Prop 8 and Obama, a mandate to listen - Susan Kaiser Greenland
On a morning where an Obama presidency is cause for celebration and hope, the likely passage of Prop 8 in California is a reality check that Americans remain almost literally split down the middle with respect to our perspectives on the most basic of social issues. For those of us who supported Obama and his mandate, it will take more than just reaching across the aisle to manifest the hope for change and unity that he and his campaign have inspired. It’s going to take a whole lot of listening - active listening with a willingness to have our own perspectives shift - to come together and move forward as a more united and more evolved nation. President-elect Obama has proven to be an exemplar of this approach and, if his plans for a transition team are any indication, the hard work of open and informed conversation has already begun in his administration. Now it’s time for the rest of us to follow his lead and take these conversations to our schools, churches, temples, workplaces, and kitchen tables, truly integrating into our workaday lives the change that we believe in.
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About the Author: Check out Susan Kaiser Greenland's post about why she started blogging again 
Rachel Resnick | Nov 5, 2008 | Reply
Thank you for this, Susan. I’m writing an essay today for an anthology on reality TV(!) — which I now realize is yet another opportunity to spread the word — and I will try to incorporate this discussion and what I consider to be a basic right — into it. You’re spot-on — this mandate for listening also extends to Obama’s call for service and sacrifice. Creating dialogue, having the courage to address these social issues upon which we are clearly still so divided, stepping forward and stepping up, is crucial. I, too, was stunned by the beauty of Obama’s decisive, historical victory in the country and in our state — counterpointed by the shocking passage of Prop 8. Clearly there is a lot of work to do — and much talking — and listening — to truly transform and evolve more as a state and a country that honors everyone, regardless of race, creed, or sexual orientation.