Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr was the most politically influential American social critic of the mid-twentieth century; I have always been attracted to his dialectic of human potential and hopeful promise over against human limits and tragic realities. Reinhold Niebuhr described himself as a tamed cynic—one of his more well-known texts is Moral Man, Immoral Society—and he was commonly known for such contradictory formulations as “impossible possibilities.” It is no wonder that the late theologian Robert McAfee Brown described his former teacher as a “pessimistic optimist.” The man was indeed a walking oxymoron, but the reconciliation of seeming contradictions is at the heart of Niebuhr’s mature social analysis in regards to the human potential for good and the limits of evil.
As political progressives and youthful idealists sober up from the Obama after-party, Niebuhr’s theologically informed pragmatism may just be the ibuprofen we need to offset the inevitable crushing hangover. As a man of deep faith, Reinhold Niebuhr was ultimately an optimist. By God’s grace, he professed, there are no limits or boundaries upon the human quest for beloved community in this world. If we believe it, we can achieve it. But Niebuhr’s acute sense of human sin served as a life-vest to keep him from drowning in sentimentality. It is the tragic nature of humanity that added a pessimistic proviso to Niebuhr’s faith-laden optimism: Sin qualifies God’s grace and the tragic tempers hope. Insofar as this is the case, according to Niebuhr, we should always remain both self-critical and socially vigilant as to not let the negative overtake the positive, even when we believe ourselves to be at our best. Like the 70s soul group The Persuaders said: “There’s a thin line between love and hate.”
Sure, there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful. I am ecstatic that the majority of Americans were able to reach across the color line to form a multiracial coalition in support of a person of color. President-elect Obama marks the cognitive shift beyond a politics of racial symbolism in Washington to that of genuine multiculturalism conferred by a beautifully diverse electorate. More importantly, as Jason Bivins wrote on RD this week, “the smart guy won.” This is a fact that we should never take for granted but surely cherish in American politics.
At the same time, Barack Obama remains a man made of flesh and blood. And as a political creature, he has already begun campaigning for 2012. This essentially means, and I say this with all sadness and sympathy for the president-elect’s soul, that despite his best intentions, he must assume the controls of an American neoliberal empire that is inextricably tied to the reinscription of social injustice. Don’t get it twisted. Neither President Obama’s multiethnic background, beautiful black family, or the current economic crisis will fundamentally change the principles of free markets, free trade, or transnational corporate dominance that ultimately guarantee a permanent underclass at home and abroad.
This is why, aside from skin color and charisma, Martin Luther King Jr. (the actual human rights activist, not the ephemeral color-blind dreamer of American folklore) and Barack Obama have little in common: King desired to revolutionize the world while Obama desires to lead it. There is a big difference. Revolutions never take place from the seat of power. And, if anything, the historical record proves that position and power tend to change the officeholder more than the other way around. Maybe this explains why King repeatedly refused invitations to run for public office; and, unfortunately, it will ultimately explain why, despite President-Elect Obama’s undeniable intelligence and virtuous temperament, he is destined to disappoint those of us with justice-oriented expectations.
And so it is, I cling to my Niebuhrian pessimistic-optimism today. I am hopeful concerning Barack Obama’s presidential potential and our nation’s capacity for change, even as I am aware of the historical limitations and dark days that we all face. Barack Obama is a wonderful alternative to politics as usual. He brings a blues sensibility and a racially-informed sensitivity to the White House, the perfect contrast to the gun-slinging, Western iconic white guy that George W. so foolishly embodied.
But I think James Baldwin may have said it best: “One of the things the white world does not know, but I think I know, is that black people are just like everybody else. We are also mercenaries, dictators, murderers, liars. We are human, too.”
Godspeed, President Obama!
Artwork is a detail of a portrait of Reinhold Niebuhr, 1948, by Ernest Hamlin Baker, Gouache on board, from the National Portrait Gallery. Photo is by flickr user cliff1066, used under a Creative Commons license.
