Obama laid out a vision of the America he loved.
time.com/3736357/bara...
He describes a country constantly trying to rise above its original sins by a constant effort to be “more perfect,” and succeeding, step by step, even in the face of violent opposition, as at Selma.
A powerful and convincing message from a Black man speaking as President at the very site.
What he didn’t understand, what I certainly didn’t, is those victories were still not universally accepted. That there were forces at work, energized in no small part by his occupying the office, that not only disagreed that those changes were improvements but were actively trying to undo them.
The fault, dear Peter, is not in our arcs but in ourselves. Not till God make men of some other mettle than earth shall justice prevail forever.
Id est: blame human nature for the pickle we're in.
I think when we think "wow we made so much progress, what happened" it's that we DID make progress and some people really didn't like that progress at all and have put a lot of effort into undoing it while the other side perhaps rested a tad much
I have found Rachel Maddow’s podcasts and book on the history in America of the rise of far right extremism very enlightening. (Ultra and Prequel) It seems to keep happening.
I keep thinking of the kid crying on the phone, alone, in your adaptation of The Plot Against America.
It destroyed me.
Now Im thinking we will see that with the kids’ classmates. Families will disappear.
Then, who do they come for next?
Yes, of course. I had to put it away for a while after that.
We are really going to have to make decisions like that, again. I hope we’re all up to it. We won’t get a second chance.
We like to think that history goes in straight line, but sometimes it circles back on itself. We got complaisant. My husband says, “some people are going to have to brave now.” Hope I can be one.
I sure as heck think Obama understood that even if you didn’t. You don’t have to keep laying out the vision for a better US and the case for it if you think it’s beyond questioning.
The arc doesn’t bend itself.
Oh my favorite bit was when the undersea oil well was spewing oil onto the gulf coast. He jetted down there, spent a couple hours talking, then went for two weeks on Martha’s Vineyard, where he was photographed atop a lighthouse looking very, very happy.
