I normally don’t write about politics here but today isn’t normal. I wake up feeling so much better – so much more hopeful – knowing that we have elected someone that is listening. To everyone.
I was listening to a sampling of the reactions from America and was moved to tears by the hope and optimism of the people.
Mr Obama is going to have to work his tail off to live up to the expectations of the country… which is only as it should be – he has been elected to serve the nation, not to rule it.
But I confess to some anxiety, too. So many black Americans understandably base new hopes for their children’s future on the fact that “there is now someone in White House who understands us.” Several said as much during the report I heard.
I sincerely hope that they are right, but I have watched that hope fade and die among black South Africans over the past decade and a bit. Addressing the injustices of generations is not a quick or easy process – you simply cannot do a handbrake turn in an aircraft carrier.
It’s probably not fair to compare the two situations – for a start, the American electorate is on average far more politically sophisticated that its South African counterpart – but it still gives me pause.
I just hope the American populace is going to be patient enough to allow Obama to set wheels in motion, without finding destructive ways to express disappointment when the results don’t come overnight.
Thanks for that perspective Karen. I think this long, emotional election and it’s theme of ‘change’ (along with extremely difficult times for Americans) has created a general feeling among the majority of Americans that we are headed down a long road. Because of this, I suspect many people will have a level of patience that historically is not our nature. I don’t recall past elections during my lifetime being so emotional in the sense that a President brought such a feeling of hope.
@Janet I think that hope can largely be encapsulated in that phrase “Yes we can.” How positive and affirmative!
I don’t know whether the concept is an Obama original, whether it is something he was quoting or whether it is a product of his PR machine, but it is sheer genius.
When I watched that YouTube video that did the rounds, even though on one level I knew I was watching a propagandist compilation, I felt like I wanted to stand up and say “Yes I can, dammit!”
Janet, I’m obviously with you on this too. I will say that I think that as Americans we have to remind ourselves that it was “Yes WE Can” not, “Yes YOU Can, President Obama.” As he said last night, winning the election was the first step in a very long journey that’s going to ask something of all of us. I really hope that as Americans we can see the next few years as our parents and grandparents experienced World War II–as a time when we had to bring together our ingenuity, hard work and willingness to sacrifice for the long term and for a greater cause. It’s not just up to President Obama for us to succeed. It’s up to ALL of us.
Hail to the chief elect! It’s up to us, ‘the people’ to take the good of the campaign and make it work for us.
If only we could get the media to listen and report, then there might be some extra hope
I’m still amazed that there were 8 presidential candidates on my ballot. The media totally neglected all of them but two. I really had to DIG, and DIG hard to find out anything about these ‘alternate candidates’ and their respective parties.
This brings me back to so many ‘learning’ issues we face on a daily basis. Someone with a hammer stands up and looks official, and declares, “We only have TWO options.”
That is a shame…there usually are far more than TWO options.
And I wonder what options, Brian, we are missing in our industry? This little blog/periodical/newsletter/conference area has a lot of similar themes. Should they? Perhaps not enough digging.
I really liked what you said about Obama setting himself up as an official that is going to ‘listen’ to the people. In order for that to happen, I believe the public will need to put the screws to the press so ‘everyone’ can be heard a little better.
Yes, ‘the organized media, or press’ should be more inclusive in the things they cover in their high profile ‘push’ campaigns. By push, I mean material in their passive style main stream publications and broadcasts. On my car radio, and on the Hotel TV, I personally would have liked to hear more about the housing bubble and financial scams that were already beginning to brew YEARS ago, and less about Paris Hilton’s underwear. Had the media felt these things ‘newsworthy’ back then….perhaps something might have been done about it before it was too late! Reporters TRIED to warn us…but got ‘edited out’ and ‘blackballed’ from their professions.
Refusing to include independents, libertarians, constutionalists, etc. in the media hosted national debates is bad enough. It would seem editorial decisions were made by a few powerhouse media companies that these alternate views are ‘not newsworthy’. It would also seem that they allowed two parties to sit at a table and cherry pick their own issues, and the press jealously guarded those two candidates with their two or three primary issues. When brave reporters ask questions outside of the ‘established talking points’, they often find themselves looking for a new job, outside of the journalism industry.
Sometimes we do this in education as well. As two or three big ideas gain ‘momentum’ and the financial where-with-all to buy time and influence, many serious concerns and great alternative ideas get buried. In the end we’re told we only have ‘two choices’.
I.E.
An organization of which I am affiliated decided they need more storage space.
“We only have two options:
A. Take the room we have been using for our youth programs and make it a storage area.
B. Build a $50,000 storage building.”
Despite efforts by dozens of members to convince them there are actually DOZENS of options, any of which would be more inclusive to the organization’s true needs than these two proposed extremes….NO ONE LISTENED, in fact, they went out of their way to speed up resolutions and shut down debates they considered ‘divisive’. Now they have NO space to provide on-going youth programs, and a room full of ‘junk’ that probably should have been donated to some outfit that will USE it, or thrown away years ago. In the end we only got TWO options, and both of them were foolish.
Your post about listening was dead on. It’s not always ‘efficient’ in terms of speedy resolutions. It is rarely ‘convenient’. But it is necessary to LISTEN. It is very much about ATTITUDE.
Formerly a Senior Researcher and Analyst with Brandon Hall Research, Janet Clarey is now a self-employed learning strategist. She covers the social web, e-learning, instructional design, and learning technologies for the workplace and now blogs at janetclarey.com.
