Obama's Trickle-Down Equanimity

The other day I noticed that my husband had for the tenth time ruined the slick seasoned surface of my cast-iron skillet by scrubbing it with Brillo. I started to get ticked off, building up a tiny tornado of fury; boy, am I ever going to tell him. Again.

But then I thought, Would Obama let this get to him? That tall cool drink o' distilled water would never blast Michelle for a domestic faux-pas like this, but here I am going ballistic because my spouse tried to clean a pot? Then poof! (or plouffe!): my anger was gone.

Not to get all hagiographic about it, much less to liken the President-elect to "The One" (the name the McCainiac right sarcastically used to paint him as the false Messiah), but Barack Obama's calm, nonreactionary response to the worst that politics and economics can throw at him has begun to establish a new emotional policy: trickle-down equanimity.

If Obama could forgive Lieberman, if he could make Hillary his secretary of state, if he can now refuse to vilify Bush, Paulson, and the entire GOP-enabled greed machine for destroying lives and the economy, then surely I could let my anger over petty slights melt away.

Not that it isn't in Obama's realpolitick interest to forgive Lieberman (who's now Joe the Beholden), to remove Hillary from the Senate, where she could have stymied his agenda, or in general to kill the Republicans with love. But he is the greatest global advertisement for the Zen-like detachment needed to see both the large picture and the smallness of the immediate gripe.

This isn't at all to suggest that we shouldn't criticize Obama's moves. While his "centrist" choices for the cabinet don't particularly bother me, his lack, so far, of prominent progressives does. Still, as American Prospect co-editor Robert Kuttner said on ABC's This Week, it'd be far better if Obama's economic team included "someone who really believes deeply that casino capitalism is a menace.... however, at the same time, every time I second-guessed Obama in the campaign, he was right, and I was wrong."

No-Drama Obama, the Better-Angel Guy--however we frame Obama's patient, reasonable disposition, it's gradually slowing down some of our knee-jerks. A usually road-raging friend of mine tells me that recently "Someone was going too slow, and I was all ready with my F-bombs, but"--Obama news was on the radio at the time--"I stopped them."

Such interventions of Obamian goodness are fleeting, which potentially makes them all the more market-ready. (WWOD?--What Would Obama Do?--hoodies are selling online for the ripoff price of $75.) And they're a tad embarrassing. As a blog commenter, Bittersweet Girl, says of the future POTUS, "he's a guy without highs or lows but a generally steady middle....I'm also trying to be more like Obama in my life. I know it's cheesy but, WWOD?"

But try this for embarrassing: For the last eight years, I've more than occasionally given up on slightly difficult tasks, blithely run up my credit card debts, knowingly thrown logic to the side, and didn't bother to talk so good, all the time telling myself, If Bush got to be president by being an incompetent, no-good wastrel, then surely I could loosen a standard or two or three.

Every president's character helps define the parameters of what you can and cannot get away with. They're not exactly role models (that's more a job for baseball players), but they patrol social mores like shepherding moons, keeping us all in our proper rings. As long as they're on TV a lot and the media magnify their every word and deed, our leaders inevitably take up four- or eight-year occupations of the mytho-religious space in our brains that links private behavior to public values.

And there can be an almost scriptural smack of justice to the exposure of these titans' moral failures. As the Times of London famously told it:

With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr. Sarkozy told Mr. Putin that the world would not accept the overthrow of Georgia's government. According to [Sarkozy's chief diplomatic adviser, Jean-David] Levitte, the Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. "I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls," Mr. Putin declared.

Mr. Sarkozy thought he had misheard. "Hang him?"--he asked.

"Why not?" Mr. Putin replied. "The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein."

Mr. Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: "Yes, but do you want to end up like Bush?" Mr. Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: "Ah--you have scored a point there."

Funny, but some time after Jesse Jackson fantasized about cutting off Obama's "nuts," he, too, must have decided that he didn't want to end up like Bush, because when we saw Jesse in Grant Park on election night, those were tears of history, not envy, streaming down his cheeks.

And have we ever seen anyone wield history as a shepherd's crook better than Barack Obama? The invocations of Abe Lincoln (senator from Illinois, Team of Rivals, even the better angels of our nature urged upon us by an emancipating ectomorph, etc.) have been masterful, like a sermon given from the mount where that shining city on a hill ought to be. Jesse, John McCain, maybe even Bush himself have been ever so subtly herded this past year out the door of history. Obama has grabbed us all by our hearts and minds.

Do we have the, uh, guts to follow?

Comments (21)

1. Follow?

   Whom?

   The Clintons? The Rubicons? The same Pentagon masters still in place post-inauguration?

   That doesn't take guts.

   That takes no brains.

   Irrational exuberance = death.

   Wars & more wars.

   Posted by sloper at 11/28/2008 @ 2:59pm

2. Rubicons = Rubincons.

   We're being scammed, yet again.

