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Why Was Obama Shellacked?
Nov 14, 2010
Two years ago, in the fall of 2008, over a million citizen activists of all ethnic groups, mostly young people, often accompanied by middle-aged or elderly independents, went door to door, urging voters to go to the polls and elect Barach Obama to the White House.
We/they did this because we believed and hoped that this charismatic black man could bring about the transformational changes we urgently need at this time on the clock of the world when the U.S. pursuit of unlimited economic growth has reached its social and ecological limits.
In 2010, despite the impassioned appeals of Barack, Michelle and Democratic Party stalwarts, many of us didn't even go to the polls ourselves on November 2, let alone urge others to do so. Ralph Nader estimates there were 28 million NoShows.
We need to probe the lessons of this experience, shared by many millions directly or indirectly.
The main lesson, I believe, is that the tremendous changes we now need and yearn for in our daily lives and in the direction of our country cannot come from those in power or by putting pressure on those in power.
We ourselves have to foreshadow or prefigure them from the ground up.
Civil and Voting rights for blacks didn't come from the White House or from masses demonstrating in front of the White House. They came after the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-6, the Freedom Rides in 1961, the 1963 Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Mississippi Freedom Summer and Freedom Schools, and the 1964 Selma to Montgomery March.
In other words, they came only after hundreds of thousands of black Americans and their white supporters had accepted the challenge and risks of ourselves making or becoming the changes we/they want to see in the world.
Women's leadership in the public sphere didn't come from the White House or from CEOs. It came only after millions of women came together in small consciousness-raising groups to share stories of our "second sex" lives.
Today's good news is that Americans in all walks of life have begun to create another America from the ground up in many unforeseen ways.
Tens of thousands of community gardens are being planted by urban farmers to provide a healthy alternative to the processed foods promoted by agribusiness and transported thousands of miles in gas-guzzling trucks.
Veterans of our illegal Mideast wars and mothers like Cindy Sheehan are joining long time peace activists in making clear that there are no military solutions to our complex foreign pollcy issues.
In communities all over the country concerned parents, teachers and schoolkids are reinventing education because they recognize that in order to solve both the schools and the urban crisis, we need the energies and imaginations of our young people. So we/they have been discovering ways to connect learning to place and community.
In crime and violence-torn cities residents are turning war zones into peace zones by bringing the neighbor back into the hood.
Last June more than 15,000 people came to the 2nd USSF because they recognized that "Another World is Necessary, Another World is Possible". Arriving in Detroit they were surprised and delighted to discover that "Another world is actually happening" at the grassroots level.
If Obama had come to the 2nd USSF tin June, he might have been respirited by these new grassroots energies and avoided his recent shellacking.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs (1925-2015) was an activist and community organizer for more than 60 years and is the author of the autobiography "Living for Change: An Autobiography" and, with Scott Kurashige, "The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century."
Two years ago, in the fall of 2008, over a million citizen activists of all ethnic groups, mostly young people, often accompanied by middle-aged or elderly independents, went door to door, urging voters to go to the polls and elect Barach Obama to the White House.
We/they did this because we believed and hoped that this charismatic black man could bring about the transformational changes we urgently need at this time on the clock of the world when the U.S. pursuit of unlimited economic growth has reached its social and ecological limits.
In 2010, despite the impassioned appeals of Barack, Michelle and Democratic Party stalwarts, many of us didn't even go to the polls ourselves on November 2, let alone urge others to do so. Ralph Nader estimates there were 28 million NoShows.
We need to probe the lessons of this experience, shared by many millions directly or indirectly.
The main lesson, I believe, is that the tremendous changes we now need and yearn for in our daily lives and in the direction of our country cannot come from those in power or by putting pressure on those in power.
We ourselves have to foreshadow or prefigure them from the ground up.
Civil and Voting rights for blacks didn't come from the White House or from masses demonstrating in front of the White House. They came after the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-6, the Freedom Rides in 1961, the 1963 Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Mississippi Freedom Summer and Freedom Schools, and the 1964 Selma to Montgomery March.
In other words, they came only after hundreds of thousands of black Americans and their white supporters had accepted the challenge and risks of ourselves making or becoming the changes we/they want to see in the world.
