Change in Command for the Commander in Chief

I’m honestly quite humbled by what I’ve learned over the past 44 days while producing this project.

I’ve seen that everyone has a unique perspective on issues holding the strongest relevance for their own lives. This isn’t all that surprising, but if you ask someone to talk about what they know inside and out, something central to their life experience, then you usually get a level of insight much more nuanced and thoughtful than the surface level dribble we consume on a daily basis from the mainstream media. This was one of the primary goals for the project and I hope we’ve fulfilled it in some small way. To everyone who took the time to respond, we can’t thank you enough.

On a more personal note, the project has also been a kind of reality check for me.

I like broad strokes. I can be somewhat impulsive (to a fault). I’m a night-time optimist, and in the morning, well, I like to sleep in. I guess those are a few of the reasons I’m so drawn to Obama; because I buy into the idea that one man (or woman) can stand in front of the country and paint these bright, bold (and certainly broad) strokes, and turn the ship around. For me he serves as a conduit into the finer points of political policy. He makes me want to understand more about middle-class tax policy, our educational shortcomings, or healthcare reform. In other words, for the first time in my adult life, I want to know how they make the sausages.

So, why the aforementioned reality check? Because my line of thinking doesn’t work for everyone. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and President Obama faces a monumental pile of ‘stuff-too-complicated-for-any-one-person-to-understand’. A fair number of the responses on Change In Command have shown us that there’s a lot of work to be done, not only in terms of clear leadership and action from the top down, but for a meaningful shift in the political mindset from the bottom up. Most people just don’t want to be bothered with politics. I experienced this firsthand when I knocked on doors in Philadelphia before the election, and my co-workers and I have seen it again while working to rally responses for this website. For my generation in particular (I’m 27), I’m still surprised by an overwhelming sense of apathy. Granted, Obama’s candidacy inspired more energy amongst young people than any political figure in recent history, but will that translate into any lasting impact? Will we finally start to take responsibility for what happens in our world; in this country, in cities small and large, and even in our own neighborhoods? I’m not so sure.

And then I watched our new President speak today, and I thought, maybe, just maybe … and I’m in.

Nathan Heleine is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer for Crush + Lovely, a creative studio fostering ideas, content, design and technology for the modern web.

He recently had the crazy idea to cover 44 issues in 44 days on this website, and therefore owes all of his co-workers a drink or two (or three). When he’s not at home in Brooklyn, he’s probably either making things for the internet at Crush + Lovely’s Soho or San Francisco studios, or visiting random cities to ask Fifty People, One Question

Nathan also serves as Web & Marketing Director for Sustainable Party and likes to make music with strange instruments.