The Unimaginable Life

What happens when women and people of color start to move into real high-level positions of power in America? White men who believe that they should hold onto ALL of the power start behaving badly as a way to deal with their anxiety. Below are two examples: Lou Dobbs’ anti-Latino crusade and the National Republican Campaign Committee suggesting that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, be “put in her place.”

Expect to see more White Men Behaving Badly in the coming years as increasing numbers of people of color and more women ascend to higher levels of political and economic power.

Photo by Chuck Pierson, November 2007

Andrew Sullivan comments on Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize today:

I don’t think Americans fully absorbed the depths to which this country’s reputation had sunk under the Cheney era. That’s understandable. And so they also haven’t fully absorbed the turn-around in the world’s view of America that Obama and the American people have accomplished. Of course, this has yet to bear real fruit. But you can begin to see how it could; and I hope more see both the peaceful intentions and the steely resolve of this man to persevere.

This president has done a huge amount to bring race relations in this country to a different place, which is why the far right has become so vicious in attacking him and lying about him. They know he threatens their politics of division and rule. He has also directly addressed the Muslim world, telling some hard truths, and played a small role in evoking a similar movement of hope and change in Iran, and finally told the Israelis to stop cutting their nose off to spite their face….

We do know that we were facing a spiral of conflict that, unchecked, could have taken the world to the abyss. I see this prize as an endorsement of his extraordinary reorientation of world politics, and as an encouragement to see it through.