The election of President Obama is a joyful break from bigotry in American politics and an affirmation of the best of the American tradition. Every decent citizen will be happy to see evidence of redemption from the original American sin of slavery. For one day it is appropriate to set aside partisan differences and enjoy our common American victory.
Abraham Lincoln was right that slavery was the original sin of the American experiment. The majority of the population had views about a minority that were deeply wicked and inconsistent with their best ideals. Almost all Americans were Christians and a majority of American Christians denied the image of God in other Christians. America was a product of the best of the Enlightenment, but many of the best Enlightenment thinkers were slave owners whose private behavior was worse than any medieval lord.
There is a naïve notion that slavery was a “long time ago” and no longer matters, but in terms of the life of a people slavery was not a “long time ago.” I sat and listened to stories from a great-aunt who ate bread at her father’s table paid for by his Civil War pension. Grandchildren of slaves are living links to memories of how human bondage scarred our nation.
People partly are the product of their upbringing and for all living Americans the trauma of the Civil War and the hundreds of years of slavery that came before it still shape our national discourse.
When I was a little boy an interracial kiss was still considered too controversial to air on network television in some parts of the nation. Having an African-American appear in a role not defined by servitude, slapstick, or crime was still considered courageous. It was very difficult for minority citizens to vote.
Racism is like a computer virus. It is almost impossibly difficult to get rid of it utterly. However, it is plainly in decline. Few Americans would be willing to admit to racist views and that too is an improvement since my childhood. The election of President Obama does not end racism, but it is an important symbol of deeper changes.
Many Americans who voted against Obama on policy grounds are delighted by these positive symbolic implications of his victory. We honored candidate Obama by taking him seriously as a candidate and arguing against his ideas. He did not run as a “token,” and he welcomed criticism and open debate. Candidate Obama was remarkably restrained in playing the “race card.” He persuaded a majority of voters to agree with his ideas and the seriousness of his campaign made his victory even more important.
Today also marks the start of a new consensus on religion in politics and hopefully an end to radical secularism that would force any mention of God or Christ from public spaces. Healthy nations have a functional and electable right and left to check each other. A left controlled by radical secularists was not electable and so unable to serve its balancing function.
President Obama won, in part, by rejecting the radical secularism that recently had seized the elite of the progressive movement. President Obama is an open Christian and comfortable with the civil religious practices of the nation. Like Reverend Martin Luther King, he is comfortable using Biblical language in political discourse.
President Obama’s acknowledgment of the role of religion in the nation’s governance is a blow against the contemporary secular apartheid that would ban religious ideas from the public square. He is the most progressive president of my lifetime, but he did not win as a secular progressive. There is hope for the peace of the nation in that victory.
This does not mean that paradise is about to come. Christians can hope, but never put their full faith in princes. One can only pray that our new President will surprise both his friends and the loyal opposition and act to defend the unborn. His own marriage appears to be an outstanding model of success and hopefully he will not weaken that institution that is so necessary to our nation’s help. Those of us in the loyal opposition will eventually have to press him on the consistency of his faith and his ideals with some of his political actions, but not today.
Today is a day to be a cheerful and joyful American.
When Obama takes the Oath of Office on Lincoln’s Bible both racists and secular ideologues will rage, but people of good will in all parties will rejoice. President Obama is our president and today we honor his historic achievement without hesitation or hedging.
God save the President of the United States Barack Obama.