We elected a symbol, an idea and we got a figurehead, a golden calf [View All]

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We expected him to lead us out of the wilderness like a modern-day Moses. He had a really good line and we all fell for it. We believed he would make old Pharoah let our people go. Instead, he gave Pharoah the seat of honor at his table. And he lost the way. The rest of us followed blindly at first, refusing to believe we could be lost. We are still wandering through the wilderness 4 years later. Nothing has changed. Except whatever hope we had.

And I don't think Obama meant to tarnish the dream, but he does seem overwhelmed by the entrenched forces of the opposition. And for 4 years, he has done way too much to appease them. He seems willing to do anything to accommodate them. But a lot of other Democrats have appeared to be like this in the last decade as well. We seem like we have no fight in us at all.

Our senior party members are not powerful enough to do battle with the GOP. The ones that are really strong have been systematically silenced or marginalized. Let's face it, for every Michele Bachmann their side sends to Congress, we need a Howard Dean, a Cynthia McKinney or an Alan Grayson to throw at them. Instead, we self-righteously drove the final nails into their political coffins when GOP voters screamed for their heads. I don't care what they said or did. It wasn't GOP talking points. They were fighters. They played dirty because they knew we were in a mudfight with the GOP. Obama has come to that fight in his Sunday school suit and a vow not to get dirty.

But this is a war for the very soul of our nation, a war we are losing to the dark side. And we seem at times to be our own worst enemies.

Watching Moses descend from the mountain with an eviction notice, a pink slip, and a defaulted promissory note, we just meekly fall into line. It becomes obvious in this moment that we did not follow Moses into the wilderness at all. Not the Moses who would have smashed the GOP in a fit of rage. Instead, we are stuck with the golden calf that wishful thinking by his followers created.

I have a sinking feeling none of us can ever hope to reach the promised land. To know we were once so much closer, that our own savior is guiding us ever further from that place, can only intensify our suffering. Meanwhile Pharoah rubs his hands in glee.