One of the things that I am happiest about is that the upcoming inauguration has more Americans taking an interest in the political history of our country. Some of this started during the campaign, of course. Some people, including Senator Ted Kennedy, compared Obama to John and Robert Kennedy; Caroline Kennedy and Ted Sorensen compared him to President Kennedy; some said he was advancing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream; and other people said that he wasn’t like JFK, RFK, or MLK at all.
During the democratic primary, one of our country’s leading historians, Sean Wilentz, was a strong supporter of Obama’s strongest opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton. Although I disagreed with him then, I consider his 2005 "The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln" to be one of the most important books for progressive and liberal democrats to read.
After Obama was elected and began to choose the people he wanted to serve in his administration, some began to compare Obama to Lincoln. This resulted in a renewed interest in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." This is another book that everyone should read.
President-elect Obama picked Senator Clinton to be his Secretary of State. I think it’s a good choice. More, I hope that Wilentz, who was a great admirer of JFK/RFK historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., will take a page from his book: Schlesinger, of course, had been a supporter of one of John Kennedy’s opponents for the 1960 democratic nomination, Adlai Stevenson. (And JFK appointed Adlai to the UN.)
On Christmas, I spent part of the day reading "Let Every Nation Know: John F. Kennedy in His Own Words" (it comes with a wonderful CD of his speeches), while my 14-year old daughter sat nearby, reading a book of Obama’s speeches.
This afternoon, at a local store, my daughters picked out a selection of Obama books, magazines, special edition newspapers, a calendar, and a poster. The 14-year old got Evan Thomas’s "A Long Time Coming"; the 11-year old got a book on the history of the presidency, from Washington to Obama.
It is interesting to compare the current interest in history, to the Bush-Cheney administration’s attempts to cut people off from their history. How many times did they try to scare people, by saying we faced enemies far worse than our nation ever faced before? And how often did they attempt to justify their planned destruction of the US Constitution, based on fear and paranoia?
These next few days are an important time in our nation’s history. But they are most important in the context of our historical process – from Washington to Obama.
Enjoy this time.
H2O Man