Some progressives seem to sound paranoid about the future and look dimly ahead sensing loss as if disenfranchised with each new Obama transition announcement. If we are going to form, join and assist a nation of our own bottom up choosing, we may need to adopt a more positive and centrist attitude. Trading the far right for the far left may not be a lurch that serves us well if we are going to depend on cooperation of the...

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Some progressives seem to sound paranoid about the future and look dimly ahead sensing loss as if disenfranchised with each new Obama transition announcement.  If we are going to form, join and assist a nation of our own bottom up choosing, we may need to adopt a more positive and centrist attitude.  

Trading the far right for the far left may not be a lurch that serves us well if we are going to depend on cooperation of the entire political spectrum to get out of the economic, health care, political and military jams we are in now.  We will have to move to the center, let's face it.  We did not win this election because progressives came out in great numbers to phone bank, canvass, enter data or work as volunteers in the Obama campaign.  Although helpful, progressives were joined by numerous partisans of  other stripes to create a broad constituency of significance.  Collectively, we voted for a change in our national interest.  We could not have won this election if we depended on progressives alone.

I am having a tough time as some of my fellow progressives insist now that this election outcome is our sole mandate.  The numbers speak for themselves and they do not show a progressive shift to the left.  They do vindicate a campaign to create a change in the way different  partisans collaborate across ideologies.

 You can always spot an article written by someone with no door to door canvassing, phone banking or data entry experience grieving the transition exercise.  Anyone who walked the walk would know that door to door this administration owes a debt of gratitude to many who would surprise the pollsters.  

Among the most ardent supporters of change are those with no previous interest in elections and/or those with a strong conservative bent who made up their minds to work hard for change and for Obama.  Others were influenced by those who did volunteer work and made up their minds in the voting booth at the last minute thus placing our common welfare above all other political considerations.

This election belongs to a cross section of Democrats, Independents, Republicans, Infrequent Voters, First-time voters who never voted in the past and young people who would not have voted if it were not for the Obama Campaign.  

Almost  every interest group gave Obama support that made it possible for him to win against impossible odds, notwithstanding their affiliations with groups of their own choosing.  This paradigm shift is something  we would not suspect possible prior to this election.  Voters exchanged  their loyalties to be loyal to a change in their long standing affiliations and beliefs.

Now, as Obama studies and weaves his coalition and makes transition decisions, a government for the people, of the people and by the people is forming.  It behooves all of us to support our newly formed coalition and help create a unified agenda that reflects the interests of this  constituency of significance.

Allen McQuarrie,  A Fox Hole Volunteer

Authors Bio:

Allen McQuarrie is a local resident of Doylestown Township. He has been an active non-partisan grassroots volunteer, co-chair and member of PRO-ACT serving the addiction recovery community in Bucks County for the last ten years. He is a retired field representative for leadership development, formerly employed by New Jersey Education Association for thirty years. He began his career as a middle school science teacher. He was recruited to work for a year in the Poverty Program during its inception by a research and training corporation, Scientific Resources Incorporated. The corporation pioneered Head Start, teacher aid programs and workforce development programs for inner city students.



He has also served as a board member of the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission and has been recently appointed to the Traffic Advisory Committee by the Doylestown Township Board of Supervisors. Allen most recently worked as a volunteer for the local Barack Obama primary campign and for the Patrick Murphy general election campaign. He has been a member of the Sierra club since 2002.