Obama's promises can't come slow
We understand what he's up against, but the clock is ticking
I spent time in Washington, D.C., last week, and it was amazing how many people were watching the Obama clock.
I couldn't sit in a restaurant without overhearing snatches of conversations wafting from huddled heads that were trying to figure out how to lobby President-elect Barack Obama for one thing or another.
But in the words immortalized by the late great Nina Simone in "Mississippi Goddam," despite our high expectations, a lot of people will be urging the new president to "do it slow."
"Do things gradually
Do it slow
But bring more tragedy
Do it slow
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know"
Simone wailed about the change desperately needed at the time.
I'm afraid that's the tune those of us who are falling through the potholes are likely to hear long after the inaugural balls are over.
Sure, we understand that Obama can't save every person who's flailing in a red sea.
Still, the need is so great.
So now is a good time to remind ourselves that the politics that matters most is playing out across the country where elected officials are trying to plug mammoth budget leaks.
That's the point one such sinking man was trying to make the other day when he called me, just to talk.
He asked that I not use his name because he is in a place that no self-respecting man would ever want to be. At 57, he's about to be locked out of an extended-stay hotel room -- the only place he was able to find housing after he was forced to move out of a YMCA in Niles because he was unable to pay the rent.
In less than 48 hours, he says, he'll join the legion of homeless Americans that many of us ignore, mistakenly thinking the shadows we pass on the street are either too lazy, or too messed up, to keep a roof over their heads.
The truth is, this economic crisis and nearly unprecedented job loss have exposed our tattered social net.
"About 5½ years ago, I tried to help my father, who had Alzheimer's, by putting him in a nursing home," the man told me. "I didn't realize that, to do that, I had to give up the house, bank accounts and basically everything else."
Around the same time, the printing business faltered, and the man's longtime job vanished. His health also declined, leaving him ill, uninsured and jobless.
Since then, this skilled worker has been in and out of temporary, low-paying jobs.
"Where do people who have no money, no gas for the car and no resources go?" he asked.
I didn't have a decent answer since the man said he has already tried all of the charities and social agencies I suggested.
When the people suffer, charities suffer, too.
"I am going to be locked out of my place," the man told me. "And I am not going to survive.
"I've called public and private charities, and they can't help. I am at the end of my rope. I am in my 50s, and no one wants to hire me because of the diabetes.
"It is a little late for me. But I am not the only one. There are a lot of people out here who have their backs against the wall."
This is a man whose family emigrated from Poland three generations ago. His closest relatives are dead, or he's lost contact with them.
"I am trapped here," he said. "I have run out of time."
In the midst of the hoopla over a new day in Washington, he wants people to remember that the economic crisis is taking a terrible toll on ordinary people like him.
"We want to work," he said. "We want to take care of ourselves.
"I just want people to know the truth about what is happening out here."
We understand what Obama is up against.
But the promises made during this historic election can't come slow.
The clock is ticking.