Where Have You Gone, Barack Obama? Our Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You.

I am not suggesting Barack Obama was perfect or that he alone could heal what divides us today. Rather, he represents, at least to me, a style of leadership that appealed to our better angels instead of our worst instincts. I miss that aspiration. More than anything, I miss believing that politics could still be a force capable of bringing Americans together rather than driving them further apart.

We need leaders with vision, empathy, integrity, and the courage to place country above party. We need people willing to accept political consequences for defending democratic institutions and constitutional principles. I do not pretend to have the answers, but I believe those leaders exist, and this is not the moment for them to remain on the sidelines.

So how did we get here? 

The answer is undoubtedly complicated, but I suspect it has less to do with politics than with what we have become willing to tolerate in ourselves and in one an

other.

Why do so many Americans believe the country is on the right path while others believe its democratic foundations are under strain? I have returned to that question repeatedly.

When I look at the public record, not opinion or partisan rhetoric - but court decisions, official investigations, and documented events - I find much that troubles me. Donald Trump has been found liable for sexual abuse in civil court, convicted on 34 felony counts in New York, and found liable for extensive financial fraud. A bipartisan House committee concluded that he played a central role in the events leading to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, while senior Republicans, including then-Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, publicly assigned him moral responsibility for that day.

Whether one agrees with those conclusions or disputes their significance, they form part of the public record.

If those same facts described a CEO, a local elected official, or a neighbor entrusted with a position of responsibility, I suspect many Americans across the political spectrum would have serious concerns about that person's fitness for leadership.

Why, then, is politics different?

Some voters understandably prioritize taxes, regulation, border security, or economic policy above all else. Others are motivated by cultural concerns or believe government has become disconnected from ordinary Americans. Those are legitimate political debates in a democracy.

But I also worry that our politics has become increasingly tribal—that too many of us are willing to excuse behavior from our own side that we would condemn in anyone else.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party has changed dramatically, while Democrats continue searching for a message and leadership capable of uniting a broad coalition. Confidence in institutions has eroded, economic inequality continues to grow, and public trust seems increasingly fragile.

America has always wrestled with contradictions. Our nation was built upon extraordinary ideals while also carrying the profound injustice of slavery. We declared that all people are created equal while denying that promise to millions. Progress has never been inevitable; it has always required people willing to expand the meaning of freedom and equality.

History rarely moves in a straight line. It advances, retreats, and advances again.

Perhaps what concerns me most is not our disagreements but our diminishing capacity to understand one another.

As I have written before, many people possess sympathy but not empathy. Sympathy says, "I'm sorry that happened to you." Empathy says, "I can imagine your pain, and for a moment I will carry a small part of it with you."

The world has no shortage of certainty, outrage, or division.

What it desperately needs is more people willing to see life through someone else's eyes.