“Democracies Die Behind Closed Doors” But No More In Our Country

The title of the my post today is a quote by Judge Damon Keith in a federal appeals court ruling in 2002 that I found in Bob Herbert’s Op-Ed Column,“More Than Charisma”, this morning in the New York Times in which he writes about Obama.

Two years ago when Herbert was on his way to a public interview Barack Obama, his cab driver asked him who was on the program. Herbert told him and the taxi driver said, “Oh, our next president.”

Obama hadn’t even announced that he was running at that time, but the capacity crowd in that auditorium was very clear about what it wanted. It cheered every mention of a possible run. Obama-mania was already well underway and, as Herbert wrote, it would only grow.

I think and Herbert writes about the many people who are talking about, wondering about, excited about, this continuing love affair with all things Obama – the feverish excitement, the widespread joy and pride and the remarkable surge of hope in an otherwise downbeat, depressing period in our history. Who would have thought, even fifteen years ago, that this country would be so in love with its first black president?

Gwen Ifill has a new book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” and she notes that, “Voters are attracted to youth, vitality and change.” And Americans do tend to get giddy over winners, especially underdogs who take the measure of a foe thought to be impregnable – such as the might forces assembled by the Clintons.

Herbert says he’s seen charismatic politicians and pretty families come and go over the years, but there is something more to this love affair with Obama, something deeper. And it is called leadership. Obama has been feeding the almost desperate hunger in this country for mature leadership, for someone who is not reckless and clownish, shortsighted and self-absorbed.

However you feel about his policies and, of course, there are those that grumble on both the right and the left, Obama has made it loud and clear that the era of irresponsible behavior in public office is over. No more crazy wars, no more torture, no more throwing people in prison without even the semblance of due process. No more napping while critical problems like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, global warming and economic inequality in the US gets increasingly worse.
Obama said in his inaugural address, “We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”
And on Wednesday he took steps to make the federal government more transparent, signaling immediately that the country would move away from the toxic levels of secrecy that marked the Bush years.

Obama said that “Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.” It was a commitment to responsible behavior and a challenge to the public to hold the Obama administration accountable – hence the title to my post, “Democracies die behind closed doors.” Ours did almost die under the Bush Administration.

A year ago during his campaign, Obama promised to be a “president who will be honest about the choices and challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you, even when we disagree, who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know”.

We’ve grown accustomed to dismiss political rhetoric, but somehow Mr. Obama carries himself in a way that suggests the he means what he says and this gives him credibility when he urges us to work hard, make sacrifices, not just for us and our families, but for the common good. He tells black audiences that young men need to hitch up their trousers and behave themselves, and that parents need to turn off the TV so kids can do their homework. I would add that keeping computers out of young kids rooms and returning to doing things together as a family is critical for kids and for their future – but that’s a whole new post.

As for the many challenges facing us today, Obama said, “They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.”
And Herbert says that the bond is growing between the nation and its new young leader. Let’s hope it’s a mature romance that weathers the long haul.