I have a long commute to work, typically an hour and a half each way. It's been even longer this winter with all the snow. Several years ago a friend suggested that I listen in my car to recorded books. I now go through a book every week or two, and the staff at Bolingbrook's Fountaindale Library treat me like an old friend since they see me so often.
The book I just finished is "Revival" by Richard Wolffe, subtitled "The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House." Though the title sounds like an action movie, it's actually the story of President Obama's steady hand and sense of purpose as events swirl around him. The White House's "revival" was the long-delayed passage of the health-care act in March of last year. In the face of pure obstruction by Republicans, hundreds of millions of dollars spent by anti-healthcare lobbyists, and a shallow, argumentative news media, the president kept a fundamental campaign promise.
President Obama also spent several months after his inauguration in national-security sessions planning a long-term strategy for the Afghanistan war and the removal of combat troops from Iraq. He was criticized for "dithering" on the war by Dick Cheney, which was rich -- Cheney and George Bush dithered for seven years in Afghanistan. As Obama said once in a press conference, "I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak." This is unlike George Bush, who didn't care much about his words before he spoke. The result was the tragic war in Iraq that Obama is now cleaning up, fulfilling his other fundamental promise.
This audiobook is one of dozens I've been able to listen to over the last few years. I wanted to go back to the library and pick up some more, but I remembered that Fountaindale Library is closed now for a few weeks to move into its new building. The new building is not just a bigger structure, but a true 21st Century facility that is certified energy-efficient and expandable for generations. It's the very definition of the common good funded by our tax dollars: a facility that expands opportunity for all of us and all of our children to read, learn, and think.
But that didn't matter much to local Republicans a couple of years ago when the library referendum was on the ballot. They argued that the library was too expensive and that the money would be better spent buying Book-Of-The-Month-Club subscriptions. Like their obstructionist cousins in Washington, local Republicans campaigned against expanding the library. But the people spoke and now Bolingbrook is about to open a technological showpiece that is not just a building full of books, but a true learning center holding the printed and electronic word in a structure that also carries a certificate of energy efficiency.
Electoral struggles for the common good, whether for health-care availability, stopping the waste of our precious military, or expanding libraries, are all long slogs. But when I think about President Obama's patience and determination in working for the common good, I don't worry so much about long slogs because I've seen that the time and the struggles are worth it.
Especially when I get to listen to a new book on my own long slog to work.
No comments:
Post a Comment