audacious, authentic and inspirational

While traveling recently, I read Yes We Still Can by Dan Pfeiffer, senior advisor to President Barack Obama.

Since Donald Trump was inaugurated I have been on an emotional and physical roller coaster ride. From the rolling back of environmental regulations to the separation of immigrant families at the border, the litany of outrages has caused anger, cynicism, and sadness. This book is a road map to the future, an attempt “to better understand the current state of politics and look at where we go from here.”

Some of my favorite parts:

"Mr. President... you've talked a lot about how we're all trying to get our paragraph right in history. What do you hope that paragraph says about you?"The president replied, "When I think about what will most  gratify me, it will be if, twenty years from now, I can look back and I can say, wow, look at all these people who first got involved - maybe even when they were too young to vote - in government, politics, issues, nonprofits, public service, and that wave just kind of - a cleansing wave just washes over the country. And if that happens, then the details of how we dealt with climate change, or whether the individual responsibility on the Affordable Care Act was the right approach or not - that becomes less important. Because if we're getting the broad direction right, this is a pretty ingenious country, full of ingenious people, and we'll figure it out. And that's what I want - is I want everybody to feel like we can figure this out if we just don't waste a lot of time doing dumb stuff."

Obama made the case that the campaign was worth running because he had something to say that he felt was with saying. 

At the end of the conversation, Obama looked me right in the eye and asked, "How often do you get to put your shoulder against the wheel of history and push?"

At the 2016 Democratic Convention, Michelle Obama described the Democrats' response to Trump's infantile antics and vulgar insults as "when they go low, we go high." In the end, the side that went "low" won the election and a debate ensued in the Democratic Party about whether going "high" was the right response to Trump.

Trump is a symptom of the plague that has infected the GOP, but he is not the disease itself. Trump didn't take over the party; he is the end result of a party that weaponized  racial anxiety to motivate their base during the Obama era. The good news is that this is not a sustainable strategy in a country that is getting more diverse by the minute.

And finally... the final lines:

Obama knew what I was asking, and he sighed and shook his head and said, "Look, this isn't an ideal situation to say the least," and then we both laughed. Then he said, "Maybe I'm just looking for a silver lining, but I am hopeful that this will be the clarifying event that will show the public the two different visions for the country." 

And there it was; the eternal optimism and unending faith in the American people. 

I am going to miss him.We are going to miss him.

 In the end, Pfeiffer advocates that America take the high ground. “Hate worked for Trump; it won’t work for us,” he writes. “It requires being audacious, authentic and inspirational.” 

Here's to the 2018 midterms.

May we be audacious, authentic and inspirational!