Change Is Easier Said Than Done

Written by Rev. Byron Williams

Monday, 24 March 2008

Long before "si se puede" entered the lexicon of memorable political slogans, the 2008 election was already destined to be one of change. The reasons are so obvious that they hardly require mentioning.

One need only peruse the latest L.A. Times / Bloomberg poll indicating that a mere 26% believe the country is going in the right direction. But change is something that is much easier to talk about than it is to implement.

The familiarity of the status quo serves as a powerful opiate against much needed change. Discomfort is the unfortunate prerequisite for any change. Thus, change without discomfort is the status quo in drag.

In recent weeks, we have witnessed how, as usual, politics seeks to disarm any conversations of change. The failure to wear a metal flag in one's lapel, to place one's hand over one's heart, or to express that for the first time in one's adult life they are really proud of their country apparently warrants charges by members of the vaunted chattering class of being unpatriotic. Is this not the remnants of the type of "swiftboating" we saw during the 2004 campaign? Moreover, who are these centurions of patriotism to be adjudicating the prefabricated manner in which one shows pride and devotion to the country?

Not to be outdone, TV host and best-selling author Tavis Smiley publicly blasted Barack Obama for skipping last week's State of the Black Union, Smiley's annual televised event where notable African American leaders discuss problems within the black community. Obama, who is in the midst of contested primary races in delegate-rich Ohio and Texas, declined to attend but offered to send his wife, Michelle Obama, in his place. This obviously insulted Smiley's impulses of self-importance as he declined Obama's counter offer and criticized the candidate for not leaving the campaign to attend his traveling road show.

But demagoguery is an equal opportunity employer. The presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, is nobody's liberal. He's not likely to ever be confused with the late Sen. Paul Wellstone. McCain has, however, shown a capacity to think for himself. By eschewing post-Reagan orthodoxy - which looks more like Tom DeLay and Karl Rove politics than that of Edmund Burke or the recently deceased William F. Buckley - McCain has managed to incur the ire of high profile conservative gadfly's such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter as not being conservative enough.

The final example of the stubbornness of the status quo is the reappearance of Louis Farrakhan as the litmus for black candidates. I had hoped this weary, trite line of questioning had gone the way of the Edsel.

The fact that Obama had to spend several minutes of the last Democratic debate addressing Tim Russert's question on whether he would denounce or reject Farrakhan - who was complementary of Obama, but stopped just short of an endorsement - is testimony to our desires stay within the box of conformity, no matter how unhealthy it may be for the nation.

But none of the aforementioned items have anything to do with the record price of oil. They also have nothing to do with the two wars that this country is engaged in, the number of states experiencing deficits, or the country's collective economic troubles - all of which contribute to only 26% believing the nation is headed in the right direction.

Instead, they have everything to do with the obvious need for change that is greater than any presidential candidacy and how those who have benefited from the current status quo uncomfortably deal with it. Those who seek to keep the country stuck in the dated quagmire of their ridiculous diatribe are like Ahab in Melville's Moby Dick: unable to see past their own megalomania.

But the real question lies with the remainder of the electorate that make up the 63% that believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction and the 11% that are somehow unsure. Will they succumb to the lure of the status quo and grow accustom to the current 51-49 political divide or will they have the courage to demand something new?