   The very least we should do is not fool ourselves.

   Again.

   Posted by sloper at 11/28/2008 @ 3:02pm

3. Posted by sloper at 11/28/2008 @ 3:02pm

   Aye, now we get to see the other side of that coin we've all been seeing for the past 8 years.

   People willing to suffer through government injustices and indignities because the Dem. leader is "cool".

   Sad.

   Posted by TexasFlood at 11/28/2008 @ 3:47pm

4. by TexasFlood at 11/28/2008 @ 3:47pm...

   It's not even the same coin.

   Obama's cool demeanor is just icing on the cake.

   He's smart enough to have made it as far as he has without 'daddy's hidden hand'... with his ideals intact...and he understands implicitly what the spirit of the constitution entails...

   ...and besides... he knows how to read and write.

   ...which means that we not going to be 'run' by underground heirarchies... so much...;^)

   I really enjoyed this article... I too feel that GWB is (has been) a terrible role model for our youth, for our men, and for our country... and yet I've been branded as a bad role model for publicly saying so.

   Posted by ttr at 11/28/2008 @ 4:48pm

5. One of my mentors... Bertrand Russell:

   ‘Ten Precepts for Freedom of Thought':

   1.) Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

   2.) Do not think it is worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

   3.) Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.

   4.) When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your partner or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

   5.) Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

   6.) Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

   7.) Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

   8.) Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

   9.) Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

   10.) Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

   Posted by ttr at 11/28/2008 @ 5:28pm

6. This article seems oddly...fawning. Granted Obama is so cool he makes cucumbers look like hellspawn, but to suggest he's gonna change our national character in such a profound manner strikes me as somewhat naive. Americans are pretty much brash fighters, we have been throughout our history. We might mellow out some if for no other reason than there isn't much choice after the Bush mishegas. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

   Posted by yutsano at 11/28/2008 @ 8:50pm

7. *You need to refill or your Kool-aid glass......for The Messiah's sake, not yours!

   Posted by HAPPYLonghorn at 11/28/2008 @ 10:34pm*

   You need to get over the fact that your side lost.

   Posted by yutsano at 11/28/2008 @ 10:54pm

8. Posted by HAPPYLonghorn at 11/28/2008 @ 11:06pm

   And you want to blame him for the recession...fascinating.

   Posted by yutsano at 11/28/2008 @ 11:15pm

9. I get it now. HAPPY is a Ferengi.

   Posted by yutsano at 11/28/2008 @ 11:41pm

10. You are so right, LS!! The Bush years have dumbed us down sooo much-why else would people have been willing to accept Sarah Palin as qualfied to be VP? I have been seeing alot of "Bushist" attitudes over the last 8 years. people who just don't care how they act or speak because of the extremely poor role model we have been given. I fully believe that the atttitude of the MSM to accept the fact that Republicans NEVER answer the question, and will either attack the opposition or change the topic, is a direct result of the Bush White House and ther example. When has it ever been OK up until now to not answer the question you are asked? When has it ever been OK for ignorance to be considered virtue? When has it ever been OK to lie, cheat, and steal with impunity? Only during the last 8 years. I chortled with delight over the Sarcozy story.

    Posted by oldintel at 11/29/2008 @ 10:48am

11. You are so right, LS!! The Bush years have dumbed us down sooo much-why else would people have been willing to accept Sarah Palin as qualfied to be VP? I have been seeing alot of "Bushist" attitudes over the last 8 years. people who just don't care how they act or speak because of the extremely poor role model we have been given. I fully believe that the atttitude of the MSM to accept the fact that Republicans NEVER answer the question, and will either attack the opposition or change the topic, is a direct result of the Bush White House and ther example. When has it ever been OK up until now to not answer the question you are asked? When has it ever been OK for ignorance to be considered virtue? When has it ever been OK to lie, cheat, and steal with impunity? Only during the last 8 years. I chortled with delight over the Sarcozy story.

    Posted by oldintel at 11/29/2008 @ 10:48am

12. You are so right, LS!! The Bush years have dumbed us down sooo much-why else would people have been willing to accept Sarah Palin as qualfied to be VP? I have been seeing alot of "Bushist" attitudes over the last 8 years. people who just don't care how they act or speak because of the extremely poor role model we have been given. I fully believe that the atttitude of the MSM to accept the fact that Republicans NEVER answer the question, and will either attack the opposition or change the topic, is a direct result of the Bush White House and ther example. When has it ever been OK up until now to not answer the question you are asked? When has it ever been OK for ignorance to be considered virtue? When has it ever been OK to lie, cheat, and steal with impunity? Only during the last 8 years. I chortled with delight over the Sarcozy story.

