Gary Younge: Obama was never going to have the room to effect radical change
[Gary Younge is a feature writer and columnist for the Guardian based in the US.]
In his book Where Do We Go from Here? Martin Luther King recalls the only time that he was booed at a meeting. His hecklers were young black power supporters. "Unfortunately, when hope diminishes the hate is often turned most bitterly towards those who originally built up the hope … For 12 years I, and others like me, had held out radiant promises of progress … They were now booing because they felt we were unable to deliver on our promises … They were now hostile because they were watching the dream they had so readily accepted now turn into a nightmare."
Barack Obama is no Martin Luther King. The former stood for election and now stands at the pinnacle of American power; the latter led a movement dedicated to challenging the power structure. King practised a politics that could not be accommodated within the electoral mainstream, Obama drew those into the electoral mainstream who had either given up on or never practised politics.
But for all their differences, both adopted goals, strategies and allies that were ultimately incapable of delivering the results their rhetoric had promised. When King was assassinated, his opposition to war, economic inequality and armed self-defence had left him a marginalised figure, abandoned by many white liberals and black radicals.
As the mid-term elections approach, Obama is struggling to renew the sense of optimism and ambition of two years ago and finds himself battling to keep both centrists and radicals on board. There are areas of the country where his presence on the stump would hinder rather than help; a handful of Democratic candidates are not just running against Republicans, but him. As Democrats prepare for a likely drubbing at the polls, the question many who backed him are asking is whether he raised their hopes too high or their expectations were unrealistic? The answer is neither...
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
In his book Where Do We Go from Here? Martin Luther King recalls the only time that he was booed at a meeting. His hecklers were young black power supporters. "Unfortunately, when hope diminishes the hate is often turned most bitterly towards those who originally built up the hope … For 12 years I, and others like me, had held out radiant promises of progress … They were now booing because they felt we were unable to deliver on our promises … They were now hostile because they were watching the dream they had so readily accepted now turn into a nightmare."
Barack Obama is no Martin Luther King. The former stood for election and now stands at the pinnacle of American power; the latter led a movement dedicated to challenging the power structure. King practised a politics that could not be accommodated within the electoral mainstream, Obama drew those into the electoral mainstream who had either given up on or never practised politics.
But for all their differences, both adopted goals, strategies and allies that were ultimately incapable of delivering the results their rhetoric had promised. When King was assassinated, his opposition to war, economic inequality and armed self-defence had left him a marginalised figure, abandoned by many white liberals and black radicals.
As the mid-term elections approach, Obama is struggling to renew the sense of optimism and ambition of two years ago and finds himself battling to keep both centrists and radicals on board. There are areas of the country where his presence on the stump would hinder rather than help; a handful of Democratic candidates are not just running against Republicans, but him. As Democrats prepare for a likely drubbing at the polls, the question many who backed him are asking is whether he raised their hopes too high or their expectations were unrealistic? The answer is neither...