So, what’s your best guess? January 2010? Earlier perhaps? Perhaps summer this year, when the number of unemployed is still growing? When will we see the first headline which reads, “Where did the Obama dream go wrong?”
Nobody likes a Jeremiah, so asking such a question in this week of all weeks, is unlikely to win you many friends.
The problem is that the higher our spirits rise, the further they stand to fall. Of course we can believe in change. Of course people are right to welcome the presidency of a man who, fifty years ago, wouldn’t have been allowed to visit the White House. And of course the world is right to welcome the end of a presidency that has, more or less, been a disaster for
But the euphoria of a political crowd is a dangerous thing. What do we expect will happen? Brilliant oratory can make us feel good about ourselves, even inspire us to acts of heroism and self-sacrifice. Intelligent policy-making can help clear those obstacles that lie in the way of social mobility, community cohesion and environmental degradation. Serious diplomacy can help (re)build bridges and resolve conflicts before they become (more) violent.
But none of this will herald the kind of new age that crowds immemorial have expected from political and religious leaders. New ages demand that we become new people and becoming new people demands the kind of repentance, self-sacrifice, and concentrated, ordinary effort that few of us are willing to make day-in day-out.
All too often crowds welcome political leaders because they are an alternative to the kind of arduous, workaday love that successful revolutions demand. That is why Obamania is dangerous. Not because feelgood is bad. Not because politicians don’t deserve a honeymoon (heaven knows
The more we expect of Barack Obama, the less we will expect of ourselves. And the less we expect of ourselves, the less Obama will be able to “deliver” change we can believe in.
Dr Elizabeth Lee is a retired civil servant.