    Posted by oldintel at 11/29/2008 @ 10:48am

13. Oops-hit the rong key, sorr about the triple play. I also greatly appreciated TTR's posts-right on the money with Bertrand Russell. As for HappyL, you are soo wrong-UAW workers are not overpaid, they give great value for the money and if we had universal health care the big 3 wouldn't be in the situation they are in now. I fid it extremely amusing that in the 80's, when texas oilworkers were making $80 an hour, no one complained that the state of texas's biggest industry was giving its workers too much money-but the UAW takes a HUGE pay and benefits cut, and morons like you, who fail to find out the facts of the situation before diatribing on topics that have nothing to do with the article in discussion, can't even see that you are the perfect example of what LS was talking about!! Use your brain and stop mindlessly promoting the neocon agenda, we've had enough.

    Posted by oldintel at 11/29/2008 @ 10:57am

14. "Do we have the, uh, guts to follow"?

    How you ended the article was scary and it makes me think that perhaps this was a satire. This country is still a democracy, barely but, it is. What you're describing in this article is dictatorship. The beloved leader; WWOD. That's insane. I know that we're all very excited about the possibilities of an Obama administration however, we need to nip this follow-Obama-blindly in the bud. Here's why -- We, the liberals use our minds to solve problems and work collaboratively with people of like-minded and contrary opinions. We take pause to consider the consequences of our actions. We look at problems and evaluate them deciding if they are causes of a larger issue or a result of a culmination of problems. We, while acting on the solutions to obstacles, consider preventative measures to avoid such break downs in the future. We question, evaluate, cooperate, alleviate, and prevent problems as a community. It's our misguided, conservative brothers and sisters that have the, uh, guts to follow.

    Posted by OccidentalPeninsular at 11/29/2008 @ 2:53pm

15. > Obama has grabbed us all by our hearts and minds.

    Well, count me out, babe.

    And thanks for reviving, with your tra-la-la-ish style, the male chauvinist pig in me. \(^o^)/

    Posted by WWW at 11/29/2008 @ 10:10pm

16. We better get the guts to tell him where we want to go. We tell him where and he shows us the way. Isn't that how it's supposed to be. Oh and yeah, OBAMA NEEDS A PROTEST MOVEMENT.

    Posted by valiant at 11/30/2008 @ 12:18am

17. Wow great article and replies. Time to start accepting the new era of tolerance, the old fear and loathing stalwarts are losing their momentum fading fast in the light of a new day.

    Posted by dycel8r at 11/30/2008 @ 12:25pm

18. *OBAMA NEEDS A PROTEST MOVEMENT.

    Posted by valiant at 11/30/2008 @ 12:18am*

    Amen. It's called accountability. And if we don't act as citizens and do our civic duty to tell our leaders exactly what we want and expect from them then we abrogate that responsibility. I'm not going to protest anything yet simply because he hasn't really DONE anything. But we all need to hold his (and all our elected representatives) feet to the fire.

    Posted by yutsano at 11/30/2008 @ 8:33pm

19. The one thing I got out of this column was that we don't see our political opponents very clearly.

    Ms. Savan claims that McCain's jibe about "The One" was an attack on Obama. Really, this was an attack on his followers and the Mainstream Media. They were so eager to beleive that they projected their wildest fantasies onto Obama. This was a warning not to foolishly believe that a single person could make all your wishes come true.

    But I see also that my vison is blurred as well. We on the right often mock you lefties for only caring about intentions. It doesn't matter that the welfare policies of the '60s and '70s destroyed the black family and led to an out-of-wedlock birthrate of 70%. It doesn't matter than your "cure" made things ten times worse. The only thing that matters is that you meant well. You were trying to help and so the fact that you failed miserably is completely beside the point.

    Ms. Savan's husband was trying to help. He was cleaning the frying pan. His intentions were pure. If my characture of lefties were accurate, Ms. Savan would have praised his effort and then went out and bought a new frying pan and would have found a way to make the tax-payers foot the bill.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 12/01/2008 @ 09:01am

20. When has it ever been right not to answer the question asked? Not directly answering questions is what politicians do masterfully. I heard Hubert Humphrey explain how this works in 1968. A reporter chided him for failing to answer a question. Humphrey replied, "Look, you got to ask your question and I got to give my answer." That the answer was not responsive to the question was of no consequence to Hubert. More recently Joe Lieberman dodged some hard-ball questions being thrown at him as part of a skilled attempt to pin him down on some statements he made during the campaign. From my observations, good politicians have always ducked hard questions.

    Posted by jsens at 12/01/2008 @ 6:23pm

21. This is the type of garbage people in Russia when Stalin took power. The stuff the poor souls in North Korea are reading right now.

    Like most people here, I hated Bush&Co. from the beginning; but I was also delighted to see that the hatred they inspired was creating great opportunities for change. A surprising and delightful gift.

    One that is now being snuffed out, with full complicity from the Nation. This article is a disgrace.

    Some lines from Stephen Crane:

    "It is grand," they said; They loved the thing. Of a sudden, it moved: It came upon them swiftly; It crushed them all to blood.

    Posted by RUNUTS at 12/02/2008 @ 07:18am