So, I'm sure that everyone on the blogosphere has been writing about this, and it's an extraordinarily unoriginal topic, but I thought I'd write a short note about the Obama inauguration and the politics of the past few months/next few years in general. It's difficult to put into words how January 20th made me feel: on the one hand, I couldn't happier that the Bush years are finally, FINALLY, over and the fact that he's being replaced in one of the most historic ways imaginable is just icing on the proverbial cake. But it was also a day with a gnawing in the back of my mind that there is no possible way that Obama can live up to all the expectations this nation has of him. Has any other president come to office with such lofty goals, most of which have been projected onto him by a populace yearning for a leader? I had to remind myself over an over again during the election, as I projected my own hopes and dreams onto him, that he was not a messiah but a politician, and given my usually cynical disposition regarding American politics, this was constant reality-checker. I do think Obama will be a good president, but with a system as dependent on money and the pursuit of power, can any politician, even the righteous, survive without making moral compromises? I got emotional on election night as the results came in and immediately felt bad for letting personal feelings triumph intellect in an arena which should be reserved for rational thinking. Then again, after eight years of irrationality, I'm willing to let my emotions receive some benefit of the doubt. The 20th was no exception and I found myself getting emotional in the oddest moments, notably John Williams' absolutely gorgeous arrangement of Copland's "Simple Gifts". But as a good citizen, I feel I must not let my admiration of the man get in the way of my better judgment and not prevent me from recognizing mistakes and missteps, as I'm sure there will be some.
We shouldn't forget that Obama won in large part due to the economic crisis, the nation's intense distaste for the Bush administration, and the ineffectiveness of the McCain campaign. Certainly, he was an extremely strong candidate, appealing to disparate groups and spawning the greatest grassroots organization in the history of the Internet, but I can't help but think that the election would have been much closer were it not for the former factors. Politically-speaking, I'm not sure this is a "transformational" election or not and I'm not sure we can know until it recedes into history, though, for obvious reasons, it is an historic election. Randy mentioned the other day how perturbed he was that the 4th graders in his class didn't appreciate the "enormity" of this inauguration, but in a sense, I think for the future this is a good thing, because the more "normal" the election of an African-American to the presidency seems the better.
A few things I found especially interesting about this election (I know it's about two and half months late for this discussion, but I wasn't blogging in November so humor me): Obama did better than John Kerry among every demographic in the country except gays and voters over 65. The gay vote may have been due to the fact that overall, Obama has been less vocal about this issue that Kerry was, and by the fact that, other than California's Proposition 8, gay rights was not promoted as a national issue to the extent that it was in 2004. The lower numbers of Democratic voters over 65 is the only instance I've seen that racism may have played a role in the election (I have seen no convincing data that it was direct result of racism--after all, it could simply be that, with McCain's age, the elderly identified more with him). If it was race, it probably means that once the generation born in the pre-Civil Rights era begins to die off, racism as a factor in elections will have become significantly marginalized.
I also wonder where Republicans will go from here, and I think they are now certainly as weak as they have been since before 1980, but the reports of their utter demise have been drastically overstated. The unilateral arrogance of neoconservative foreign policy has likely run its course, but the ideals of small government and lower taxes are not simply going to go quietly into the night. If I may play conservative's advocate for a moment, my worries as a Republican would be not in the future of the party but in the make-up of it. Watch McCain's concession speech. One of the most noticeable differences between the crowd there and any crowd at an Obama speech is it's lack of diversity. Whites made up 74% of the elctorate in 2008, its lowest number ever in a US election, and whites were the only racial demographic to vote for McCain over Obama. These numbers will only continue to decline as blacks, Latinos, and Asians compose more and more of the population of America, to the point that, somewhere between 2040 and 2050, people of European descent are expected to make up less than 50% of the US population for the first time ever. If Republicans can't find a way to reach out to and appeal to people of all colors, they run the very dangerous risk of becoming nothing more than a jingoist, neo-imperialist party and descend into irrelevancy.
All in all, I'm very hopeful and excited about the next four years, and though I expect to be underwhelmed by the results at times, I can't deny that I have never been this excited about a politician in my lifetime. This marks the first time ever that I have actually voted for the person who won the presidency, so this is also the first time in which I feel like I have some personal stake in how well he does. Here's hoping...
A few things I found especially interesting about this election (I know it's about two and half months late for this discussion, but I wasn't blogging in November so humor me): Obama did better than John Kerry among every demographic in the country except gays and voters over 65. The gay vote may have been due to the fact that overall, Obama has been less vocal about this issue that Kerry was, and by the fact that, other than California's Proposition 8, gay rights was not promoted as a national issue to the extent that it was in 2004. The lower numbers of Democratic voters over 65 is the only instance I've seen that racism may have played a role in the election (I have seen no convincing data that it was direct result of racism--after all, it could simply be that, with McCain's age, the elderly identified more with him). If it was race, it probably means that once the generation born in the pre-Civil Rights era begins to die off, racism as a factor in elections will have become significantly marginalized.
I also wonder where Republicans will go from here, and I think they are now certainly as weak as they have been since before 1980, but the reports of their utter demise have been drastically overstated. The unilateral arrogance of neoconservative foreign policy has likely run its course, but the ideals of small government and lower taxes are not simply going to go quietly into the night. If I may play conservative's advocate for a moment, my worries as a Republican would be not in the future of the party but in the make-up of it. Watch McCain's concession speech. One of the most noticeable differences between the crowd there and any crowd at an Obama speech is it's lack of diversity. Whites made up 74% of the elctorate in 2008, its lowest number ever in a US election, and whites were the only racial demographic to vote for McCain over Obama. These numbers will only continue to decline as blacks, Latinos, and Asians compose more and more of the population of America, to the point that, somewhere between 2040 and 2050, people of European descent are expected to make up less than 50% of the US population for the first time ever. If Republicans can't find a way to reach out to and appeal to people of all colors, they run the very dangerous risk of becoming nothing more than a jingoist, neo-imperialist party and descend into irrelevancy.
All in all, I'm very hopeful and excited about the next four years, and though I expect to be underwhelmed by the results at times, I can't deny that I have never been this excited about a politician in my lifetime. This marks the first time ever that I have actually voted for the person who won the presidency, so this is also the first time in which I feel like I have some personal stake in how well he does. Here's hoping...
I barely got to watch any of the inaugural coverage. I kept sneaking off to the break room, but my boss kept sneaking in, too, and busting me because I was assigned to phone coverage which means I was tied to my desk. Boo. The only thing I got to watch live was their first dance at the Neighborhood Ball.
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