"A Place at the Table" - Daniel Jacob

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The Politics of Oneness

Barack Obama and the Rev. Rick Warren

"A Place at the Table"

B Y   D A N I E L   J A C O B

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Oh, my! And aren't we off to a flying start! A diversified cabinet. Bi-partisan, to an acceptable degree. There don't seem to be any "token" appointments there. No cronies. Each post appears to be filled by someone whose credentials and abilities match or exceed its focus of responsibility. To be sure, everyone who looks at the list is NOT pleased! But why should we be? Total consensus doesn't automatically qualify a nation for success. In America, the voice of random dissent and/or frustration has become a welcome and expected backdrop for the changing tones of our nation's progress.

And now the tides have turned. The political pendulum has begun moving from Neo-Con Right to Progressive Left. But wait! What's this? Someone seems to have climbed aboard that pendulum---guiding it to new places.......places where we never expected it to go. Has Quasimodo finally come down out of his bell tower, to rescue his fair maiden from certain death, at the hands of an angry mob?

The "certain death" of which I speak would come in the form of radical shift from one political extreme to another---instantly setting plots in motion for "revenge" or "resistance" from those who have been recently unseated. The wisdom of an "aerial view" of the situation sources its power from a different place than those the wisdom of those trapped on the ground.

When President-Elect Obama asked the Rev. Rick Warren to lead the Invocation at his Inaugural Celebration, an angry cry arose from those in the Gay and Lesbian Community. After all, Warren openly supported Proposition 8 in California, and used some radical analogies when questioned about his attitudes towards homosexuality. Who is he to take a primary place at the "table" of this historic new administration?

"We did all this work to get him elected, and now look what he does!" The sound of gay dissent dances across the airwaves. If I close my eyes for a moment, I could easily substitute their protests for those one might expect if George W. Bush had done something to displease those Big Oil Companies, who helped elect him in 2000. The proverbial poo-poo would hit the fan, right? And I said to myself: "Hmmmmmmm.......same dynamic, different special interests."

We didn't elect Barack Obama to please us. We elected him because he's SMART......and he carries new "tools".......new roadmaps which will take America in a new direction....... a collaborative one. We're not talking about fragile, plastic, political consensus here. We're talking about honest sharing, presented within an atmosphere of peaceful co-existence.

The more "insulting" the views of our opponent seems to be, the more necessary it is to find a place at the table for him (or them), so we can swap viewpoints. If we can't use diplomacy to work out our differences here in America, how do we expect to create foreign policy which can effectively deal with those who oppose us in other parts of the world?

The healing effects of Obama's Choice are already becoming evident. When I hear Rick Warren speak now, his tone towards Gays and Lesbians feels quite different. Granted, he's not going to "roll over" and recant an important Fundamentalist Position on Gay Marriage. But he's trying to BE WITH THE IDEA, he's WORKING WITH IT. And why is that? Because someone from The "New Breed" called him forward to do so. Someone who doesn't insist that anyone change before joining in the process. Someone with VISION, who sees beyond the "issues," straight into the hearts and minds of a seriously fragmented populace.

In the weeks and months to come, I suspect Mr. Obama will find numerous ways to probe our National Psyche, looking for "rough spots" of bias and dissention which have kept America tied up for so long! And every time he finds one, some faction in our nation is going to cry out, threatening to withdraw from Obama and from the process. To meet that, Obama takes full advantage of his powerful presence and remarkably steady hand. What did Sarah Palin call him? Community Organizer? Oh yes, I dare say that's true! Community Organizer and so much more.....

The Radical Right rails against homosexuality because they can't come to grips yet with those homosexual thoughts and feelings flowing through us all. They can't face it, so they try to exclude it. The Progressive Left fights them back because they haven't come to grips with those doubts and reservations which still remain, buried deep inside them---no matter how "out" and "proud" they presume themselves to be. Each of us serves as a MIRROR for the other.

It's a new day, my friends! Filled with anticipation, terror, joy, and frustration. It's nothing less than the BIRTHING of our Planetary Oneself! I'm so glad to be here to watch it unfold. More to come on this, I'm sure.

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