The morning of 3 November 2008 felt like Christmas come early. America had a new president and a new congress that would end our long, national, neocon nightmare. And the new commander-in-chief was a self-identified black man with biracial heritage, which surely meant something good about race relations in the United States. That day, I rejoiced as a die-hard liberal and a black descendant of enslaved Africans and the Jim Crow South. I worried, too. Because folks were acting like electing one man to sit in the Oval Office was an end game.

Drunk on hope, many of my fellow Democrats, and some swing voters besides, patted themselves on the back for triumphing over both racism and Palinesque ignorance, and with teary-eyed relief, looked forward to impending days of non-existent unemployment; legalised gay marriage; an end to war, torture and corporate greed; and slavery reparations in the mail.

But real, lasting change never comes easily. And tales that begin with a flawed human being in the role of the messiah never end well. Indeed, with President Obama's approval ratings hovering below 50%, it seems America has sobered up – and is none too happy with the country's leadership and the change that has not come.

At a televised Town Hall on Monday, a woman named Velma Hart spoke for a lot of Americans when she said:

"I'm one of your middle-class Americans and quite frankly I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for. I'm deeply disappointed with where we are right now. I have been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I'm one of those people. And I'm waiting sir, I'm waiting. I – I don't feel it yet."

We are a frustrated and angry nation. But is all our disappointment owed to President Obama? Or should our current situation serve as a reminder about expectations and the folly of trying to make magicians of men.

Oh, there are plenty of reasons to be angry with our president and congress. I am angry that Obama and the Democrats have failed to use the power we gave them to act boldly. I am angry that my party repeatedly fails at public relations 101, letting opponents of things like universal healthcare control the message and public opinion. I am angry that Barack Obama has been tepid and wishy-washy on gay rights and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". The gay and lesbian community has reason to wonder whether he is an ally.

I am angry, too, that Republicans have spent the Obama administration obstructing – obstructing healthcare reform, obstructing unemployment insurance, and obstructing congress from enacting the very things we elected them to do. And the Democrats have let it happen.

But I am angry at the American citizenry, too. I am angry because on 3 November, as folks like me were rejoicing, we were also disengaging from the political process – like the job was done. We will never know what could have happened if all those dedicated supporters who worked GOTV for the Obama campaign had taken to the streets to speak with their neighbours about aggressive change in healthcare. I am angry because we remain more obsessed with signs at Tea Party rallies than the nuances of the economy or foreign relations.

I am angry because we too soon forget from whence our current economic morass came. I am angry because we are short on patience and a nation of adults was naive enough to believe in instant utopia and post-racialism. And, lately, I am angry because, in response to not getting what we want, many of us, including an uninspired liberal base, are talking about sitting out the mid-term elections in November. As if now is the time to fold our arms and give up, rather than roll up our sleeves and get working at the ballot box and in the community.

It has been a long two years – longer still for those in economic distress. We are tired. We are broke. We are raw from the partisan bickering, posturing pundits, birthers and opportunists. I know.

But change doesn't come in a day. When the problem is big – as our problems are – it may not come in 22 months. If we will not wait for what we want, or rather, if we are too lazy to fight for what we want, even by doing something as simple as showing up at the ballot box, then perhaps we do not deserve it. Too many of us are waiting on a "no muss, no fuss" deliverance that only happens in fairy tales. We've tied up too much hope in one man. Barack Obama is not the one we've been waiting for. "WE are the ones we've been waiting for."

Discussion thread shortcut

The author of this piece, Tamara Winfrey Harris, has been participating in the conversation below as TamaraWH. This is an excerpt selected by a Cif editor:



we1989 says:

The US political system is weighed heavily against legislation being used to cause "change" (however vague it may be) or domestic reform.

TamaraWH responds: