Being Thankful for the Truth

My generation, the Baby Boomers, grew up with one version of Thanksgiving Truth: the Pilgrims joined with the Indians after a year of extreme hardship to share a meal in celebration of, and in gratitude for, their mutual survival. The Indians got religion; the Pilgrims got food. Good times!

Overlooked was the part that came next. Within 50 years, the Native American population of the Plymouth area was almost completely exterminated by war, sold into slavery, or driven from their land. So began the long, bloody, and sad history of America’s brutal dominance of those who came before us, a dominance justified with the words, Manifest Destiny. As a great-granddaughter of 19th century European pioneers to Colorado, my personal pride in a trail-breaking heritage mingles with great national shame. It’s a complex internal conflict not easily resolved.

Is there hope for more national healing and better understanding under an Obama Administration? There are some promising signs.

Obama’s October 24, 2008 statement on a Full Partnership with Indian Country:

"For 20 months now, I’ve traveled this country, often talking about how the needs of the American people are going unmet by Washington. And the truth is, few have been ignored by Washington for as long as American Indians. Too often, Washington pays lip service to working with tribes while taking a one-size-fits-all approach with tribal communities across the nation.

That will change if I am honored to serve as president of the United States.

My American Indian policy begins with creating a bond between an Obama administration and the tribal nations all across this country. We need more than just a government-to-government relationship; we need a nation-to-nation relationship, and I will make sure that tribal nations have a voice in the White House.

I’ll appoint an American Indian policy adviser to my senior White House staff to work with tribes, and host an annual summit at the White House with tribal leaders to come up with an agenda that works for tribal communities. That’s how we’ll make sure you have a seat at the table when important decisions are being made about your lives, about your nations and about your people. That’ll be a priority when I am president.

Here’s what else we’re going to do. We’re going to end nearly a century of mismanagement of the Indian trusts. We’re going to work together to settle unresolved cases, figure out how the trusts ought to operate and make sure that they’re being managed responsibly – today, tomorrow and always.

Now, I understand the tragic history between the United States and tribal nations. Our government hasn’t always been honest and truthful in our dealings. And we’ve got to acknowledge that if we’re going to move forward in a fair and honest way.

Indian nations have never asked much of the United States – only for what was promised by the treaty obligations made to their forebears. So let me be absolutely clear – I believe treaty commitments are paramount law, and I will fulfill those commitments as president of the United States. . .

. . . And so I want you to know that I will never forget you. The American Indians I have met across this country will be on my mind each day that I am in the White House. You deserve a president who is committed to being a full partner with you; to respecting you, honoring you and working with you every day. That is the commitment I will make to you as president of the United States.” Read the entire statement here.

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Another example of Obama's outreach to Native Americans was reported by The New York Times in May, 2008 in a story that tells of his adoption by the Crow Indian Tribe in Montana. Obama was given the name “One Who Helps People Throughout the Land.” Read the whole article by Jeff Zeleny here.

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The Thanksgiving holiday is linked to America’s history. But as a modern, secular, national festival, it also stands on its own as a day to simply be grateful for what is good in our lives, and should be celebrated guilt-free – including second or third helpings of everything! As a nation, we should look to the past without blinders, and move forward vigilantly seeking the truth.

“To state the facts frankly is not to despair for the future nor indict the past.” ~ John F Kennedy

Thanksgiving and Bipartisanship

I love Thanksgiving; it's all about friends, family and food, pure and simple. So, I'll be giving thanks here all week.

Monday's thanksgiving is for bipartisanship. A couple of days ago I featured David Brooks, conservative columnist for the New York Times. Today, it's Bill Kristol, a REALLY conservative columnist for the New York Times (and editor of the Weekly Standard). While not exactly a rousing endorsement, his words are at least a cautiously hopeful, "I'm willing to give the guy a chance because even the Republicans haven't a clue about how to save the economy," reality check.

THANK YOU, Bill Kristol!

From his column in today's New York Times:

"But, basically, it seems to me, we’re all flying blind. The markets are spiraling down, and our leading experts don’t have much of a clue as to what to do.

Given that, one has to welcome the expected appointment to senior positions in the Obama administration of economists like Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jason Furman, Peter Orszag, and Goolsbee himself. They’re sober and competent people who know we face a real crisis — and who, importantly, may be more willing than many of their colleagues to adjust their thinking early and often. . . .

So I hope the best and the brightest who will be joining the new president will at least entertain the possibility that a lot of what they think they know is wrong. . .

I’ve worked in government. It’s hard to do much thinking there at all, let alone thinking anew. But Obama and his team will have to think anew, and those on the outside who wish to help will have to think anew too, if we’re to have a chance of rising to this daunting occasion."

Read the whole thing here.

Here's more about bipartisanship in the news:

Initial Steps by Obama Suggest a Bipartisan Flair,

by Jeff Zeleny in the NY Times

Whither the Cabinet Republicans?,

by Jonathan Martin in Politico.com

Team of Rubins,

by Robert Kuttner in the Huffington Post

And one purely partisan because I am thankful for the end of the Bush Administration:

Why America Feels Like it's Been Ruled by a Foreign Occupier,

by John Hallmann in the Huffington Post

The Reality of Hope

"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope."

~ Martin Luther

"Hope" is a squishy term for many. Not for me. This is my working definition of "hope", one that is grounded in reality, from Jerome Groopman's book, The Anatomy of Hope:

"Hope is one of our central emotions, but we are often at a loss when asked to define it. Many of us confuse hope with optimism, a prevailing attitude that 'things turn out for the best.' But hope differs from optimism. Hope does not arise from being told to 'think positively,' or from hearing an overly rosy forecast. Hope, unlike optimism, is rooted in unalloyed reality. Hope is the elevating feeling we experience when we see - in the mind's eye - a path to a better future. Hope acknowledges the significant obstacles and deep pitfalls along that path. True hope has no room for delusion. Clear-eyed, hope gives us the courage to confront our circumstances and the capacity to surmount them"

And "hope" is a very real force to be reckoned with for Barack Obama, from his book, The Audacity of Hope:

"The audacity of hope.

That was the best of the American spirit, I thought - having the audacity to believe despite all the evidence to the contrary that we could restore a sense of community to a nation torn by conflict; the gall to believe that despite personal setbacks, the loss of a job or an illness in the family or a childhood mired in poverty, we had some control - and therefore responsibility - over our own fate.

It was that audacity, I thought, that joined us as one people. It was that pervasive spirit of hope that tied my own family's story to the larger American story, and my own story to those of the voters I sought to represent."

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Late edition to this post:

Roger Cohen's hopeful column in the New York Times on November 10, "Emptying Pandora's Box," is worth a read:

"These are interesting times. Jobs are disappearing and General Motors is running out of cash. At the same time, America has assuaged some of its deepest wounds with the election of Barack Obama. We have less money in our pockets but more hope in our hearts.

Hope won’t feed an empty stomach. But it’s potent. In Greek myth, when Pandora opened her box, she let out all the evils except one: hope. The Greeks considered hope dangerous; its bedfellow can be delusion. Nietzsche later saw hope as the evil that prolongs human torment.

But in the end Pandora opened her box again and released hope because, without it, humanity was filled with despair."

continue reading here

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Hope has spread across America like wildfire; let's live up to the responsibility that goes with it.