Topic: Barack Obama
Now Comes the Hard Part Regardless of political affiliation or for whom one was pulling, this election was an historic moment for the country. Voters, many of them first-timers, turned out in droves to help elect an African-American president, which speaks volumes on how far we have progressed on the issue of race.by Matthew Bastian
(libertarian)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Wednesday's headlines said it all.
Regardless of political affiliation or for whom one was pulling, this election was an historic moment for the country. Voters, many of them first-timers, turned out in droves to help elect an African-American president, which speaks volumes on how far we have progressed on the issue of race.
Barack Obama ran a splendid campaign, raising record amounts of cash and inspiring millions of people along the way. His opponent, John McCain, made several mistakes in an environment where Republicans had little margin for error.
In this day-after cloud, however, there are a few threads of silver lining for conservatives and the GOP. The first is that the whole, exhaustive affair is finally over. From the primary season to the finish line, the campaign seemed to last an eternity (at the rate we're going, the first 2012 debates are just around the corner), and this will be the last cycle in which Democrats can saddle Republicans with the albatross of George Bush. Party leaders can regroup and ponder what they could have done differently against the perfect storm: an avalanche of Obama cash, a bad economy, and an unpopular sitting president. They also appear to have avoided a filibuster-proof majority for Senate Democrats.
Other than that, the election was a thorough drubbing.
With his usual grace, Obama gave an impressive victory speech before an adoring crowd in Chicago on Tuesday night, with many of his supporters chanting his campaign slogan of "Yes, We Can!"
Now that the race is over, the next logical question, one that some of us have long been asking, is, "Yes, We Can...What, Exactly?"
For Obama, the easy part ended last night.
Throughout the campaign, one of Obama's favorite rhetorical flourishes was to encourage "hope over fear" and "unity over division." Just last week he added that the election offered an opportunity to choose "the promise of change overthe power of the status quo."
Those touching sentiments aside, President Obama will take office in January over a bitterly divided country. While it gave him a comfortable margin of victory in the Electoral College, 46% of the voting public did not buy into the Obama magic. Soaring rhetoric may work just fine when calling the faithful to the Church of Hope and Change, but Obama will need to do much more to rally skeptics to the cause.
"Hope" and "fear" - those of us to the right of the political spectrum have equal amounts of both at the moment.
I hope that President Obama will start the healing process by reaching across party lines to nominate some Republicans for cabinet posts. I fear, however, that gloating partisans like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will turn him into a sore winner, or that he will follow the "Chicago Way" of politics by rewarding cronies and close supporters with choice positions.
I hope that President Obama will follow through on his promise to "find our common ground" to get things done for our country. I fear, though, that we will get our fair share of the Senator Obama whose voting record has been very liberal and highly partisan, having never bucked the party line on any issue of substance.
I hope that President Obama will govern as the man who said that the 2nd Amendment, on principle, protects and individual right. I fear, though, that we have elected the Senator Obama who endorsed a total ban on handguns, would tax ammunition 500%, and wants to prohibit gun stores within five miles of a school or park (effectively putting the vast majority out of business). The second Obama is neither friend nor supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
I hope that President Obama will hold the line at his proposed tax credits for the middle class. My fear, however, is that his definition of "the rich" will have to devolve over time, perhaps down to $200,000 or $150,000, in order to support a trillion dollars in new government spending and a looming Social Security crisis. The politics of class envy can get quite nasty once the definition of the "haves" becomes a moving target.
Obama won the presidency with smooth, often evasive, talk and a fat campaign wallet; he must govern by decisive action and with a drained federal treasury. He has made an exhaustive list of promises and priorities, setting the bar very high for himself in the process. His supporters are expecting minor miracles. Some of them aren't quite sure what they voted for, other than "change," but they are brimming with excitement and can't wait to see the magic, whatever it may be, unfold.
Indeed, the hard part lies ahead.
For those of us who await his presidency with a certain amount of trepidation, having never been convinced by his nebulous call for "change," his first 100 days could go a long way towards proving his commitment to unifying and healing a divided country. The current president promised and attempted the same only to find it a losing proposition, having been vilified by the Left and abandoned by the Right.
It's your move, Mr. President-Elect.
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The views expressed in this
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