Thanks for sharing your perspective. More empathy is needed between the progressives and the culturalists. But isn’t the very fact of an Obama presidency something that was always going to rile up the reactionary wing of who you describe as the culturalists? I think his getting elected in the first instance was a wake-up call of sorts to those who are afraid of how much the world is changing. No amount of empathy from President Obama would have changed everyone’s minds about him or his agenda. More understanding could have led to better dialogue between both sides, but would it have changed the culturists’ minds on gay marriage? Immigration reform? Healthcare? These types of visceral reactions from isolationist-leaning culturist types have happened before (e.g., the civil rights and women’s rights movements), but that doesn’t mean we were wrong for pursuing those policies. Perhaps the culturalists should show more empathy as well. Tough sell to blame all of this on our President.