We could have had it all, America, but we squandered Barack Obama.
For the last eight years, the country has been led by a man guided by ethics, conviction, intelligence and humor. With all the possibilities that offered, though, he was never challenged by ideas and policy but by relentless racism and spiteful party politics.
What a waste.
Amidst a country unknowingly on the precipice of ruin, Obama came to Aurora about 10 years ago, with a message targeted at a country disillusioned by the Bush Administration: Yes we can. It became a meme for nothing and everything, but as he stood on East Colfax Avenue, basking in glow of liberals enthralled by his message of hope and change, it seemed America really could. We could end an ill-gotten war in Iraq that had spun completely out of control. We could find a way to reign in health-care costs and end the tyranny of health-insurance companies. We could push beyond eons of racism. We could end the ridiculous battle over illegal immigration that has only one solution. We could end the senseless, legalized discrimination against gays. We could preserve our planet from environmental ruin pragmatically.
As Obama’s message gained speed and strength while he pushed toward the White House, the nation’s economics began to come apart at the seams. Just weeks before Obama got the keys to the country, economic Armageddon. Massive amounts of sub-prime mortgage failures leveraged by the unregulated shadow banking system caused a virtual run on those banks. When the gargantuan failure of Lehman Brothers set off a chain reaction that nearly sunk Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, America stood at the precipice of financial ruin, just like it did during the Great Depression. Layoffs caused layoffs. Aurora and the rest of the country were thick with mortgage foreclosures. The economy here and across the world nose dived.
Suffering from some weird kind of economic amnesia, we have forgotten how dangerous 2009 was when Obama took office. The country saved the banks and the banking system, bailing out rich people and institutions who deserved relief only because all our survival depended on theirs. We bailed out General Motors and Chrysler. By 2010, the national unemployment rate reached a staggering 10 percent. Places like the Rust Belt, already in turmoil from the decades-long demise of manufacturing, were decimated by job loss.
But rather than pulling together to fight economic disaster, much of the country was consumed by whether Obama was a Muslim, born in the United States or ate the heads off of kittens. He was mocked for his intellectualism. The leaders of the so-called tea-party cannibalized the remnants of Republican Party leadership, vowing to fight Obama and Democrats on every front, no matter the cost.
I and many like me were just as much to blame. I was incensed that Obama would take the high road when faced with obstructionist Congressional leaders. I wanted hardball tactics that would create a “public option” inside the Obamacare reforms. I wanted a huge public works program to create jobs and re-ignite the national economy. I wanted huge sanctions inflicted on Wall Street and the shadow banks that created our quagmire. And each time, as Obama capitulated to tea party bullies, refusing to beat them at their own game, I’d shake my head.
But now, 10 years later, the banking system is stable. Unemployment is normal, and in metro Aurora, it’s s job-seekers’ paradise. Gay and lesbian Americans have the closest thing to equal rights they’ve ever had, We no longer fight a ridiculous cold war with Cuba, tens of millions of Americans have health insurance who didn’t have it before. And, until recently, we had regained the respect of civilized nations setting a path for the world, and taken our position at the head of the table.
A little more than a decade ago, this newspapers angered many at city hall and inside the Aurora Police Department by taking a long and provocative look at the relationship between black residents and white police officers. Now, Aurora police lead their own introspective efforts. Openly gay soldiers at Buckley Air Force Base are a non-issue.
So much more could have been done. If we’d taken up the fight against the tea-partiers for Obama, we could have had that public option inside the Affordable Care Act. We could have legislated inevitable immigration reform. We could have worked to shore up Social Security.
Even though so much was actually gained, it was an amazing opportunity lost. Above all, however, Obama gave us the certainty that even against the worst of times and obstinate foes, yes we can, and, yes, we will.
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