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 Faith Amid the Ruins of FaithPosted on Jan 22, 2009And so it was over. Just like that. The moving trucks behind the White House packed up 43 and unpacked 44. George W. Bush accompanied the man who had pilloried him up to the Capitol. Barack H. Obama was sworn in to office by the chief justice he had voted against confirming. The transition happened with all the order we take for granted in our contentious democracy. Finally, a helicopter lifted the former president into the air and nearly 2 million people seemed to exhale as if witnessing the final fade-out in a long, long movie. This swarm of people as diverse as the extended first family, as unique as each hat, as united by emotions as they were by the frigid air, began to inch out onto the streets of the city. Behind me an older, white Alabama woman said, again, “I never thought I’d live to see this day.” It was less a cliché than the mantra of the day. Just two years ago, cover stories asked “Are We Ready for an African-American President?” The campaign posters had urged “Yes We Can.” Now the souvenirs were boasting “Yes We Did.” “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them,” said the new president in his inaugural address. You could feel this shift on the Mall, the same ground where slaves were once sold. You could feel Americans of all colors flush with surprised pride that we had measured up to our own dreams. Advertisement His speech, however, had been more sober than triumphant. Indeed, during the run-up to the inaugural, his inner circle had tried to tamp down such heroic expectations. As Spike Lee had said quietly: “He’s not the messiah.” We know that he can’t truly reboot the country—in our favorite computer image—cleansing it from all the viruses, the worms and glitches lodged in our national hard drive. But the enthusiasm, the palpable sense of that much-overused word hope, seems to have arrived in direct proportion to our need. It’s as if this president is what—all?—we have going for us. Obama did not need to do more than touch on the “sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.” What he tapped into as well is the willingness of these same Americans to “pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off” and, most astonishingly, invest in another leader. Trust has been a bear market. After the collapse of faith in every sort of expert—after lenders financed houses for people who couldn’t afford them, bankers created systems they couldn’t even describe and, finally, we hear, Bernie Madoff ripped off even his high school friends—there is a residue of resilience. The latest polls tell us that a majority of Americans actually expect this president to achieve every one of 10 campaign promises from alternative energy to health insurance. Web sites and billboards are collecting individual hopes like pennies from heaven and the text message on my iPhone relayed the “hopes” of one 6-year-old grandson who wants the new president to make peace and help the poor. That’s all. The world did not stop for Barack Obama. Before lunch was over, he was leaning over Ted Kennedy, the lion of the Senate fallen ill. Before the Punahou band had passed the parade reviewing stand, the stock market had plummeted 332 points. Before we stop analyzing the “new era of responsibility,” he will be held responsible for everything from tainted peanut butter in crackers to enhanced nuclear fuel in Iran. Already, snarky blogsters and cablemeisters are betting how long the honeymoon will last. And yet, in a city of people who had to be together on the Mall, something in the spirit chose to believe with the president that “our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.” Something chose to celebrate that “our time of standing pat ... has surely passed.” In 1787, when the Constitutional Convention was over, a woman asked Ben Franklin whether we had a republic or a monarchy. “A republic,” he answered, “if you can keep it.” On this astonishing week, America won another chance. If we can grab it. Ellen Goodman’s e-mail address is ellengoodman(at)globe.com. © 2009, Washington Post Writers Group Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
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By Trithoverlies, February 2 at 9:37 pm #
Faith in Government when 20, 30 40, 60 years ago no
Report thisNO Faith in the government even now Obama’s nominee’s are becoming bogged down in theft from the IRS which means you and I Daschle $150000 tax errors, Geithners $35000 tax error, Chriss Dodd and luxury house morgage papers, Rangel with certian possibly unethical practices, and the list goes on and on. We have stopped holding our elected officials accountable long ago and it is not just one party is all parties and it is not small but a large looming issue threatening to bring our government down from with in we won’t have to worry about terrorist doing it we are committing suicide with our failire to hold senators, congresspersons, Governors, local state officials, you name it we stopped checking out to see if they were voting for our interest well most or not all you have to do is check out the congressional records and you will find Brad Miller of N.C. voting San Fransico values just to name one in 300 congressmen, almost all of or senators past and present, and to many of or Govenors
so stop talking about morals when none our to be found.
Trithoverlies/Truthoverlies.
John R. Bloxson Jr.
PS. Do something about it call, press them hard stop burying your head in the sand stop saying but I am one voice out of 300,000,000 if you say nothing it allows evil to grow and get worse. All it takes for evil to have victory is for good people to say and do nothing.
