Chuck > Recent Status Updates

Our country’s ability to meet this moment depends not only on the wisdom of our policies or the justice of our ideals, but in our ability to cooperate to achieve anything at all.
(Talk about a west wing quote)

To love a country, as to live a person, is to love a flawed and exquisite creation, to see what is best in it, to be angry when it is not what it could be, precisely because you have seen glimmers of its greatness.

For all the peril of this moment, for all the political division and racial anguish and institutional erosion, this moment is filled with possibility.

These years will either generate a vision for a new American social democracy as wide ranging and imaginative as the work of the New Deal and the Civil Rights Era combined, or solidify the trajectory of an American d clone that would itself be the story of the century, almost certainly to the detriment of liberal democracy throughout the world.

“But I do think that when you hear someone like Marjorie, at her age, just take a leap of faith like that, then you can’t help but feel as if it is worth the effort. If we duplicate enough of those moments…over time we get better at this thing called democracy. And that is something all of us have the capacity to do. That’s not the job of the president… It’s the job of citizens.”

“A better future is earned,” he said. “It’s hard work. And democracy in a country this big, with such a diverse population, is especially hard. And complicated. And there are times in our history where we’ve had bad, ugly stretches. And so it’s important not to ever forget and to recognize that the ideals and the best version of America isn’t preordained.”

“I wanted to offer that corrective to the idea that, you know, empathy…somehow solves all the divisions and conflicts we have in the country. That’s wishful thinking. But what is true is that if a person is recognized, and how they’re feeling is validated as being true for them, then they are more prone to engage.”

“What was clear that my presence there signified to those families that they were important. Their loved ones were important. The grief they were feeling was important. That it had been seen and acknowledged”… Whatever people thought of his presidency, I think he was given credit for being a man who brought a solid well of empathy to the office.

Excerpt from a letter written 11/9/16 — “Where I, and every other college educated white male who voted for you in ‘08 and ‘12, failed you, is in our inability or unwillingness to address the structural racism that has given birth to president elect Trump… I am sorry. We let you down. When you leave office and return to civilian life, I will join you in whatever task you undertake.”

[When I meet Obama] I’m going to shake his hand. I’m going to make sure he knows who I am. I’m going to say, “My name is Kolbie, and I’m your voice.”

I love this plucky 22 year old who handcrafts letters from the President and her vision of how she will finally meet him.

“The human side of the story, the ideas you can’t squeeze into a briefing memo or translate into bar graphs or dots on a chart. The voices of letter writers were a constant chorus in the background, pop songs you couldn’t get out of your head, the tunes that defined a culture.”

“[Fiona] did not hesitate to give the President mail brutally critical of his administration, or mail that was disturbing, or mail that was heartbreaking, and when she put the letters in order, it was for maximum impact.”

“Cascading emotional chaos-that’s how people would remember those early days in OPC… the campaign workers had believed themselves responsible for opening a conduit between the vulnerable and the influential-the powerless and the most powerful man in the world- and now, in the mailroom, they were expected to make good on it.”

“I had myself convinced that I wanted you to be re-elected more than I needed to hear you say you believe that my family deserves a place at the American take. It turns out I was wrong about that… I am overwhelmed- touched and surprised and just tremendously grateful that anyone in your position would put principal over politics… I am proud of you.” Second letter to make me cry a little.

They say you die twice, once when they bury you in a grave and the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name.

First letter that made me tear up on pages 61-62. “How do I prove to [my son] that you are the person and lead an administration that will help us? … Thanks for taking the time to read the rambling of a frustrated and scared citizen. I know you have bigger and better fish to fry. If I get a reply I will make sure my son knows it. It is important for kids to respect the President and to know he cares.”