It’s Called ‘Transition’ For a Reason
In a political — and religious — season that calls for patience and reflection, some just can't wait.
For the rest of the nation, this transition and its necessary waiting is a time of reflection. After the noise of an excruciating two-year campaign, those who voted for Obama in November — and especially those who did not — are taking advantage of the relative post-election calm to reflect on all of the fears and hopes that went with the hype. In a quintessentially American manner, they are — whether with joy or resignation — doing the introspective work needed to be opened to the man who will be their president on January 20, 2009. As they wait, they watch bright stars being plucked from the political constellations to serve the new administration and they wonder what is about to occur in their world.
Those who had counted on a President Obama moving herky-jerk away from capitalism and sovereignty are finding some surprisingly centrist cabinet selections at odds with their notion of “hope.” Others fear such selections constitute nothing more than plausible deniability in the face of an inexorable march toward Marxism, and “hope” feels — literally — like all they have.
It seems fitting that the American interregnum now occurs during the season of Advent, the time of waiting with hope, when many Christians turn inward — rejecting the wilderness of their own hearts — to recognize and receive Emmanuel (God with us) and to consider what he means in their lives and in the world. They put on the mind of the ancient Jews and study the texts of the prophets, and ponder who came and who comes.
Not all believers are satisfied that Yeshua bar Yosef, born in Bethlehem of a virgin, is the One for whom they wait. They do not find their expectations of a warrior king met in the low-born child placed in a food bin meant for creatures. For them, the wait continues beyond a season. There is hope, but — as with some of those puzzled Obama voters — also disappointment.
Aware of imperfections they wish to correct or shed altogether, secularists put their trust in man; believers put their trust in maker. This confluence of transitional seasons could urge both to a rare commonality of feeling as they wait, they hope, they wonder and watch.
In the many silly things demonstrated by Gail Collins’ inane column, the most glaring is the perpetually adolescent mindset that sees no point in a peaceful, nationally ennobling transition if it means waiting for the prize, and no value in introspection if it delays ripping open the gifts.
Like Advent, the interregnum is a season of calming preparation and even quiet awe. Let us give thanks for seasons secular and sacred, and make the most of them.
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Elizabeth Scalia is a contributing writer to First Things Magazine and the blogger known as The Anchoress.
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17 Comments
1. Formwiz:The Anchoress’ invocation of Advent strikes me as highly apt. Ms. Collins and her friends remind me a lot of kids before Christmas, getting into an ever heightening frenzy over all the goodies they’re about to get. Considering the left’s emotional maturity, the image is just about right.
Dec 7, 2008 - 5:43 am 2. Spinoneone:Very, very true. Now, go read Rod Radosh’s column from 12/5. It points out some of the dreaming going on on the farther left.
Dec 7, 2008 - 6:07 am 3. Mary Grabar:No, what Gail Collins and her ilk are advocating is a putsch–except that they think that they can shame Bush and all conservatives into retreating. Everything goes by numbers, not by rule of law. It’s mob mentality. It goes along with their messiah’s disdain of the Constitution. These are very dangerous people.
Dec 7, 2008 - 7:21 am 4. ladycatnip:Scalia weaves the analogy of Advent with those who wait for their man in the WH – brilliant. It hits home!
Dec 7, 2008 - 7:48 am 5. mary frances leonard:THIS IS WHY I READ “THE ANCHORESS ” EVERYDAY ………….”HE’S COMING MY GOD, HE’S COMING MY KING”………..MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, PEACE ON EARTH, GOODWILL TO MEN!
Dec 7, 2008 - 8:04 am 6. Martge:So people can’t wait for a man who forged his eligibility to be president of this country to take office to start his HONEST performance?
What a crock. Of course no court, no lawyer, no lawmaker will ever stop him. So we will be resigned to a pretended to the throne. And make no mistake that is exactly what he will do to this country. Make himself king. He has had his bevy of lawyers try and try again to get the “natural born” clause stripped from the Constitution he even convinced a fellow senator to try to get the same thing to happen. It didn’t work. So he boldly strides right into the presidency, where he will make sure no one has the STANDING to approach his kingdom.
Dec 7, 2008 - 8:57 am 7. newton:I usually don’t follow Advent as Catholics do (I’m an Evangelical Christian), but I do think we Christians must always be in preparation for the eventual return of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Advent before Christmas is a “shadow of things to come”, as the Apostle Paul once said, which is worth remembering and reflecting on.
As for the secular, I believe there is now a preparation going on for a Resistance movement, so secret and so private that not many political scientists of members of the MSM will be able to grasp, until it gains enough traction to become a public issue… or menace.
I sure am preparing for that, too. For starters, I’ve been looking for homeschooling curricula for my daughters, even if one is about to reach 2 and the other one is due February. I also don’t think I want to invest anything in the stock market just yet.
