“IT’S OVER, IT’S OVER…”

11/4/08

I write this after the 10:00 (CST) declaration by all the major networks and news services that Barack Obama has won the election and before President-elect Obama’s speeches. I’m not much for speeches; pap and pabulum do little for me and even the best political speech is little more than an agglomeration of platitudes and other cotton candy for the mind, so I have chosen to write a few thoughts while anticipating, and listening to, President-elect Obama’s speech.

Mr. Obama’s election is, in many ways, a propitious development for our country. The most obvious reason is that his election shows that we have moved even further along the path away from the racism and bi-nationalism that characterized much of our history. As has been said ad nauseam by the talking heads, young people have no idea how much this election means because they have no idea how preposterous the idea of a Black president sounded not all that many years ago. But even if Mr. Obama were not born of a White mother and a Black father, his election would be a wondrous event. President-elect Obama embodies what America is, or was, all about: he is a guy who came from nothing, a product of a broken home, who worked hard, studied hard, and accomplished great things for himself and for his family and hopefully will do even more remarkable things for the country that has been so good to him. He is one of those great American stories that comprise our history and our very meaning as a nation. He is a role model for all young Americans, a family man, a good man, a decent and honorable man.

Will Obama lead us on some sort of dangerous path to statism and reckless social experimentation, as some of my conservative friends seem to think? Not if he is smart and ambitious, and Mr. Obama is both in abundance. It’s hard to believe that the overwhelmingly centrist American electorate will stand for some sort of radical agenda, so, even with overwhelming majorities in the House and the Senate, it is very doubtful that the very bright Mr. Obama will embark on some quixotic, misguided statist agenda.

On the other hand, a look at the electoral map does not contribute to such a sanguine view of the future of the country, or certainly for the Republican Party and, by extension, our nation. The red states very much resemble the old confederacy, with an extension into the west. It would be a stretch to say that the implications are obvious, but, by its firm embrace of Sarah Palin and her seeming quest to return us to what she doubtless considers the halcyon days of the Know Nothing Party, the core of the GOP seems to be confirming its comfort with its baser instincts and elements. Clearly, large numbers of Republicans rejected the inclinations of what has become the GOP base. So it looks like the GOP is headed toward schism, a reexamination of its mission, or both. Some of us are hoping that a few years out of power will chasten and purify the Party and return it to its roots. But I’m not sure at times what those roots are. I used to think that the GOP stood for, to put it very simply, free markets and free men, but, after eight years of Bushism, the McCain campaign, and the ghastly Sarah Palin flier, one has to wonder if that assumption was ever true. The GOP got a well deserved spanking (body slamming and atomic dropping, really) tonight. What it learns from this spanking could be salutary if the Party returns to sanity or disastrous if it only leads to a round of witch-hunting and reaffirmation of its baser instincts characterized by a growing certainty that those who don’t agree with its lunatic fringe do so out of a profound disloyalty to the country and/or a secret socialist, pro-terrorist agenda. Some partisans on the Democratic side might say that an increasingly irrelevant Republican Party might not be a bad thing, and they might be right. But there has to be a viable alternative to the Democrats if our system is to survive. Maybe it won’t be the Republican Party; it definitely won’t be if the Palin wing of the Party somehow gains ascendancy from the party’s electoral fiasco. But there better be some alternative.

By the way, President-elect Obama’s speech has just ended and, as much as I abhor political speeches, it was a great one. Perhaps I am just a sucker for any speech that begins with “It’s great to be here in Chicago” and that features my beloved hometown as its backdrop, but this speech would have been great even if it had been delivered in Washington, D.C.

Senator McCain’s concession speech was also outstanding. However, the reaction of the crowd at Senator McCain’s speech to his mention of Vice-President elect Biden only confirmed the fears I expressed two paragraphs ago.

On a personal note, as this election entered the home stretch, the stock market, and the financial system, melted down, and the Republicans responded with their own especially noxious form of statism, I have reflected on the last eight disastrous years of George Bush and the obsequiousness shown toward him by virtually his entire party (including, despite the mythology he tried to propagate, Senator McCain) until very late in this election season. I have been continually reminded of a line from the play “Annie,” in which FDR says to Oliver Warbucks “We’ll make a New Dealer out of you yet.” Well, we are embarking on a new administration and a new approach in the throes of very difficult time in our nation’s history. It’s all very exciting and thought provoking. No, Barack Obama probably is never going to make a Democrat out of me, but I suspect that he is probably the ONLY guy who even has a remote chance of doing so.

Finally, MSNBC had as one of its commentators a Bishop Jakes whose first name and affiliation, channel hopper that I am on election night, I did not get. However, I was impressed by Bishop Jakes and especially by his observation that President-elect Obama will need our prayers as he faces the challenges that lie ahead for him and for our nation and by his earnest pleas that we say, and continue to say, those prayers. As great as Mr. Obama’s speech was, Bishop Jakes’ observation on the necessity of prayers was the most profound utterance of the evening.