Rebuild the Dream (7 page)

Every time President Obama stands behind the presidential seal, he offers millions of children—of every color and hue—the
irrefutable proof that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. It is easy to be dismissive or cynical about this point, but we should not take it for granted. Who knows what magic his example is doing in the minds of youth around the world? Obama makes an inestimable contribution every day—not just as a president, but as a precedent.

Such symbolism alone is not enough. Exceptional cases do not erase widening wealth gaps or knock down every racial barrier. But they do offer road maps and reasons for hope. As every parent knows, role models matter.

I often think back to that joyous November night in 2008, when everything seemed possible. I do not want that moment of multiracial unity and widespread optimism to be the “great exception” in the life of my country. I want it to be the great example—a guiding star showing us who we can be, and what it can feel like to be an American, every single day.

I had such soaring hopes for our nation—and for my sons—that night. What do you do when you have a dream that big and it gets smashed into a thousand pieces? Do you lie down and mourn forever?

Not in this country. As Americans, we specialize in turning breakdowns into breakthroughs. We don't surrender our dreams. We get back up again—and we rebuild them.

T
ODAY
'
S HARSH ECONOMIC REALITIES
and political gridlock are undermining the very idea of the United States as a land of opportunity and prosperity. The American Dream—the idea that ours is a land where any hard-working person can better herself or himself—is at risk of being wiped out, right before our eyes.

It will take a movement of millions of people to rescue and renew it.

For everyone who loves this country, for everyone whose heart is breaking for the growing ranks of the poor, for everyone who is seething at the unopposed demolition of America's working and
middle classes—this is both a “people's history” and a guide for action.

The central argument of this book is that, to bring back hope and win change, we need more than a great president. We need a movement of millions of people, committed to fixing our democracy and rebuilding America's economy. I have a unique perspective on the matter, as a grassroots outsider who spent six months as a White House insider.

Political pundits and authors spend a lot of time talking about individual personalities, including President Barack Obama's. But mass movements matter, often as much as or more than individual leaders do. After all, a popular movement helped elect Obama, and two mass movements have changed the terrain on which he is governing.

This book looks at the Age of Obama through a “social movement” lens, exploring the origin and fate of the movements that helped to elect him, as well as those that have challenged and shaped his presidency.

The book is neither pro-Obama nor anti-Obama. It is proanalysis, pro-learning, and pro-progress for the movement that helped elect Obama. The aim of the book is to prepare citizens and community members at the grassroots level to see their own power differently—and to exercise their own leadership more boldly. Progress is the work of millions.

The social movements that converged in Obama's 2008 campaign actually predated his historic bid. Those same movements must now rally and revive to win more change, during his second term and beyond. When they do so, the politicians will have to keep up as best they can.

That is why I do not begin my inquiry into any setback in contemporary Washington, DC, by asking the standard question,
“What could Obama have done differently?” Instead, I ask more empowering—and potentially game-changing—questions: “What could
we
have done differently? How could Americans have mobilized or organized hundreds of thousands of their neighbors to win a better outcome?”

We should always hold Obama accountable. But in a democracy, we should hold ourselves accountable, as well. Positive change requires two sources of leadership, not one. We need a president who is willing to be moved, and we need millions of Americans who are willing to do the moving. Under George W. Bush, millions marched to prevent the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. But the president was unmovable. Under Obama, we have a president who is more open-minded. But until recently, only the extreme right had done the work of putting hundreds of thousands of people in the streets, willing to pull out all the stops to move him.

Some may think this book is too soft on Obama. To them I say, my critique is informed—and tempered—by my intimate knowledge of the mess he inherited. I have first-hand experience with the political and media constraints under which the Obama White House has been forced to labor. Thus I do have more empathy for Team Obama than do many who share my politics.

Others may think the book is too tough on the Obama White House. To them I say, no politician or administration is above criticism, nor is any social movement. Obama has not been perfect, nor have the sixty-six million of us who elected him. We all have a lot to learn and more work to do. The key is for us to evaluate honestly the areas where both the insiders and the outsiders have fallen short.

For myself, I have come to see any American president as a person on a tightrope; on any issue, he can lean only so far to the left or
the right, before the political laws of gravity begin to punish him. The genius of the Tea Party is that it didn't try to move the tightrope walker; it moved the tightrope itself, successfully pulling the national conversation and the entire political establishment far to the right. As a result, the White House had to operate in a very different environment than the climate that prevailed when Obama was first elected. Later, the Occupy Wall Street protests moved the tightrope back, so that now even the GOP has to pay some lip service to economic inequality.

We need to keep moving the tightrope. To do that, we need a better understanding of the recent past and the opportunities of the future.