Also, if someone makes the bumper sticker “JESUS CHRIST IS MY MESSIAH, NOT BARACK OBAMA!”, I’ll buy it! Makes me think of the time when Christians in the Ancient Roman Empire made a stand for Him instead of the Emperor. Of course, they lost their lives because of it, but at least someone who minds the things of eternity should be prepared, or preparing, for that possibility.
The pendulum has been swinging against Christianity and Christians in this country for a while already. Don’t be surprised to see a major persecution of Christians happening in the Land of the First Amendment.
Dec 7, 2008 - 10:05 am 8. The Historian:PAY ATTENTION BARACK: MISSILE DEFENSE IS DO OR DIE
There are no second chances if we get this one wrong:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/12/missle-defense-do-or-die.html
Dec 7, 2008 - 10:07 am 9. Mike O'Malley:Thank you for your insight Mrs. Scalia. It seems to me that you are generous with Ms. Collins’ relentless incivility. When I first read Gail Collins’ essay back in November I came away with the impression that for Ms. Collins, such a proposed humiliating summary expulsion from office of the faithful Pres. Bush, would be for Ms. Collins a satisfying climax the long campaign vilification and character assassination of Pres. Bush in which the editors of the New York Times played a leading role. How can Ms. Collins not today concede the great liberating victory the Pres. Bush has achieved in Iraq at a human cost far less that of President Lincoln to whom he is unfavorably compared by Ms. Collins? How can she dare to hang “Katrine” around Pres. Bush’s neck? The myth of Katrina being fabricated out of the news reporting malpractice by the mainstream media, an falsification of public preception in which the New York Times played a leading role. Yet she did do so.
It seems to me that Ms. Collins would consign to Pres. Bush the end of all vilified scapegoats: expulsion from the land of the living into the wilderness “unto a Land not inhabited.”
*
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2008/08/021376.php
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2005/09/011498.php
and
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2005/09/011474.php
as a sample.
Dec 7, 2008 - 12:06 pm 10. Tom:Beautiful , so true, and very apropos for the times. Thanks Tom
Dec 7, 2008 - 1:50 pm 11. ate mely:This is the ‘Entrance Antiphon’ of today’s mass (2nd Sunday of Advent)
Dec 7, 2008 - 6:28 pm 12. Kathryn (Petition: We Demand True Conservative Leadership):“People of Zion, the Lord will come to save all nations, and your hearts will exult to hear his majestic voice.” (Is 30:19,30)
This is the ‘Opening Prayers’ of today’s Sunday mass.
“God of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
Kinda reminds me of the Gipper who reminded us of the difference between us the the Soviet Union. While the Soviets (and all Communist regimes) forced their citizens to acknowledge government as the ultimate giver of rights, we have free U.S. citizens willingly giving up their God-given rights in favor of government-given rights. Amazing and sad.
Dec 7, 2008 - 8:12 pm 13. Alana:I don’t believe they are anxious to get Obama in as much as they are anxious to display how little they think of the Constitution.
In order that the rest of us might learn and share the same disregard.
Dec 7, 2008 - 10:11 pm 14. Steve P.:I think you’re all drastically missing the point. It’s not so much that Americans want Obama in right now, it’s that they want Bush out right now. At this point, I’d consider having a ham sandwich as a stand-in until inauguration.
Dec 8, 2008 - 9:31 am 15. VoBan:He’s not POTUS yet? WHy, I was reading the comics yesterday, and thought he was.
Dec 8, 2008 - 9:57 am 16. thinking mom:http://comics.com/jump_start/2008-12-07/
Hope that the wish to bypass the standard transition process is not shades of things to come…in the wisher’s leader…
To speak plainly, will Mr. Obama follow the rules? Or—invent his own?
Since he is known mainly through his own words, we don’t know.
Dec 8, 2008 - 12:39 pm 17. Thinking Person:I do think it odd that the man who stood in front of thousands of cheering fans and gave all of those grandiose speeches is now so silent on the issues at hand especially that of bailing out the big 3. Isn’t it odd that even members of his own party including Barney Frank are starting to question his silence? Of course he did give that little blurb about there being only one President at a time. Sounds like a cop-out to me. If his fans are wishing he would hurry up and be annointed, maybe he should come out of hiding and start voicing his opinions on important topics now. At least we’d have time to gird our loins for the next few weeks until reality sets in. As for Steve P. thinking a ham sandwich would be better than having Bush until Jan….all I can say is be careful what you wish for. That ham sandwich might just be on the menu after January with a side order of bull. At least Bush has opinions that he formed outside of a committee. He was never anyone’s puppet. I’m sure I won’t be the only one looking for the marionette strings for the next four years.
Dec 8, 2008 - 3:15 pm