About this vision thing. The Obamas and the Bidens attended a prayer service at the National Cathedral before the inauguration, at which there were mostly good wishes for national unity and progress.
But on PBS NewsHour that night one of the participants, the Rev. Adam Hamilton of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas had this to say:
“I wish he had done more to reach out. In fact, that was the point of my message today at the National Cathedral was to say, you know, we need a new American vision that’s not just Democratic or not just Republican.
“It has to be a new vision that brings people together. And if we had a vision with a couple of goals, key strategic goals that Republicans and Democrats have crafted together and say this is what we’re going to work together on over the next 10 years, even though we might disagree on a whole host of other things, it would have a huge impact on bringing Americans together.”
With all due respect to Rev. Hamilton, excuse me? Four years ago, following one of the most conciliatory inaugural addresses of all time, Mr. Obama’s repeated overtures were met with the stone wall of “Our #1 goal is to see that you are a one-term president.” Which translated into unyielding opposition and previously unmatched polarization.
It would be hard to find anyone in the U.S. who doesn’t want us to come together, or wouldn’t welcome a few “key strategic goals that Republicans and Democrats have crafted together.” But our President didn’t get a lot of help the first time around (remember Bowles-Simpson?)
So now reality has set in, expectations are lower and strategies a little less conciliatory — but Obama’s vision is still there.
Where there’s vision, there’s hope.