The Great Turning

In his victory speech, President-Elect Barack Obama listed among his priority concerns 'a planet in peril.'  I was surprised.  He has used this phrase before, but it has never been used in a context like this -- as one of the primary challenges on the new U.S. president's agenda.  Of course, the phrase has meaning well beyond global warming and climate change, those issues which tend to form the limits of ecological concerns in mainstream political culture here in the U.S.

 

Today I wrote a reflection on my website about the challenge of the ecological crises to the new administration coming to Washington.  I would love feedbak, comments, or other reflections -- on the site, but also here in this community.

 

The web page:  http://www.ecologicalhope.org/featured/change-we-can-believe-in/

 

There will be change in Washington now, but what kind of change and how far it will go will depend on the strength of the movements we can create, whether or not the civic spirit that brought about this historic election will become a force for more profound change in how we live.  If nothing else, there should be greater space within the culture for fomenting the great turning.

 

Margaret Swedish

Spirituality and Ecological Hope

Milwaukee WI USA

What we have to understand about Obama is this:

 

On one hand, he is a man of extraordinary intelligence, character, and compassion--the finest human being, easily, in my lifetime to occupy the White House, and arguably the finest human being since Lincoln and FDR.  So he knows the truth about our "planet in peril" and is determined to act accordingly.

 

On the other, like any other political leader, Obama is subject to the constraints of his position--there are powerful interest groups on all sides whom he must placate, and who could torpedo his presidency--or worse--if he took actions that threatened these vested interests. I refer in particular, of course, to the Military Industrial Complex, Agribusiness, the Foreign Policy Establishment, and of course the moneyed Corporate Oligarchy in general.  So as political leader, he is obliged to pay close attention to the law of unintended consequences--the likelihood that any given initiative could unleash a backlash from such powerful interests that could render further progress impossible.

 

Accordingly, Obama is obliged by these circumstances to act more cautiously than most of us would prefer; if he is to maintain his power and influence, he cannot do otherwise. So there are many instances in which we are likely to disagree with his actions. But this much is clear: I trust his judgment, even when I disagree with a given decision, and I also trust his ability to attend to feedback and learn from his errors.  He has already shown a courageous willingness to take decisive action on matters of principle--but he has no choice but to remain flexible on details.  His challenge, which I fully expect him to meet, will be to steadily expand the horizon of the possible.

 

Our task, in the meantime, is to support him fully and enthusiastically when he does the right thing, so that he will continue in that direction, and send letters of advice and criticism whenever he falls short or caves in to predatory vested interests...

A very clear explanation from tiellis.  It is our calling to create the conversations that power a public discussion and ultimately a social movement that allows even urges Obama to act in the interests of Earth community.  He has said as much.  We are the change we seek.  Change will not come from the top down, but from the bottom up.  We have a powerful ally in Washington, thank God, but he needs us to create true change.  Lincoln did not enter the White House a committed abolitionist.  Rather, it took a powerfully spiritually-rooted abolitionist movement to lead him to action.

Obama has been president for a week and we are beginning to see how he will approach governing.  There is reason for both hope and concern.  He has ordered the closing of GITMO, but not for a year.  He has banned torture, but allowed wiggle room for enhanced interrogation techniques in special cases.  He has lifted the gag order on international family planning programs, but is trying to get Democrats to remove funding for reproductive services for low income people in the U.S. from their proposed economic recovery legislation.

 

He has put enormous pressure on the US auto industry to raise fuel efficiency and lower emissions by allowing states to set CO2 emission standards apart from federal standards.  But he faces enormous pressure within his party on reducing emissions from the coal and oil industries.  See today's NY Times, Geography is Dividing Democrats Over Environmental Policy.  He has been a big supporter of the oxymoronic 'clean coal,' as well as corn ethanol and soy biodiesel, huge industries in his state of Illinois.  But he has made clear the the US will be very present in the Copenhagan process.  He is aware that we are running out of time on climate change, and this is a good thing.  He said yesterday, "We will no longer deny science, we will be guided by it."

 

So, we have this mixed bag.  We have an extremely intelligent man, sensitive to many issues we care about.  But always in politics, what is required is 'movements,' vibrant, unified, focused movements, that can move the political culture.  For 8 years, the US had a government impervious to pressures from 'below.'  That has changed.  There is cause for concern, reason for skepticism, but not yet reason to pre-judge.  How far Obama goes will depend a great deal on how far his base is able to push him to go.

Mike, you sound really fed up!  As am I... Take heart.  If we have no hope it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Celeste Froehlich, mother of two, activist & social worker.  I am becoming more and more inspired (by the work of Joanna Macy, David Korten, and my own guiding light) to dedicate myself to the Great Turning for the sake of my children, all our children.  I trust newcomers usually receive words of welcome rather than mistrust =)... No hard feelings.  As to my username, that is the culture of the boards I am used to... perhaps I'll reconsider it.

 

I too was very angry at Obama's cabinet picks.  It was a big disappointment after working so hard volunteering for his campaign.  Still I think we have to understand that he is a politician weighing many goods including keeping his democratic colleagues in office two years from now, and himself in office in 4.  It may mean the difference between two radical, but ineffective years, or 8 less radical, but ultimately more effective ones.

 

I've become somewhat disillusioned about how much Obama can or will accomplish right now, but I recently attended a conference called Radical Abundance with David Korten, Majora Carter and others.  That really lifted my spirits!  Korten is the embodiment of faith and hope that defies all odds, and I realized that as foolish as it is to hope given the evidence, I would be even more foolish not to.  We have to become the embodiment of hope and not waste a moment in creating the conversations that will move the public discussion forward and ultimately push Obama to the change we seek!

I don't have much to add to my original post, other than warning of the danger of misguided idealism that flips over into self-validating cynicism and poisonous denunciation at the first hint of compromise from elected leaders.

 

Get real, folks!  Can't you see that if Obama did EVERYTHING we want him to do, right away, he would give Rush Limbaugh and the Rabid Right exactly the red meat they crave to smear him as a commie, a terrorist-sympathizer, and a threat to "true Americans."  They are pursuing this path of hatred anyway--it is in their nature--but they are losing ground, precisely because Obama has been, and continues to be, resistant to their smears, simply because of the decency and fair-mindedness he demonstrates, by which he neutralizes their hatred.

 

So again, when he does things with which we disagree--which, as a political leader constrained by powerful interests, he must and will, our job is simply to tell him so, and tell him why he should change his approach. Conversely, when he does something right, which he already has and will continue to do, we should support him enthusiastically, and write letters to the editor refuting the vicious smears of the Rabid Right that will inevitably follow.  As Obama himself said, citing another master politician (Roosevelt), if we want him to do something we must "make him do it."

 

But to expect the impossible is to remain permanently embittered and disillusioned. No thanks.