new column:

Where’s Waldo?

When those “Where’s Waldo?” books came out a while back and became some sort of weird pop phenomenon in the early 90’s, I hated them. I was never one to enjoy looking for needles in a haystack. More to the point, I’m not one to see details when looking at a larger picture.

While the usual saying goes that one is weakened by not being able to ‘see the forest for the trees.’ I have the opposite psychosis, I really have to be shown the point of seeing the trees for the forest. Hence, my frustration with simply even caring to find Waldo. Waldo was a inconsequential tree in the midst of the larger group of people who all made up the more-important forest.

For me, it has always been the larger picture. So, when over the years we have struggled within our Democratic party in primary elections, I found that I didn’t much care. The bigger and more important goal for me was winning the general election in November against the right-wing Republican establishment.

This was especially so in the 90’s and early 00’s when it seemed that the Republicans were winning election year after election year and any internal Democratic fighting seemed pointless and absurd. We needed to get over ourselves and stop the Republicans, I thought. As did many in our party. And we let a lot of our personal perspectives go to the wayside as we swallowed our pride, hid our feelings of disappointment, and fought for the larger goal of getting ‘any’ Democrat elected come November.

And then, sometime in the mid-00’s, many of us changed. I changed. I realized I was wrong.

It’s not letting go of our principles and cares of who will win our Democratic primary nominations that will win elections. In fact, it turned out we needed to find the strength to fight one another for who could carry the Democratic banner the strongest into November that mattered. Finding Waldo suddenly mattered.

Currently many of us are fighting over primaries. Is Obama, Clinton, Edwards, or someone else the best choice for our party? There is internal turmoil and frustration. Friends are fighting friends in the community over who is fully believed to be the best choice. Can’t we all just get along?

But I’ve realized that the point is that we shouldn’t all just get along to go along and crown one person just because we’re supposed to do so. This doesn’t mean that we can’t and shouldn’t get along for the larger good and come together in all other aspects, but it does mean that we should have the important political discussions that are needed to bring about the best outcome for us all as a community and a party.

I can imagine how just a few years ago we would have simply ‘crowned’ one person to lead the party. The primary would have been an easy coronation. And at the time we all believed that this was the best thing for the party because we didn’t have the time to fight amongst ourselves when the real goal was fighting Republicans. But we were wrong. Look at what has happened all across this nation as our internal struggles over who best to lead the party has brought out millions and millions of new voters interested in our party. Look at how polling places are overflowing and running out of ballots because people suddenly care to vote in the Democratic primary. Witness how young people are turning out in record numbers because they feel they actually have a real voice in picking the party’s nominee.

No, I was wrong when I didn’t care to look for Waldo. I was wrong to think that primaries didn’t matter. It’s the absolute opposite. Primaries, while difficult and complicated and frustrating among friends and colleagues, bring out the best for all of us in the party as a whole. The end result is that the winner of the primary will be all the more strong to carry on the banner to November. Whoever you are supporting in this presidential primary, and if you are working so extra hard for him or her, thank you. Thank you for taking the extra time to work for whom you believe to be the best and brightest and strongest for the leadership and future of the party. Your work is making the party stronger. And I know it isn’t easy. But it’s the best for us all.

Waldo is out there somewhere. I’m looking hard for him in the midst of the forest. Every tree matters now. The strength of the forest as a whole is in every tree. And I know that Waldo is thrilled that we’re all looking for him now. He’s been right there all along. And he’ll be with us when we all win in November.