Four Years Later, me and Obama
In 2009, we went to a friend’s house for the inauguration of President Barack Obama and his family into the White House. We dressed up, we surrounded ourself with like-minded friends, and we danced and hollered the night away riding the high of Obama’s HOPE dream.
This year, for the inauguration of Obama’s second term, I went to D.C. with friends to stand outside in the mall and witness it up close and personal with over 800,000 others. This was short of the 1.8 million who stood there four years ago in 11 degree weather, but it still had a feeling of community and hope. Obama pointedly referred in his speech to gays, to climate change, and to gun control and there wasn’t a person nearby who was not saying Amen over and over as he spoke.
In four years, little has changed and enormous things have changed. I had hoped that I would enlarge my heart’s view to accommodate another person’s differing viewpoint and I found in the end that I couldn’t – I couldn’t compromise my values nor assume someone else’s. Similarly, Obama bulldozed the health care reform through but had to leave behind the humane pieces of it that was his true aim because he was ramrodded by such fierce opposition to his beliefs that the entire plan was almost left for roadkill. At the same time, while Obama was in the White House, I built my vanity house but learned too late I clung too fast to a vision whose time had passed, but I wasn’t flexible enough to accommodate the new time and so now I’ve thrown the whole dream under the bus because of my foolish intransigence. Obama was able to evolve on his views of gay rights, gun control and immigration. I was able too, to evolve from seeing the walls close in around me, to finally seeing doors that lead to new dreams and a new vision, to starting over, yet again.
Me and Obama, four years later, older, wiser, bent but not broken, still ready to walk across the threshold one more time, with less than innocent hope.
January 24th, 2013 at 2:01 pm
I’m waiting to see a picture in your gown for the inaugaral ball so I can live vicariously through your experience. Please post. I’m sure you looked smashing.
January 25th, 2013 at 9:39 am
We ended up not having enough tickets for everyone and so didn’t go to a single ball that we had put on our list. And so we thought, we’d put on our ball gowns and wear them to the party we were attending and by the time we had arrived home, we were exhausted from walking around all over the place and back and so we didn’t wear them yet again. When I returned I told my friend who lent me the dress and she said, “Damn, I wanted to see pictures.” So I’m returning it to her on Sunday and if I have the wherewithal between now and then I will dress up and take a photo and post it!