RON SACHS-POOL/GETTY IMAGES
FOUR YEARS AGO, ON THE DAY BARACK
OBAMA WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES, THE WORLD
SEEMED FULL OF POSSIBILITIES —
PARTICULARLY FOR THE PEOPLE WHO
SPEND THEIR CAREERS TRYING TO
MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.
Advocates for economic fairness, gay
rights, civil liberties, the environment
and campaign finance reform were filled
with hope for momentous change. They
weren’t just celebrating the end of eight
years of deregulatory disaster, constant
war, growing inequality and state-sanctioned torture under the Bush administration. They were responding to Obama’s
explicit commitment to such key progressive goals as closing Guantanamo, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the rich, capping
carbon emissions and introducing comprehensive immigration reform.
“Like much of the progressive world,
I was incredibly excited,” said Deepak
Bhargava, who runs the Center for Community Change, a group founded 44
years ago to honor Robert F. Kennedy
and devoted to empowering poor and
minority communities.
He hosted a party at his house on election day. “There were calls and hugs and
cheers and tears,” he recalled.
Gay activists like Americablog editor
John Aravosis were elated. “With Democrats controlling the presidency and the
Congress? And gay-friendly at the same