Women's leadership in the public sphere didn't come from the White House or from CEOs. It came only after millions of women came together in small consciousness-raising groups to share stories of our "second sex" lives.
Today's good news is that Americans in all walks of life have begun to create another America from the ground up in many unforeseen ways.
Tens of thousands of community gardens are being planted by urban farmers to provide a healthy alternative to the processed foods promoted by agribusiness and transported thousands of miles in gas-guzzling trucks.
Veterans of our illegal Mideast wars and mothers like Cindy Sheehan are joining long time peace activists in making clear that there are no military solutions to our complex foreign pollcy issues.
In communities all over the country concerned parents, teachers and schoolkids are reinventing education because they recognize that in order to solve both the schools and the urban crisis, we need the energies and imaginations of our young people. So we/they have been discovering ways to connect learning to place and community.
In crime and violence-torn cities residents are turning war zones into peace zones by bringing the neighbor back into the hood.
Last June more than 15,000 people came to the 2nd USSF because they recognized that "Another World is Necessary, Another World is Possible". Arriving in Detroit they were surprised and delighted to discover that "Another world is actually happening" at the grassroots level.
If Obama had come to the 2nd USSF tin June, he might have been respirited by these new grassroots energies and avoided his recent shellacking.
Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs (1925-2015) was an activist and community organizer for more than 60 years and is the author of the autobiography "Living for Change: An Autobiography" and, with Scott Kurashige, "The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century."
Two years ago, in the fall of 2008, over a million citizen activists of all ethnic groups, mostly young people, often accompanied by middle-aged or elderly independents, went door to door, urging voters to go to the polls and elect Barach Obama to the White House.
We/they did this because we believed and hoped that this charismatic black man could bring about the transformational changes we urgently need at this time on the clock of the world when the U.S. pursuit of unlimited economic growth has reached its social and ecological limits.
In 2010, despite the impassioned appeals of Barack, Michelle and Democratic Party stalwarts, many of us didn't even go to the polls ourselves on November 2, let alone urge others to do so. Ralph Nader estimates there were 28 million NoShows.
We need to probe the lessons of this experience, shared by many millions directly or indirectly.
The main lesson, I believe, is that the tremendous changes we now need and yearn for in our daily lives and in the direction of our country cannot come from those in power or by putting pressure on those in power.
We ourselves have to foreshadow or prefigure them from the ground up.
Civil and Voting rights for blacks didn't come from the White House or from masses demonstrating in front of the White House. They came after the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-6, the Freedom Rides in 1961, the 1963 Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Mississippi Freedom Summer and Freedom Schools, and the 1964 Selma to Montgomery March.
In other words, they came only after hundreds of thousands of black Americans and their white supporters had accepted the challenge and risks of ourselves making or becoming the changes we/they want to see in the world.
Women's leadership in the public sphere didn't come from the White House or from CEOs. It came only after millions of women came together in small consciousness-raising groups to share stories of our "second sex" lives.
Today's good news is that Americans in all walks of life have begun to create another America from the ground up in many unforeseen ways.
Tens of thousands of community gardens are being planted by urban farmers to provide a healthy alternative to the processed foods promoted by agribusiness and transported thousands of miles in gas-guzzling trucks.
Veterans of our illegal Mideast wars and mothers like Cindy Sheehan are joining long time peace activists in making clear that there are no military solutions to our complex foreign pollcy issues.
In communities all over the country concerned parents, teachers and schoolkids are reinventing education because they recognize that in order to solve both the schools and the urban crisis, we need the energies and imaginations of our young people. So we/they have been discovering ways to connect learning to place and community.
In crime and violence-torn cities residents are turning war zones into peace zones by bringing the neighbor back into the hood.
Last June more than 15,000 people came to the 2nd USSF because they recognized that "Another World is Necessary, Another World is Possible". Arriving in Detroit they were surprised and delighted to discover that "Another world is actually happening" at the grassroots level.
If Obama had come to the 2nd USSF tin June, he might have been respirited by these new grassroots energies and avoided his recent shellacking.
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