Now that Obama supporters are through patting themselves on the back, they should consider the backlash. Any conscious person can see it coming. The Supremes ruled 6-3 for Obamacare. Party! The next day they ruled 5-4 for marriage equality. Illuminate the White House in rainbow colors!
Unfortunately, administration insiders are acutely oblivious. As children, chess apparently was not their game. Predicting the other side’s next moves – whether they’re Republicans are Russians – is completely off their radar.
Cognizance robs me of jubilance. Self-congratulations are not in order. As George W. Bush soon learned, “Mission Accomplished” can only be sustained by lasting results. Farsightedness before festivities, friends.
The Confederate flag was pulled down in several states last week. This week six African-American churches were burned to the ground. The backlash begins. KKK and spin-off hate groups aren’t the only ones responsible, but the wide scope of secretly latent racists across the U.S., not just the South.
Hate and ignorance seldom die; they just fade away over generations. No amount of de-programming can erase hundreds of years of societal mindset. I laugh when hearing, “Well, this is the 21st Century; the Millennials are the biggest generation now.” That’s about as simpleton as flat-earthers or climate deniers.
It’s impossible to measure the resistance among Evangelicals to anti-gay legislation and judicial pronouncements. But it runs deeper than any outside their religious bubble can imagine. The fear of serving wedding cakes or flowers at a gay wedding pales in comparison to their fear of sodomites taking over their country – and thus Satan himself has conquered the nation which once revered traditional Judeo-Christian values. “The founders wouldn’t have ever dreamed their Constitution would be abused to sanction two men or two women marrying. That’s legalized sodomy!” That’s how they see it, and it means total war – despite polls to the contrary.
Pollsters also forget that 100 million Americans call themselves “Evangelicals.” So, the backlash will be swift and much more powerful than the other side envisions. The Court’s ruling was more like a declaration of war.
President Obama’s speech at Charleston following the massacre was the best I’ve ever heard. It came from the heart. But were the religious right listening? Strom Thurmond’s son has turned a new leaf, but have they turned a deaf ear?
Delusion is an incurable disease. Despite all facts to the contrary, my acquaintances from yesteryears still stubbornly believe Obama is a Muslim-socialist-commie-alien imposter that plans to destroy America and set up Sharia law. He’s their Machiavellian candidate. No quantity nor quality of logic can persuade them otherwise.
Since they want to believe the worst, so what if what they’ve absorbed is baseless? The planet’s population may face near-extinction in a few decades due to climate change, but they’ll never believe it. Ask them. Their desire crushes the truth. Science is now on their “enemies list”.
The red-state configuration is alive and well – even after Obama’s perceived successful week.
The pessimist in me says, “With every silver lining, there’s got to be a dark cloud.” Given the fact this nation is saddled with a vindictive, hateful, anti-intellectual rightwing means that eventually they’ll take over again. After all, the rightwing is one-third to two-fifths of the country. The natural cycle of politics is the principal factor within itself. The customary pendulum swings between parties. And when they do, the backlash won’t just be churches burning, but repeals and executive orders that’ll make progressives’ hair stand up.
Opening an embassy in Havana may be short-lived if Republicans take over as foreseen. Don’t uncork your bottles of champagne just yet.
I can’t think of a worst outcome to Obama’s legacy than for the opposing party to take over all three branches in 2016. The backlash will be bigger than the breakthroughs.
Progressives can only hope and strive to elect Hillary Clinton. She’s the only egg in the basket. “Obi-Wan Kenobi”. There must be that sense of urgency from the left to offset the hateful backlash from the right.
Do progressives tolerate Hillary Clinton enough to make it happen?