By Inherit The Wind, February 1 at 10:49 am #
Her final broadcast was a disaster. She was clearly high and slurred words. She was known for her temper but the Youtube video of her trashing the off-camera staff is not a rant. In fact, it looks like she was totally justified in her anger and her remarks were precisely to the point of what wasn’t being done right and how they needed to fix it.
I remember her on “Frontline”, a cross-over to PBS while still doing network TV.
Report thisBy Inherit The Wind, February 1 at 10:34 am #
Damn! It was Jessica Savitch, and she died in Oct 1983.
Had a very messy personal life.
Report thisBy Inherit The Wind, February 1 at 10:31 am #
Ikallicrates, January 22 at 11:55 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Who is Jessica Savage?
*************************************
Ouch! That hurts! You’re revealing how young you are, and how old Leisure Suit Larry and I are!
Jessica Savage was a super-talented, intelligent and ethical TV reporter who was tragically killed in a car crash before her time about 20-25 years ago.
IMHO, Judy Woodruff, on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, is probably the closest to what Jessica Savage was like.
Report thisBy John R. Bloxson Jr., January 26 at 9:54 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The Carter book is based on half truths , outright lies and an antisemitism flowing within it What is Aparthied? The dictionary defines it as an official policy of racial segragation. Did you know that within the borders of Israel that the Druze Arabs nad the Arab Christians have the same rights as every other group that agrees to live as one nation. The Druze’s and Christian Arabs are members of the I.D.F. they vote in every election the have people serving in the Kenesett, thego to the same scvhool and are offered the same opertunities and education.
Report thisBut were the Arab/Palestinian Authorities do not extend the same rights to the Druze , and Christians living in areas under their control In the West Bank there is segragation there is hatred, there is Aparthied carried out by the Arab/Palestinian authorities. In the Gaza Strip thousands of backers of the Fatah party have been frozen out many have fled to the West Bank and evan Israel to Escape the Hamas progrom 3 years ago, other wer assinated, and threatened all this was not done by one Israeli but Hamas so If old Jimmy Carter wants peace his plan will never work there has to be a heart change in Gaza and the West Bank then and only then will peace be achievable. Israel has repeatedly bent over backwards for it. Now its time that the Arab/Palestinians begen to do the same, no more rocket attacks, no more morter shells fired no more Arab Aparthied Arab Christians should have the same rights to run for positions in the Arab/Palestinians Authority, and Druze Arabs should be included not excluded in the West Bank, and Gaza Strip.
Trithoverlies/Truthoverlies.
John R. Bloxson Jr.
By eileen fleming, January 25 at 12:58 am #
“our time of standing pat ... has surely passed.”
“Hope has two children. The first is anger at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to Do Something about it.”-St. Augustine
The Jewish Voice for Peace has crafted and appeal to President Obama asking him to honor his promise of HOPE.
PLEASE check it out:
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/
BTW-On Monday night’s The Daily Show, former President Carter will be discussing a strategy to end the Middle Eastern conflicts from his new book “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work.”
Report thise http://www.wearewideawake.org/
By cyrena, January 24 at 11:14 pm #
What an EXCELLENT piece from Ellen Goodman. I keeper that I will share with the overused ‘hope word’, if only because what Obama said (along with most of his speech) is so God-Blessedly TRUE…
“...“What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them,” said the new president in his inaugural address….”
That pretty much says it all, in terms of the tiny portion of cynics left..the ones that we see so frequently here on Truthdig. They HAVE failed to understand or at least acknowledge that the ground has shifted beneath them. The only logical result is that these cynics become swallowed up by the earth. I mean, that’s what happens here in earthquake country. If one is too cynical or too stupid to accept/acknowledge the inevitability of change, (such as the earth moving under their feet) then they just fall into the debris that is left behind.
And, that’s OK….
Report thisBy Folktruther, January 24 at 5:36 pm #
if the American people are going to defend themselves against the coming onsluaght by the American power structure, it is necessary to destroy the Hope n Faith in Obama as soon as possible. Obama is the figurehead and will provide the rhetoric for continuing the counter revolution of the Bushites in a much worse historical situation. He has already begun increasing support for the wars in Palestine and Pakistan, and has stated repeatedly his attempt to gut social security and medicare.
the American people must understand that Obama is not their friend, he is the figurehead of Zionist, iperialist neoliberals. And class inequality and impoverishment are going to INCREASE under his administration.