I normally don’t write about politics here but today isn’t normal. I wake up feeling so much better – so much more hopeful – knowing that we have elected someone that is listening. To everyone.
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I was listening to a sampling of the reactions from America and was moved to tears by the hope and optimism of the people.
Mr Obama is going to have to work his tail off to live up to the expectations of the country… which is only as it should be – he has been elected to serve the nation, not to rule it.
But I confess to some anxiety, too. So many black Americans understandably base new hopes for their children’s future on the fact that “there is now someone in White House who understands us.” Several said as much during the report I heard.
I sincerely hope that they are right, but I have watched that hope fade and die among black South Africans over the past decade and a bit. Addressing the injustices of generations is not a quick or easy process – you simply cannot do a handbrake turn in an aircraft carrier.
It’s probably not fair to compare the two situations – for a start, the American electorate is on average far more politically sophisticated that its South African counterpart – but it still gives me pause.
I just hope the American populace is going to be patient enough to allow Obama to set wheels in motion, without finding destructive ways to express disappointment when the results don’t come overnight.
Karyn Romeiss last blog post..Enfranchisement
Thanks for that perspective Karen. I think this long, emotional election and it’s theme of ‘change’ (along with extremely difficult times for Americans) has created a general feeling among the majority of Americans that we are headed down a long road. Because of this, I suspect many people will have a level of patience that historically is not our nature. I don’t recall past elections during my lifetime being so emotional in the sense that a President brought such a feeling of hope.
@Janet I think that hope can largely be encapsulated in that phrase “Yes we can.” How positive and affirmative!
I don’t know whether the concept is an Obama original, whether it is something he was quoting or whether it is a product of his PR machine, but it is sheer genius.
When I watched that YouTube video that did the rounds, even though on one level I knew I was watching a propagandist compilation, I felt like I wanted to stand up and say “Yes I can, dammit!”
Karyn Romeiss last blog post..Enfranchisement
Janet, I’m obviously with you on this too. I will say that I think that as Americans we have to remind ourselves that it was “Yes WE Can” not, “Yes YOU Can, President Obama.” As he said last night, winning the election was the first step in a very long journey that’s going to ask something of all of us. I really hope that as Americans we can see the next few years as our parents and grandparents experienced World War II–as a time when we had to bring together our ingenuity, hard work and willingness to sacrifice for the long term and for a greater cause. It’s not just up to President Obama for us to succeed. It’s up to ALL of us.
@ Karen: I think that it’s from Bob the Builder.
Hail to the chief elect! It’s up to us, ‘the people’ to take the good of the campaign and make it work for us.
If only we could get the media to listen and report, then there might be some extra hope
I’m still amazed that there were 8 presidential candidates on my ballot. The media totally neglected all of them but two. I really had to DIG, and DIG hard to find out anything about these ‘alternate candidates’ and their respective parties.
This brings me back to so many ‘learning’ issues we face on a daily basis. Someone with a hammer stands up and looks official, and declares, “We only have TWO options.”
That is a shame…there usually are far more than TWO options.
And I wonder what options, Brian, we are missing in our industry? This little blog/periodical/newsletter/conference area has a lot of similar themes. Should they? Perhaps not enough digging.
I really liked what you said about Obama setting himself up as an official that is going to ‘listen’ to the people. In order for that to happen, I believe the public will need to put the screws to the press so ‘everyone’ can be heard a little better.
Yes, ‘the organized media, or press’ should be more inclusive in the things they cover in their high profile ‘push’ campaigns. By push, I mean material in their passive style main stream publications and broadcasts. On my car radio, and on the Hotel TV, I personally would have liked to hear more about the housing bubble and financial scams that were already beginning to brew YEARS ago, and less about Paris Hilton’s underwear. Had the media felt these things ‘newsworthy’ back then….perhaps something might have been done about it before it was too late! Reporters TRIED to warn us…but got ‘edited out’ and ‘blackballed’ from their professions.
Refusing to include independents, libertarians, constutionalists, etc. in the media hosted national debates is bad enough. It would seem editorial decisions were made by a few powerhouse media companies that these alternate views are ‘not newsworthy’. It would also seem that they allowed two parties to sit at a table and cherry pick their own issues, and the press jealously guarded those two candidates with their two or three primary issues. When brave reporters ask questions outside of the ‘established talking points’, they often find themselves looking for a new job, outside of the journalism industry.
Sometimes we do this in education as well. As two or three big ideas gain ‘momentum’ and the financial where-with-all to buy time and influence, many serious concerns and great alternative ideas get buried. In the end we’re told we only have ‘two choices’.
I.E.
An organization of which I am affiliated decided they need more storage space.
“We only have two options:
A. Take the room we have been using for our youth programs and make it a storage area.
B. Build a $50,000 storage building.”
Despite efforts by dozens of members to convince them there are actually DOZENS of options, any of which would be more inclusive to the organization’s true needs than these two proposed extremes….NO ONE LISTENED, in fact, they went out of their way to speed up resolutions and shut down debates they considered ‘divisive’. Now they have NO space to provide on-going youth programs, and a room full of ‘junk’ that probably should have been donated to some outfit that will USE it, or thrown away years ago. In the end we only got TWO options, and both of them were foolish.
Your post about listening was dead on. It’s not always ‘efficient’ in terms of speedy resolutions. It is rarely ‘convenient’. But it is necessary to LISTEN. It is very much about ATTITUDE.
Brian