I'm still reeling emotionally and doubt that it's a good time to write any analysis about what happened on Tuesday. There are an awful lot of bad takes pointing fingers - which is understandable, but ultimately not productive. Here's a twitter thread from Brad Bauman that I found helpful:
A lot of times we confuse fast with smart. Quick and simple answers at a moment when everyone is trying to make meaning of what’s happening and looking for something to do. We end up doing things that aren’t productive or counter productive when we move that quick.
Sometimes, the right answer is to sit in our pain; sit in our discomfort and feel it, rather than rush to answers or movement.
There will be a resistance, and all of us will be a part of it, individually and collectively.
Let’s take a moment and allow ourselves to process, to feel, to think about what truths arise and then let’s act.
As I "sit in my discomfort and feel it," Rebecca Solnit captured my reaction perfectly.
Our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we do. Our mistake was to see the joy, the extraordinary balance between idealism and pragmatism, the energy, the generosity, the coalition-building of the Kamala Harris campaign and think that it must triumph over the politics of lies and resentment. Our mistake was to think that racism and misogyny were not as bad as they are, whether it applied to who was willing to vote for a supremely qualified Black woman or who was willing to vote for an adjudicated rapist and convicted criminal who admires Hitler.
I literally cried as I read that. Here's how John Harwood put it:
If you’re accustomed, as I am, to believing that a critical mass of Americans embraces the values of freedom, pluralism, and common sense, the choice voters made defies comprehension. The arc of history in 2024 bent not toward justice, as Martin Luther King Jr. liked to say, but away from it.
Regular readers will know that I've always maintained that President Obama's speech at the 50th anniversary of the Selma march was the most important he's ever given. In it, he defined his view of America and the ideals we've embraced/fought for. VP Harris echoed that vision during her speech in Washington D.C. last week.
I’ve seen [the promise of America] in Americans, different in many respects, but united in our pursuit of freedom, our belief in fairness and decency and our faith in a better future...
Nearly 250 years ago, America was born when we wrested freedom from a petty tyrant. Across the generations, Americans have preserved that freedom, expanded it, and in so doing proved to the world that a government of, by, and for the people is strong and can endure. And those who came before us, the Patriots at Normandy and Selma, Seneca Falls, and Stonewall, on farmlands, and factory floors, they did not struggle, sacrifice and lay down their lives only to see us seed our fundamental freedoms.
They didn’t do that only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant.
These United States of America, we are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators. The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised, a nation big enough to encompass all our dreams, strong enough to withstand any fracture or fissure between us, and fearless enough to imagine a future of possibilities.So America, let us reach for that future. Let us fight for this beautiful country we love.And in 7 days, we have the power, each of you has the power to turn the page and start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.
Thank you Nancy. Thanks for sharing what's going on with you, and thanks for the reminder that, first of all, it's ok and even necessary sometimes to just sit with our pain, and second, and second, this is the WORST time for us to decide on "what happened." We're too raw, we're too incensed, we're too inside the bubble of pain and disbelief and feelings of betrayal.
ReplyDeleteIt's ok the theorize - mine has distilled down to a repeated phrase bouncing around my brain: why do men hate us so much? But it's more than just that, and I know it, and this week has not been the time to settle on a unified theory of how fascism won the day.
I'm outraged and hurt and worried and frightened. It's hard to sit with those feelings. It's harder, knowing what we know from the first Trump administration, and that this is likely to be worse. But here I am, and I'm unlikely to go anywhere, so damn, just gonna have to figure this shit out. Just not today.