Four years ago, I felt called to a mission to raise the alarm about just what it was that was happening to America with that Bushite regime. I wanted people to be able to SEE THE EVIL at work here: This is not God’s anointed, I wanted his conservative supporters to recognize, he and his gang are wolves in the sheep’s clothing of false righteousness. It's not just bad politics, I wanted liberals to understand, it is the really dark thing.
And now I find I’m called to a different, but kindred mission: to try to help people see the GOODNESS THAT BARACK OBAMA REPRESENTS.
I believe that --just as I saw into the heart of darkness of the Bushites, and could perceive the vast array of destructive forces behind this regime, its truly dark heart-- so also I have a profound sense of having seen powerful GOODNESS at work in Barack Obama.
I believe I've seen the nature of our new president’s heart and spirit, and he is the real deal. He's not perfect, but he's put an unusually wide and deep array of good stuff together—he’s a piece of work in the best sense.
It seems as clear as can be that he sees his job as being to work to make things better. He's got a moral vision about human possibilities, and he's dedicated to serving that vision.
That's what I see, and that's what I feel now called to present.
I will remain open to having my vision disproved. I don't say that there might not be more wrong with him than I've perceived. I may end up getting disappointed.
But I have a CONVICTION about this belief. And it makes me feel that it's worthwhile to present what I see.
The moral purpose of the mission has not changed, but the work has shifted from that of OPPOSING Evil to SUPPORTING Goodness.
My website is called NoneSoBlind, from the old English churchman’s saying, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” I’m not sure that those who do not see Obama’s goodness suffer from such willful blindness. But I do read many on the progressive side, at least, who seem to me unable to see what’s before their eyes—hindered apparently by unrealistic notions, ungrounded in strategic insight, of how a wise and good leader would move this country in good and healing directions.
Obama’s strategies are not always what mine would be, but I believe I understand his strategies, and respect them, and indeed believe his approach is probably more politically effective than mine would be.
If I’m right about Obama, if my conviction of his goodness is well-founded, then my interpretation could be of service to progressive-minded people who are troubled or entirely disillusioned by how Obama has proceeded.
This new phase of my mission then feels rather different from the earlier phase. Now, unlike when I felt impelled four years ago to raise the alarm to my countrymen, I'm THE BEARER OF GOOD NEWS. Just as the Bushites were extraordinary in their will and capacity to darken human affairs --with war and ignorance and division and sadism and corruption and lies-- so also (the GOOD NEWS IS) is Obama showing promise of being extraordinarily capable to lighten those affairs with the opposites of all those things.
If I am right, then the more we the American people can see it and thus lend our force to helping him achieving his vision, the better. His success is not just up to him, but to the whole country.
And the more we embrace this Good News, the better we all will feel. For wouldn’t it be a wonderful feeling to have confidence in the goodness and the judgment of our new, deeply visionary, and GOOD leader? Wouldn't it feel great to be able –for a change—if, instead of feeling anxiety that maybe our hopes will be disappointed, that maybe Obama isn't such a big deal after all, just another pol, we felt able to celebrate what's happening in our world?
Such hope seems to me entirely warranted.
