The square dance, though not American by origin, over the years became such an American folk institution that nineteen states felt compelled to pass legislation declaring it the official state dance, one of which, Illinois, is the home state of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama. In the dance, couples form a large square and a caller directs the dancers through a number of complicated movements often to the accompaniment of a lively fiddler. In one movement, the “do-si-do”, one dancer leaves his partner behind and moves to the center to meet another partner from the opposite side of the square, with both passing around each other back to back and returning to their original positions. It may sound a bit complicated, but if you are a beginning square dancer, you soon get the hang of it and realize that it is done all the time. In the great square dance of American politics, similar steps are also performed although it is not always clear who the caller is, why that particular movement has been selected, and where the original couples in the nice neat square will eventually end up. Americans know about the square dance, both the one that traditionally took place in a barn and the other that is played out in the barnyard of national politics, and every four years most of them look on with some interest, but little concern, as the dancers reposition themselves while gracefully executing their steps. What has, however, taken some people by surprise about the dance this year is the speed with which Barack Obama has abandoned his partners on the left hand side of the square and shot to the center before the square dance caller had time to shout out: “change partners.” Even in an Olympic year many have been left breathless by this 100-yd dash to the center and beyond without even a wink or a nod to those left behind. And then there is the issue of the cold calculation implicit in such a dash since while he was passionately wooing his partners with promises and positions in the primaries, the great escape to the center had clearly already been planned. And, yes, of course, Obama is just following the well laid out, politics as usual, steps of the dance. If you want to win a general election you have to do it from the center and that requires a lot of repositioning, refining, recalibrating, reinventing, retooling, refocusing, and even regretting, which like Miss Otis, Obama also seems to have been forced to do a lot of. The nuances involved in the explanations of the change of positions are becoming so increasingly subtle and refined that it will not be long before someone attempts to calculate how many repositions can fit on the head of a pin. However, what has some of his primary supporters on the left, if not exactly stunned, at least scratching their heads in thought is the fact that this was not the change they imagined they were being asked to believe in. This was not what they heard during the primaries when the talk was of a new politics. But if those on the left cannot believe their ears, it is because as Obama says they “apparently haven't been listening to me.” So, it is not at all as easy as it seemed. They are going to have to listen up, and pay closer attention to what is being written and said. Even that, however, presents problems. When, for example, they revisit Obama's website to remind themselves of what has been said, they again find subtle repositioning. In what an Obama campaign spokesman calls “updating”, parts of the website have been removed which once had stressed Obama's opposition to the Iraq troop surge, labeling it part of “The Problem.” So, apparently, the surge has been a success, and that necessitates rewriting, repositioning, actually, eradicating any record of Obama's former opposition to it. Well, as you can see, listening is not as easy as you might have once thought it was. So what are Obama's dancing partners on the left who exhibited such passion in the primaries giving him easy access to enormous funds and hours of volunteer effort expected to think or do as they watch him do-si-do-ing with someone else from the far other side of the square? They can ask themselves if they really know who Obama is and what his intensions are. After all, he has a wafer thin CV with not enough votes cast in either the Illinois or US Senate to provide sufficient tea leaves for a reading of the future. So, yes, as there is little or no track record to go by, being able to believe what you hear is important. The partners he has left behind can also tell themselves that even if they can understand why he is dancing with strangers in the center of the floor and that the ends do justify the means, Obama shouldn't look like he is enjoying the means quite so much. He might at least admit that he is being politically expedient. But unless they are going to be petulant and contemplate sitting out the big dance in November, in the end, those abandoned on the left will come to see that they have nowhere else to go. And, yes, when their partner does finally return from his do-si-do, they will continue to dig into their pockets, but not so deeply; they will continue to work as volunteers, but not so passionately; and they will continue to be uplifted by the great speeches, but not to such great heights. But will they continue to believe? Well, they have been asked to listen, and while seeing is believing, apparently, listening sometimes is not. __