Report thisBy KDelphi, January 24 at 5:30 pm #
Schmaltz, pure.
Report thisBy reason, January 23 at 12:46 pm #
This is a difficult time and it requires a renewed faith in ourselves as a country and as individuals. the following link is a poem (familiar to many but worth remembering).
http://www.lordtonymackenzie.com/desiderata.html
Report thisIn the last weeks of the Bush Presidency I have heard people say that Bush was a dupe for others and they feel sorry for him. I can be as forgiving as anyone under most circumstances but to entertain the idea that Bush didn’t know what was being done or that he didn’t sanction each and every act of his administration is beyond even my naiveté.
I don’t know how much good can come from rehashing all Bush’s transgressions but I cannot forgive him since he obviously has no regrets for doing what he has done. If we do not hold him accountable for his actions we will set precedence for any elected official to act as a dictator and effectively approve what has been done by Bush and anyone who follows him. The protections of the Constitution will be VOID and we well only have ourselves to blame. Blame doesn’t accomplish much but an investigation is necessary to arrive at what was illegal for the sake of not letting anyone repeat the travesties of the past eight plus years. In the past, the American people could make a case for their ignorance in what was done by the Bush Administration but they cannot do so now. If we love our country it is up to us collectively to demand an accounting of practices of the Bush Administration and other politicians who could and should have fought the implementation of directives that broke the law and scuttled the ideals of our Constitution.
By Martha, January 22 at 7:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Mike112769 1/22 8:11am:
I agree with you. The Bush administration and all those involved need to suffer consequences for their unlawful actions. Time will tell. I really hate to see them get away without any kind of consequence what so ever after Nixon was forced to resign for much less. What Nixon and Clinton did was only a drop in the bucket to the destruction of the country that the Bush administration has apparently, so far, amazingly gotten away with.
Report thisBy Ikallicrates, January 22 at 4:55 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Who is Jessica Savage?
Report thisBy Martha, January 22 at 4:32 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
We must pay our debts to other countries. Right now is not the time to reboot the system, but the system will sooner or later during this administration’s 1st or 2nd term have to be rebooted. I hope Obama doesn’t wait too long to do what has to be done. Before the rebooting goods will become extremely expensive; then, after the rebooting goods will become extremely cheap. Goods will then cost relatively a nickel, but it will be difficult for anyone to have a nickel. That seems difficult to understand, but I remember how low the prices were after the Great Depression. At first I am certain it was cheaper, but by the time I can remember, gasoline was only 15 cents a gallon, and a big candy bar was a nickel. Pennies were worth something then.
The Right-Wing brought on the last depression and the Right-Wing has brought on this depression. The Republicans didn’t want to talk about it because they were hoping it could be held off until after Obama got into office, because then Republicans could have blamed what they caused on Obama’s supposed lack of knowing what he was doing, and the average person would think the Republican culprits who caused the problem would be the solution to the problem. God’s hand was apparently against them, so their being quite about the depression didn’t work out for them. Bush did say in his final speech that he had been advised by his top advisor that if he allowed the economy to continue the way it was that there would be a depression, possibly even greater than the Great Depression, but Bush kept that all a secret. Bush actually accomplished his mission of not representing all the people. Bush’s mission was to represent his constituents only and he did a good job of doing that, so I am certain they are all happy with him. The only problem was that 90%-95% of the world are not Right-Wing constituents.
As for faith, faith without righteous works is DEAD. God loves people—not doxy.
Report thisBy mike112769, January 22 at 1:11 pm #
I will be very impressed if he can keep HALF of his campaign promises. I am not denigrating Obama, he simply can not do everything himself. It is up to the Public to ensure that our senators and congresscritters pull together to do what is right for America. Obama is not a king, he needs a majority on board with him. On a different note: If everyone is so relieved that Bush is gone, and glad his lies are over; where is the accountability he should be facing? Are we simply supposed to let him drag America through the mud and walk away unscathed? If Clinton had to go through all of his troubles over lying about sex, shouldn’t lying and causing the deaths of thousands of Americans and an unknown number of Iraqis/ Afghans/ others be even more important?
Report thisBy Leisure Suit Larry, January 22 at 11:54 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Ellen Goodman is an American original.
or so starts her bio. If posting clap-trap and “approved politically=correct positions is “origional” then I guess she qualifies.
BUT
She’s no Jessica Savage.
Report this