Let America Be America Again
Posted by
KTK
The wingnut brigade is falling over itself today because Michelle Obama is proud of her country. They think it’s a bad thing. Specifically, Obama said:
[F]or the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I’ve seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it’s made me proud.
They can’t stand the implication that she hasn’t had much to feel proud of in the past. Naturally they think that’s her fault, and naturally they’re ginning up their slavering noise machine, complete with screaming Drudge headlines and oleaginous crap from repulsive loons like John Podhoretz and Michelle Malkin.
But, really, what is questionable, or even surprising, about such a sentiment? What decent American hasn’t been frustrated and disappointed by the country’s many inequities, its many failures to make good on its own promise, and the repeated disasters engendered by lack of decency among its leadership? Who hasn’t been hungry for the chance to claim the birthright of true equality, true freedom, and political and material largesse that America portends, without making excuses or sweeping historical travesties and abuses under the rug? And for black Americans especially, who but a fool would imagine that the American dream and promise has been anything but a mockery of partial fulfillment and cynical denial? If you have any decency or sympathy at all, how can you not feel unsatisfied with America’s halting and incomplete fulfillment of its promise?
[more after the jump]
Langston Hughes said it brilliantly:
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed –
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where
Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”) . . .O, let America be America again–
The land that never has been yet–
And yet must be — the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine–the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME–
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.Sure, call me any ugly name you choose–
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath–
America will be!Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain–
All, all the stretch of these great green states–
And make America again!
Obama has said nothing more than Hughes - and she is just as right as him, and, sadly, America’s dream is almost, though not quite, as much deferred today as it was for him. But Obama claims that she sees what Hughes could not, and that America is now seeking the change that Hughes vowed would come. That is a bold statement of faith in the country, and a remarkable affirmation - that America has now earned the pride of living up to its ideals. Frankly, I don’t know that I’d go that far - but the wingers explode into shrieking rage at the mere suggestion that pride even has to be earned. (I suppose a lifetime of smug self-satisfaction and unearned privilege will do that to you.)
To the right wing, the mere suggestion that there is anything to improve about America is, literally, treason. The idea that there are Americans who have been left behind, let alone ill-treated by design and by neglect, and still more that they should have the “audacity of hope” for better treatment, is likewise a blasphemy. And so the fact that some can take pride in the coming of better days for America is hateful to them, because it rightly implies that the former days of exclusionary, triumphalist indulgence by the right wing are less than an American apotheosis. They hate Obama for demanding that America live up to its ideals, and earn her allegiance; really, they hate those ideals, and anyone who would take them seriously.
“The wingnut brigade is falling over itself today because Michelle Obama is proud of her country.”
That’s not what see said. Even as is quoted later in your post, she said that for the first time in her adult life she is really proud of her country. There is a difference.
I hope we don’t get a first lady who has never been really proud of the country before now. She should be proud of a country that gave her the opportunity to be in the top 1% of household incomes in the country. She should be proud of a country where she could attend private schools that would give her great opportunities. There are many other things she should be really proud of in her country. It speaks volumes about her that she does not.
Comment 2/19/2008
[…] Lean Left defends Michelle Obama’s pronouncement that she was proud of America “for the first time in [her] adult lifetime”: To the right wing, the mere suggestion that there is anything to improve about America is, literally, treason. The idea that there are Americans who have been left behind, let alone ill-treated by design and by neglect, and still more that they should have the “audacity of hope” for better treatment, is likewise a blasphemy. And so the fact that some can take pride in the coming of better days for America is hateful to them, because it rightly implies that the former days of exclusionary, triumphalist indulgence by the right wing are less than an American apotheosis. They hate Obama for demanding that America live up to its ideals, and earn her allegiance; really, they hate those ideals, and anyone who would take them seriously. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Pingback 2/19/2008
“To the right wing, the mere suggestion that there is anything to improve about America is, literally, treason.”
Hogwash! We would love to improve America by defeating liberals.
Comment 2/19/2008
There’s a difference between ‘this country has done things that disappoint and frustrate me’ and ‘this country has never done anything I approve of’. Refusing to acknowledge our strengths is just as bad as refusing to acknowledge our faults.
Comment 2/19/2008
Stormy:
You are right that there is a difference between being proud of the country now and never believing there was anything good about it before, but I don’t think that was what Obama was saying.
In saying she is “proud of my country” for the first time, I don’t think she was saying she never previously believed there was anything good about it. Some commentators have responded as if that’s what she meant - Podhoretz listed several liberal triumphs as things to be proud of, and Morris lists having an income in the top 1% of the population* - apparently in the belief that, in saying she was proud of the country now, she meant she wasn’t proud of, or didn’t approve of, those things that had happened within the country at any time before.
I think Obama is implicitly offering “pride” as a deeper and more-encompassing stance. For her, it is not enough that America has sometimes moved in the direction of its own ideals for her to take pride in it. (And, contra Podhoretz, the Civil Rights Movement is shaky ground for pride in America as a country, inasmuch as it represents the triump of the decent minority of Americans over the statutorily enacted, entrenched, and violent and often murderous indecency of the majority.) She apparently wants to believe that America is truly defined by its ideals, or that they are the substance of what it means to be American - or at least that the country has awakened to the gap between its ideals and its reality and is moving to close that gap (which may be what she means in saying “I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction”). From that perspective, you can certainly acknowledge the good in certain aspects of America, or certain moments of its past, while still feeling that it has not earned real pride in its sum and totality as a nation. (And is even Podhoretz such a dumbass as to imagine that Michelle Obama doesn’t approve of the Civil Rights Movement, or the election of the first black female Senator? If not, why can’t he grasp that she could still see a difference between those specific events and the history and substance of America overall?)
