44:44 and the Mason Dixon line

Before we get too euphoric about a new age of unity, change and the future of our nation, consider geography. If we look at a map of the alignment of states and the location of the territores at the civil war, and compare with the 2008 electoral map, the division of the north states and south states is eerily similar. Kansas, West Virginia and Missouri go to the south (McCain). Virginia goes to the north (Obama). Florida (now New York south) goes north (Obama). North Carolina is too close to call. Remember at the time of the Civil War a big controversy was over how to admit the new states without tipping the balance of power. The Missouri Compromise sought to avoid war by evenly dividing the territories into allies of north and allies of south. Note the almost even division of territories from the civil war map compared to the electoral map. Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington to north (Obama). Arizona, Indan territory, Nebraska territory, Dakota territory and Utah to south (McCain). So we have to wonder if we have progressed, or if we are simply replaying the history of our basic divisions. By the way, that division in 2008 is very close 52-48%, on a good day for the democrats. We know the division was very deep in 1860, deep enough to fight a bloody and cruel war. How deep is the division, still about the same in territory and numbers, today? I think it is very important in view of this to consider the nature of the division. Part of the division at the civil war was certainly about race. With the election we have a feeling that things have changed, but looking at the map have they really? I think the answer is certainly things have changed in the south, but we cannot overestimate the lingering effect of racism in shaping the 2008 map. Part of the civil war was about urban vs. rural. That seems unquestionably similar to today; Obama won in the old south territories because he captured the new urban centers in those old southern states. Part of the civil war was about industry vs. agriculture. To me that is the least analogous area. Certainly, increased industrialization of the south does not seem to have overshadowed other factors to align those industrialized southern areas with the north. Ironically, the south remains the bible belt vs. the less fundamentalist Christianity and more cosmopolitan nature that might be attributed to the north. To a serious Christian like myself, this is very troubling. It appears on the map almost unmistakable that fundamentalist Christianity is still linked to heritages that include lingering influences of racism and rural resistance to the problems, influences and changes that dominae the emerging world.

I would not for a minute ignore the monumental possibilities that seem to be hinted at in the current election. But I cannot look at the map and not also realize the serious dangers and challenges that face us.





2008 election:



election:

Leadership

It's quite an election. I'm wondering if this is happening because it's the right time, or it's the right time because the right guy has come along. I'm thinking for other black pioneers, breaking the race barrier was just the beginning of the story. Jackie Robinson, for instance, had to be better than white baseball players, in all kinds of ways, in order to succeed as a major league baseball player; any failure, even a temporary or predictable shortcoming, would have been used to confirm racial stereotypes of the day. I'm hoping it is different for Obama. It is an impossible job in the first place. He may or may not excel in whole or in part; he may or may not fail in whole or in part. We need to be past the point at which the judgment of his performance in this job will be a report card for the inherent qualities of his race. We need for race not to be the issue of his presidency. I think it may be the right time because of the black pioneers that have come before him, and the heritage and perspective they have given all of us; I think of Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Robinson, Bill Cosby, Opray Winfrey - and many, many others who have weaved into and enriched the fabric of our culture, for their race and beyond their race for all of us. I think he might be the right person because of his apparent calmness and confidence in the eye of the perfect storm.

For some reason this morning I thought about president Kennedy's announcement, May 21, 1961, that the US would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. By any objective analysis, this was nothing more than "trash talk" aimed at the Soviets who seemed to have taken an advantage in the cold war by launching their rocket. Yet, we did it. The world we know today has been shaped by the technology, knowledge, spirit and confidence engendered by that effort.
In the end, I think that the true measure of leadership is in reaching for goals beyond our grasp. Encouraging us to do merely what it is clearly within our abilities and strengths turns out to be just cheerleading.

So, when there seems to be so little to cheer about, what we clearly need is a leader.