In the chapters that follow, I summarize the main insights that I have gleaned from reviewing the past years of political struggle in the United States (2003–2011). During those years, I was blessed to play an active role—both outside and inside the halls of power. I developed most of the themes during a year of teaching and conducting research at Princeton University, while I was also a fellow at the Center for American Progress.

The ideas come from many sources, but the cornerstone is the “Contract for the American Dream”—a ten-point plan for jobs and economic opportunity in America. It was written collectively by 131,203 people (online and offline), with the support of dozens of organizations. More than 300,000 people endorsed it. Working on the contract deepened my thinking, as did the 2011 process of launching Rebuild the Dream, a strategy center in the fight to heal our economy and repair our democracy. I hope that my perspective and observations will be useful to a wide range of actors and observers.

The book is divided into three sections.

In the first section of the book,

• I examine the political movements that ultimately coalesced around Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008. I analyze the successes and setbacks of both the Obama administration and grassroots movements seeking change during the administration's first two years. I answer the question: What can Americans who want to fix the system learn from the movement for hope and change that united around Barack Obama in 2008—and from its collapse after he entered the White House?

• I examine the rise and triumph of the Tea Party movement in 2009 and 2010. I answer the question: What can we learn from the Tea Party's equally impressive capture of the national debate in 2009—and its successful pivot to electoral politics in 2010?

• I examine the recent emergence of Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movements. I answer the question: What can a movement defending the embattled working class and imperiled middle class achieve over the long term—and how might it go about doing that?

In the second section of the book, I introduce new tools for analysis, including:

• The Heart Space/Head Space grid, which highlights the emotional or non-rational dimension of social change;

• The “American Story” framework for studying political narratives, which underscores the role of villains, threats, heroes, vision and patriotism in moving the American public; and

• A novel application of swarm theory to the Obama phenomenon, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street.

In the final section of the book, I suggest possible pathways toward creating a movement powerful enough to rescue the 99%.

Admittedly, our nation has had to struggle continually to make the American Dream accessible to all. But our shared commitment to the ideal has made our country the envy of the world. It has energized the efforts of our native-born population. It has attracted the planet's best talent to our shores. The American Dream means different things to people. But the center of gravity is always the same: in our country, an ordinary person—who was not born with great wealth or a famous last name, but who is willing to apply herself or himself—should be able to find employment, live in a good community, make progress financially, retire with dignity, and give her or his kids a better life.

Some profiteers have tried to turn that noble ideal into something cheap and silly—the notion that we should measure the quality of our lives by the size of our house and the model of our cars; the belief that the endless acquisition of stuff will make us happy; the idea that a suburban McMansion and consumerism are the cures for every ill. Those delusions are not the American Dream; they make up an American Fantasy, which has led to an American Nightmare for millions.

That concept is dying out on its own, and it deserves no defense.

But there is a deeper value at stake and at risk, and it is one worth defending at all costs. Let us never forget that the very first statement that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., made about his dream was
this: “I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream.”

Dr. King was not talking about commercialism or consumerism. He was talking about something more fundamental and sacred: the principle that we should live in a country where everyone counts and everyone's dreams matter. He was expressing his desire that America be a place where all would have the opportunity to flower and grow, achieve their personal best, and contribute their best selves to the world. In 1961, Dr. King said, “The American Dream reminds us that every man is heir to the legacy of worthiness.”

The best of the American Dream is not about living a life of consumption; it is about being able to live a life of productivity and contribution. In our system, everyone should have a shot at pursuing her or his dreams—and hard work should pay off. We should not be lying when we tell our children, “You can make it if you try.” Smart choices, honesty, and hard work should be sufficient keys to a fulfilling life. Trying to make that version of the American Dream real is what has made us the greatest nation in the world; our parents and grandparents struggled and sacrificed to make that vision attainable and to keep it alive for us.

We should not surrender it without a fight. Certainly, we should not give up on that vision just so the richest among us can offshore more jobs and get more tax breaks.

The crisis of American Democracy did not start with the 2008 financial collapse. After the Great Depression, our grandparents crafted laws and policies to protect the country from corporate abuses and Wall Street's excesses. Unfortunately, both major political parties were seduced into allowing the elites to strip those protections from our law books. For at least thirty years, the wealthy and privileged have been rigging the system to acquire more wealth
and privilege. At this point, 400 families control more wealth than 180 million Americans.

This great wealth divergence has resulted in an unjust and dangerous concentration of economic and political power in the hands of the few. It has pushed millions, especially the rising generation and communities of color, into the shadows of our society. The middle class continues to shrink, and the number of poor people continues to grow. The political elite has failed to take the necessary steps to restore opportunity to the majority of Americans.