For one, Obama is far from perfect. He's inexperienced and he's clearly promising things he won't be able to deliver, due to the poor state of the economy. That he never fell for the fabricated rationales for the Iraqi War (as I did) does him great credit; still, it seems unrealistic and potentially disastrous to pull completely out. I have reservations.
I also fear a Democratic majority that gets drunk on its own power and becomes stupidly hubristic, antagonizing the opposition party and doing everything it can to shut them out of power. The relief that they share with many Americans is born of bitterness and disappointment--bitter in the knowledge that two Gore terms would have had us all in a much better, less (late 19th Century-ish) regressive position, and disappointment that only now, when it is all but too late, does America repudiate Bush/Cheney. After all, what good does it do to disapprove of someone after they've already gutted you? It will perhaps be twenty years before we get back to the sort of economic prosperity we saw during the second Clinton term (if ever), and America is weaker pretty much across the entire spectrum, in nearly every category that one can conceive. And yet there is this: we are no longer sliding backward; we are no longer being looted; and with some work and discipline, several years from now we may progress towards being a more stable, sane, and dynamic nation.
But all that is yet to come. For now, we can bask in post-racist America, where yes, even a black man can be president. And Obama seems to genuinely want to inspire the best. Even during the most bitter parts of the election he never once played the race card (the Clarence Thomas "this is just a high tech lynching", etc.), and it would have been his right to do so because, no mistake, the Republicans were clearly appealing to racism. It didn't work, mainly because no matter what may be lurking underneath the dark recesses of our consciousness, the majority knows race in and of itself is an irrelevant category in judging a person's ability and quality of character. It is my sincerest hope that electing Obama has the corollary effect of kicking off a renaissance in the black community. Clearly his experience is not identical to all, but his ascent to power does indicate that now more than ever, anything is possible in America. And again, he did not win by dividing as many before him have done.
I'm disappointed, too. We beat the wrong guy. If McCain had won in 2000, America would be a better place. It's one of the greater inequities of recent history that an essentially good man like himself is defeated but that Bush/Cheney got eight years of a blank check. This would be much more satisfying if it were 2004 and we were giving those charlatans and looters the boot. Still, at least we don't have to deal with that Christo-fascist Palin as the understudy to the most powerful man in the world. My blood runs cold at the mere thought.
The bad guys did score some substantial victories. There were three states that banned gay marriage, much to the eternal shame of us all.
Not quite an "Empire Strikes Back" kind of ending (i.e., that "we're fucked! I don't see us ever coming out of this one in one piece"), as there's much to be hopeful about. The circus is over for now. The pressing issue of the day is how we can get the economy back on solid footing. So let's all hold our collective breaths; even though Paulsen seems like a rather clueless man with $700 billion he's not sure how to blow, the Bush era is nearly over, and there's now a cap on how much destruction they can wreak.
Who knows what faces us next? One thing's for sure: we can't sink any lower than we have in the past eight years. Here's to the likelihood of American leadership that doesn't make us cringe and wince every time we see it on TV and hear it on the radio. With any luck, we'll be back in the twenty first century by the end of Obama's second term.
