Eighteen Million say “I told you so!”

Each day there are more articles being circulated entitled “Hillary would have made a better president” and “I should have voted for Hillary”. These high powered pen poised makers of a paper mache president are capitulating with rapidity as the test of the presidency of Barack Obama intensifies and he continues to disappoint his followers. Some commentators are now capable of admitting that they were so taken with his oratory that they failed to sufficiently consider his lack of accomplishments prior to his run for president.

When Hillary was defeated in the primary, the disbelief of the reality of this world was painful to endure. Hillary supporters met in groups, venting anger and pain in private safe places as we collectively worked through what had happened. Like many generations of women before us, we healed the gapping wounds of disappointment, collected ourselves and marched out to support the “winner” for the greater good of all. Hillary supporters rallied behind Obama, because Hillary not only said that was the right thing to do but she was working hard for the success of the Democrats. Her campaign magnified the hope, the pain and the disappointment, of generations of women. Many saw her grace, resilience and power, even in defeat, as a model for the next generation of women.

Now as Secretary of State, she has distanced herself from Barack Obama and yet found a useful and powerful place in which she can work productively for a country that disappointed her and a generation of feminist. She continues to be focused on her job with precision as this inexperienced orator, once so praised by all as their savior, flounders as many of us predicted.

It’s too late to elect Hillary. That bus left the station two and a half years ago. Now, the powerful commentators are bailing on Obama, just as they bailed on Hillary. They run away, not from Obama, but from their own failures. They too were weak, too weak to support a woman who was powerful and who had been tested by the political system. As the realization that Obama is weak and ineffective solidifies, as the savior’s image fades, the anger of being wrong turns outward as they look for a scapegoat for their wrong call.

So, we are doomed? I don’t think so. I wasn’t doomed before Obama and his failures certainly won’t define me. Now is not the time to throw Obama under the bus, it’s the time to understand that not only do we drive the bus, we are the bus.

For decades, I have decried the obvious, “Democrats have no backbone!” Now the staunch Obama followers are crying out “Lead us to the promise land!” He can’t. Congress can’t. It’s up to us to step up. Do we have the backbone to lead?
It takes more than, voting, contributing money and opining about the obvious flaws in our leaders to create change. We must change from the followers to the leaders. Remember the old sixties old bumper sticker “If the people will lead, the leaders will follow.” It’s time to change our focus from the lack of leadership, to creating the change we need in this country.

Abdicating our responsibility to participate in the change we want to create leaves a void for those who do have courage and a backbone to step to the front and take control. Thus, we are faced with talking heads that spew thoughtless mean spirited diatribes appealing to our base senses of fear and greed which are used as a wedge to further divide and decimate our civilization.

“They” can’t be silenced because their disruption is news; their stupidity is news; what they are not is news; and as we are beginning to realize, “the news” is the new porn industry and it sells. The news makers threw Hillary under the bus as their misogynist torrents filled the air waves, creating wave after wave of “news”. The media created Barack Obama and elevated him to his majestic throne and now they are feasting on his failures, just as some of us predicted two and half years ago. It’s not Barack Obama or the Democrats who need a backbone, we need a backbone. We are not powerless. We are powerful. We must not abdicate our leadership to those who have the backbone to stand up and speak to the fear that emboldens the speaker and seems to empower the fearful. There is no silver bullet. There is no magic pill that cures all our ills, and alas, no savior to lead us in creating the change we hoped was possible.

Each of us has the power to create what we need to live comfortably, not just for ourselves but for the rest of the world. The question is “Do we have the backbone to stand up and take responsibility for making our lives and the world a better place in which we can all live?” Can we follow the example of Hillary Clinton and go about our jobs with focus and persistence, creating the change we need? I continue to have hope.