I presume Obama does approve of, and maybe take some satisfaction in, the many good things about America. Certainly she has said nothing that suggests she refuses to acknowledge them. But it requires no more than the most minimal observational powers to discern that they are in every case bordered and limited by inequities and oppressions that stain the nation and belie its ideals. It would be grossly unAmerican to take pride in much of America’s past. That Obama can take pride in its unfolding future is an act of optimism on her part that does her credit.
* Not exactly an achievement of the US as a nation, since there would always be somebody in that category no matter what the country was like, but whatever.
Comment 2/19/2008
It’s a campaign speech. And, she said “really proud” which is much different from saying just proud. Especially in light of the context of the speech, it is clear what her intent was.
I’m not overly proud of a country that has over 20% of its children living in poverty - the highest rate of any “developed” country.
I’m not overly proud of a country that consistently ranks at the bottom of industrialized countries in health care.
I’m not overly proud of a country that leads the world in pollution.
I’m not overly proud of a country with the highest murder rate of any industrialized country.
I’m not overly proud of a country that fails to educate its children at a level comparable with other industrialized countries.
By many quantitative measures, we are not “the greatest nation on earth” and once we realize that maybe we can take some positive action to move us in that direction.
Comment 2/19/2008
Ted:
Well said. Although I’m not sure we still lead the world in pollution, unless you mean on a per-capita basis. In absolute figures, if China and India haven’t passed us yet, they will soon.
As a side note, I’d bet over 95% of the people who insist America is “the greatest nation on earth” haven’t spent much more than a few weeks anywhere else, and would thus have literally no basis for comparison. Lewis Black’s Broadway performance has a great bit on this issue. (Language warning on that link.)
KTK:
To the right wing, the mere suggestion that there is anything to improve about America is, literally, treason.
That’s not entirely accurate. There are a myriad of ways in which the right wing would love to “improve” America, and agreeing with them on those things is not something they’d consider “treason.” (cf., gutting the Fourth Amendment to “protect our freedom from terrorists”, installing a
Berlin Wallborder fence, etc.) The key isn’t wanting to change America “for the better,” it’s wanting to do so in ways they disagree with. Basically, they’ll label about anything they disagree with as “treason.” One would think they could afford a dictionary…Comment 2/19/2008
So if her country elects Clinton or even McCain, will she still be really proud?
Comment 2/19/2008
As a right winger, I don’t think any of the left’s ideas to improve the country to be treason. I think many of them are misguided and possibly foolish or naive. But certainly not treason.
Comment 2/20/2008
KTK “apparently in the belief that, in saying she was proud of the country now, she meant she wasn’t proud of, or didn’t approve of, those things that had happened within the country at any time before.”
Can’t you read or hear? She said it was the “first” time. Words have meanings.
Comment 2/20/2008
“Basically, they’ll label about anything they disagree with as “treason.””
That is a lie.
Comment 2/20/2008
Oh, sorry, Morris. You’re right. Right-wing maniacs label anything they don’t like “treason” or a “lie”. Thanks for the reminder.
Comment 2/20/2008
*To the right wing, the mere suggestion that there is anything to improve about America is, literally, treason*
This seems a bit over-the-top. Is there evidence for this?
Comment 2/20/2008
>As a side note, I’d bet over 95% of the people who insist
>America is “the greatest nation on earth” haven’t spent
>much more than a few weeks anywhere else, and would thus
>have literally no basis for comparison.
I think the US is the greatest nation on earth, but only in the ‘tallest midget’ sense. ;>
Comment 2/20/2008
Big U:
Exhibit A
Coulter’s not some obscure nutcase, by the way; she’s a frequent guest on Fox News, and a bestselling author (*bleh* I just burped up a little vomit on typing that).
Comment 2/20/2008
Thanks Tgirsch. I never pay any attention to her so I didn’t know she had actually written a book on it. Wow. You Americans are pretty big on histionics, aren’t ya.
Comment 2/20/2008
Careful Big U. We are the greatest country in the world and we will fight anyone who says otherwise!
Comment 2/20/2008
Big U:
The right a lot more than the left. That was far from the only example, by example, just one of the easiest to find. Brendan Nyhan has documented lots of examples of prominent figures on the right equating criticism of Bush Administration policies with treason. They often don’t use that specific term (often preferring some variant of “give aid and comfort to the enemy,” which is how treason is defined in the US constitution), but the theme is remarkably common.
Comment 2/20/2008
*Careful Big U. We are the greatest country in the world and we will fight anyone who says otherwise!*
hehehe. Being from Canada, I have no worries. Most of you can’t find us on the map, and the ones that can just assume we’re the 51st state no one told them about.
Comment 2/20/2008
Careful with those assumptions, Big U. Without looking them up, I can name your ten provinces and two territories, and even the capitals of most of them. I can even say “Eh” in both English and French.
Comment 2/21/2008
[…] • Lean Left: Kevin: Mixing the Races is a Communist Plot!, KTK: Feeling Michele Obama’s frustration, and Tgirsch: Chris Matthew’s job is not journalism, it’s to stir up… […]
Pingback 2/24/2008
I think Michelle ought to spank that “Magic Negro” over her knee for being such a “Johnny Come lately”. See my poem: “Obama, The Lemon Cake Boy” on the “Obama and Substance” thread by Keith.
Comment 3/3/2008
Oh come on. The point conservatives make is she said THE FIRST TIME.
THAT is just plain ridiculous. LIberals and conservatives must BOTH have several times they have been proud of their country.
It was a STUPID.. STUPID thing to say.
fck liberals
Comment 3/8/2008