Brother's Gonna Work It Out

At one point early last night, I was making a mental note of all the people that I would cordially invite to — in the immortal words of the late Rudy Ray Moore — "suck my biiiig, loooong, greezy dick" now that the election was over and Barack Obama had won. After all the fear-mongering talk of Obama being a "secret muslim" and a "socialist," after all the cynical droning about how hope and and the desire for change were silly things to bring with us to the polls, after all the talk of how otherwise intelligent white people wouldn't be able to find it within themselves to actually vote for a black man, after eight years of depression, embarrassment and utter misery under Bush, I wanted some fucking payback.

But then I watched John McCain's gracious, elegant, and shockingly optimistic concession speech. A friend of mine commented that, if McCain had applied that same tone (and level of intelligence) to his campaign, he actually might have won. (You know, as opposed to railing against Obama as a liberal terrorist who was going to take our non-existent money and give it to black people, or cynically appointing the vagina-equipped — but otherwise thoroughly incompetent and unqualified — Sarah Palin as his running mate.) As the TV cameras panned the sea of doughy white faces at the Arizona Biltmore in vain attempt to find someone, anyone of color ("Hey, that Samoan girl looks kind of dark — hold on her for a bit!"), and the crowd angrily booed each mention of Obama's name and demanded to see his birth certificate, McCain quite sincerely called for all Americans to band together behind the new President-Elect in order to make this country a better place. Suddenly, I felt the animosity he'd triggered within me all year vanish, replaced by something approaching respect.

And then I watched Barack Obama's acceptance speech. A lot of my friends said they cried during it; I didn't, mostly because I was still in such a state of shock that he'd won, and that American voters had finally awoken from the mass thorazine stupor of the "What, Me Worry?" Bush years. I felt proud of our country, all of a sudden — a strange, alien feeling that I hadn't truly experienced since Americans booted out Bush I after a single term in 1992. The tone of Obama's speech was also far more business-like than inspirational, though there was uplift for me in the fact that he was acknowledging the need for all of us to roll up our sleeves right away and start cleaning up the festering dung heap that BushCo has dropped upon this great country of ours. It was so refreshing to hear him acknowledging the REALITY of the situation, and the need for sacrifice and hard work from all of us in the years ahead, as opposed to, say, Dubya's "keep shopping" edict in the wake of 9/11. And by now, all desire for revenge and payback had completely drained out of me; why waste energy on that shit when we've still got a mountain to climb?

(Watching jubilant white and black folks celebrating together in Chicago's Grant Park, in the center of one of the most notoriously racist Northern cities, my friend Bob crowed, "Look, that's the GOP's worst nightmare!" Right then, the MSNBC cameras cut away to dancing natives in Obama's ancestral village in Kenya. "No, Bob," I laughed. "That's the GOP's worst nightmare!")

Look, I know Obama isn't our "savior"; I know his policies and attitudes are still to the right of where most of my friends and I stand; I know that Bush and Cheney and their robber baron cronies have done so much damage to this country, both internally and externally, it may be another 50 years before we completely recover. But his election is an excellent start, as opposed to the "four more years down the same fetid toilet" prospect that a McCain/Palin White House would have brought us. And after many continuous years of waking up and wishing what had happened the day or night before had just been a horrible dream, it was incredible to wake up this morning and go, "Wait, that really happened? YES!!!" I am fucking PROUD to see this country finally elect a black president; the fact that he's an intelligent, well-read, empathetic individual with an equally strong and accomplished wife makes it that much more amazing...

Maestro Hutch, if you will...

Willie Hutch — brothers_gonna_work_it_out.mp3

Comments

[Bob]

Nicely said, Dan!
The tone -- from both candidates -- was so refreshing after Bush's "I earned political capital and I'm gonna spend it!" (along with the rest of the country's ca$h).
Yes, 'proud' is an appropriate term. Things really do seem different today. As I rode my bike in to work today, the newly elected AG of Oregon was standing (yes, in the rain) at the foot of one of the bridges crossing the river with a sign that said "thanks". I can't remember ever seeing a politician doing that the day after...

[Laura]

I know. It feels like such a dream as I'm not used to seeing such awesome dreams and hopes realized. But we wake up and the First Family of America is African-American and their father is our president and he is an educated, thoughtful, peaceful, eloquent man. I don't see him ostracizing opponents and I don't want him to. I want to be the United States of America. I believe in this. I'm grateful to be an adult that can comprehend this, that will be able to witness this and as Obama asked and received, that I will be able to participate in. This is how the change happened. This is how November 4, 2008 happened in America. Finally.

[Eric Colin]

As usual my friend, you echoed my sentiments exactly. I too had the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that even the "Intelligent White Folk" would have some kind of reluctance to elect a black president, simply because I know full well that some liberals tend to harbor a bit of closet racism.
Saying that, it's a damn fine feeling to know that change is possible and I'm hopeful for the future.
Obviously, as you so succinctly put it, I know he is not the savior but he is a step in the right direction and I've got a good feeling that the man will walk it like he talks it.
Amen!

[John]

My kids deserve to grow up and be born into a world with an intelligent and diplomatic president, and with the probability of a black first family being no less remarkable than that of a white one.

If they gradually gain perceptive consciousness with a few more of our ideals firmly in place, that'll be good enough for me.

I'm glad so many people finally gave a fuck.

Thanks, America.

[Ginger]

Wow - I'm glad I read this post. This is so well put, and it accurately sums up my feelings as well. I'm in DC, and I vividly remember the sense of anguish and defeat that so many of us felt on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2004. Fast forward four years, and the streets of DC looked like that of a city whose national team had just won the World Cup. Who would've ever imagined?

...and I must mention that I'm so glad I don't have to flip the bird at the White House anymore.

[stu]

Thank Christ. Now if we can sort out that recount in Minnesota....

[Rabbi Adam]

Very well put, Rabbi Dan, and I only have one small item to add. I was there in Grant Park last night, and aside from the jubilation and camaraderie and general feel-goodness of the whole event, there was one moment that any Chicago White Sox fan would have enjoyed. The crowd was quiet and respectful during McCain's gracious acceptance speech. But then, when it was over, up came a spontaneous rendition of the song that I remember distinctly from the Summer of 1977: "Na na na na! Na na na na! Hey hey hey! Goodbye!"

[Paul Gaita]

Well said, Brother Dan. And Hey Mr. DJ, can you play "Funky President" right after that platter?

[Chris Perry]

Excellent, however I started seeing Obama as Sam Cooke halfway through October and now everytime I see him now I want him to pull out a mic and start crooning "Wonderful World".