Author: Aldon Hynes

Over the past couple of days, I’ve encountered incredible jubilation about the election of Barack Obama to be our next President. Yet in the background, I hear concerns expressed. Even in President-Elect Obama’s speech on Tuesday night, he spoke about the difficult task ahead. I’m on a mailing list of group psychologists that I often turn to, to try and make sense of the dynamics which are going on, and this list, too, has been overrun by jubilation. To them, and to all of you, I want to ask, why is this jubilation so great? Are we missing something by not heeding President-Elect Obama’s words about the difficult task ahead? What might we be missing?

It seems that there are probably many intermixed causes for this and that if we understand and name better, we may be better prepared to protect it. Here are some of the thoughts I shared with the list.

A better racial climate in our country?

The reasons I’ve heard include jubilation that a feeling that race is no longer an issue in America. I’m sorry, I simply don’t believe that. Yes, an extremely important milestone was passed. The quote that summed it up nicely for me was “Kids born from this day forward will never know a world when a black man hadn’t been President. That’s awesome”. Yet race remains an important issue. As a few people in mixed race marriages mentioned, President-Obama’s mixed race background has remained mostly undiscussed, and people in mixed race relationships often receive similar treatment as those in relationships that are not mixed gender.

I think the recent article in the New York Times, Tolerance Over Race Can Spread, Studies Find is extremely important. How do we take the joy and hope and spread better racial relations across our country? To those who view the most important aspect of President-Obama’s victory as an indicator of a better racial climate in our country, I would like to hear more about how we take that and not only protect it, but build on it.

An end to divisiveness?

Perhaps the better racial climate in our country is a part of a bigger victory, a repudiation of the divisiveness that has so damaged our country. I sure hope that is the case, but based on the rhetoric I’m hearing behind the scenes, I am very dubious. What do we do to make sure that the political divisiveness doesn’t come back in another form?

In a recent blog post, I noted that many want to see members of the Bush/Cheney administration tried for war crimes. They want full investigations into the deals made behind closed doors that led to our energy policy, and that led to the politicization of the justice department. I worry that such moves could bring back the nasty old divisiveness in even worse formats, and I suggest looking at the example of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after Nelson Mandela was elected President in South Africa.

A triumph of Democrats over Republicans?

This is the Sisyphusian boulder of politics. One party takes the reins as the other party loses and regroups. While I am a strong Democrat myself, I don’t find much to rejoice about in this shift. Already, I’ve received (indirectly), the email the head of the Connecticut Republican party has sent out to supporters. It is nasty. In one section he writes,

“Still, Democrats smell more blood. Having taken some Republican legislative seats that have long been in our column, they believe they can have more. They want the Governor’s office to complete their run of good fortune at the polls. But before that happens, they will focus on our Mayor’s and First Selectmen, particularly in cities which they see as their divine birthright.”

Yes, there may be some Democrats that ’smell blood’ and view certain seats as part of a ‘divine birthright’, but I hope and believe they are an exception, just as I hope that the Republican Chairman’s view expressed in the letter are an exception, and not the rule. He puts the Sisyphusian boulder into context,

“2010 is the Election. It will decide everything. We need people to do their part where and whenever they can and with a sense of commitment and zeal that has never been seen. Democrats think we are done for and they are out to take more. Democrats think Republicans have been repudiated and will never recover. They have made that mistake before – in 1964, 1976 and 1992.”

A triumph of diplomacy over military pre-emption?

I am guessing for readers of this blog that are either not from the United States or travel abroad frequently, this may be an important aspect of the victory. As a person who protested the U.S. led military invasion of Iraq, before it started, it is an extremely important aspect to me. Yet over fifty five million people voted for Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin’s embrace of American Exceptionalism was lauded by many.

In fact, many who have lauded President-Elect Obama’s victory have done so in terms of American Exceptionalism. It is America as a ‘city on the hill’ showing the world, yet again the triumph of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power. It is America as a ‘city on the hill’ showing the world the triumph over racism. Yes, we should celebrate this, but using it to reinforce American Exceptionalism seems awfully close to clinging to a defense of U.S. Military Pre-emption.

I do not view this as black and white thinking of Hope versus Cynicism. I just have a very long list of concerns and questions. I hope that by discussing this on mailing lists and on blogs can help us all find ways to sustain and broaden President-Elect Obama’s victory.

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