Gassen: Trump, Cruz are flip side of Obama's hope and change

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jan. 20, 2009. The day Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States.

I was there, in that massive crowd, with my husband. We stood with the millions who’d come to watch Obama become our president. There was such a feeling of hope and exhilaration. Such powerful faith in the future, of the good our country could do for ourselves, and in the world.

But here we are, seven years later and the presidential campaign, on the Republican side anyway, is all about how the country is going, or has already gone, to hell. Nothing about America is good anymore. There’s no more optimism that we can reach great heights — it’s all about getting back to where we were, back to when America was “great.” Because Republicans like things that are great.

Maybe this is like one of Sir Isaac Newton’s laws — that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

This could help explain the fervor of hatred, xenophobia and ignorance that surrounds Republican candidates like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. It’s the flip side of the optimism and intelligence that Obama inspired.

Back on Jan. 20, 2009, the sun rose on people of all sorts wrapped in coats and hats and gloves and quilts and knitted afghans and scarves and long underwear and beach towels — the warmest things each of us could pile on. It was quite a sight.

The parents and teenagers who’d traveled from South Dakota stood unfazed, chuckling a bit in their sweatshirts and unzipped coats as the rest of us shivered.

If I were trying to be poetic maybe I’d say that the hope and love among us, the powerful excitement of why we were standing in front of the U.S. Capitol that morning kept us warm. Maybe something about the fire of democracy burning bright in our hearts.

But the cold didn't matter to those who came to see the peaceful transition of power from one president to the next — a miracle in itself. We came to see George W. Bush leave the White House and a new man, a man of optimism, intelligence, wit and reason, take our highest office.

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After Obama took the oath, such a shout raised up. President Barack Obama. Hope had survived and become reality.

And yes, the fact the he is the first president who is African-American made a difference to his supporters — and to some of his opponents. Obama would come to the office with life experiences that, because of who he is, have been significantly different than the 43 men before him. This was a positive. This was good for the country.

He would help Americans understand each other. We were hopeful that when Obama talked about changing the atmosphere in Washington, D.C., he could do it. It felt as if a page had been turned.

But, as happy as millions of Americans were to have Bush gone, millions of others saw Obama as an enemy, even before he took office. It would only get worse.

Watching Obama’s final State of the Union address Tuesday night, I remembered that optimism, the feeling of possibility.

So did he. “It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency — that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. I have no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.”

None of the candidates for president today, on either side, spur much faith for a future of common ground, certainly not without a significant change in Congress.

But, then I remember that change is inevitable. And, in our United States, it is purposeful. It’s a gift from the Founders. Change is necessary. The people sitting in our seats of power change, if we make them. We’ve done it before.

Hope for a better future is built-in. Perhaps that’s reason enough for optimism.