Thoughts on the Election

Some More Thoughts on the Election by Andy

1. Compare this election to Bush v Gore – In 2000 Bush/Cheney (not strong candidates) almost beat the Democrats that were able to claim responsibility for a strong economy, no wars, budget surpluses, etc. Obama as the best candidate in U.S. history with huge financial support and a skilled grassroots organizing and vote-getting machine was campaigning against an unskilled and ludicrous Republican ticket that was allied to the super-unpopular President Bush II who was responsible for a disastrous financial crisis, a recession, two losing wars, record gas prices, Katrina, WTC, housing market collapse, etc. And Obama only wins 52% to 46% - 55,500,000 still voted for the Republican. This is not a massive swing to enlightenment among the American people that folks in NYC & Europe want to see.

2. my favorite comment on the election, from ranprieur.com -
"November 5. I might be the only Obama voter who is disappointed. He did not beat the polls, despite his massive ground game and all the cell phone voters, and he had short coattails, with Democrats doing a bit worse than expected in House and Senate races. In my own state, which Obama won by 16 points, two brilliant Democrats, Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark, might yet lose to mediocre Republicans. California, which Obama won by 24 points, voted to ban gay marriage. I don't see a progressive surge -- I see the most exceptional presidential candidate in decades doing everything right and still needing luck to win. If McCain had picked Tom Ridge as VP, and the financial collapse had happened two months later, the pundits would now be saying that America is not ready for a black president, that the 50 state strategy was a blunder, that a massive volunteer network is a waste of time, that rural white voters are real Americans and
college students are out of touch.

This is not the dawning of a new era. We put out a fire, and there are more coming. It's going to be interesting to see what the Republican party does now. The smart move is to rebuke the wingnuts, move back to center-right, and be patient. If they do that, they'll be the dominant party again before 2020. The bold move is to go old-fashioned populist, culturally conservative and economically socialist. That would change everything, but I don't think they have the balls. And the stupid move is to go even farther to the right. That's also the most dangerous move for the country, because they might just get some lucky breaks and win."

3. Obama is going to be HATED by the lunatic-right-wing (already is - they shout "kill him" and "arab" when his name comes up) - maybe 15% of the population? he will be jesus to the 20% of liberals (occasionally a disappointing jesus, but if you read the gospels you can see that is also part of the role). and the rest of the people will believe a mixture of the right wing and the liberals, hope and fear in a bad tasting combination. i think his ability to carry out his idealistic but pragmatic reform policies such as universal health care through a federal program that is set up to move us towards single-payer like in canada, taxing the rich more, more diplomacy, some slow-down on greenhouse gases, some alternative energy, etc will be limited by the recession and financial crisis and by the ravings of the rightwing. but he might slow down the movement of the u.s. towards chaos and idiocy.

4. Compare Obama’s upcoming Presidency to Clinton’s – In 1992 Clinton won office over Bush I in the middle of a mild recession – raised taxes on rich people and created Family & Medical Leave policy but failed to pass his biggest promise – universal health care legislation and had to compromise on gays in the military. By 1994 the rightwing surged & won 54 additional seats and control of the House with the “Contract with America”.

5. There has been a lot of talk about the powerful effects on the culture of having a “Black President.” It is probably true that some people (ethnic minorities especially) who have been told not to dream too big will feel encouraged to dream bigger. But it is also likely that the election of this mixed-race President will be taken as an opportunity for people to say that Blacks and others should “stop whining” and “shut up and act like everything is fair”. But everything is not fair – African-Americans are far more likely to deal with the problems of poverty and discrimination than European-Americans – and that is a result of the historical legacy of slavery and white supremacist policy in the U.S. And that legacy doesn’t go “poof” just because we have another outstanding Black celebrity – just as Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, and Michael Jackson didn’t guarantee equal opportunities and basic dignity for all ethnic minorities. Bottom line – Black and Hispanic and Asian children still face an unfair burden of poverty and discrimination and Obama would have to be a miracle worker, not just President, to change that.

6. Obama and many of his supporters have pointed to the crucial role of engaged volunteers and activists in getting him elected and that his election is “not the change, just the chance to make the change.” But what are we all supposed to do? Its pretty clear how to organize volunteers to win an election – phone calls, door knocking, working at the campaign office, etc. How do we organize the millions of enthusiastic and principled supporters of the Obama campaign to end the war in Iraq? Create non-profit universal health care? Guarantee a decent childhood to poor Black and Hispanic and all other children? Transfer the economy from an Earth-plundering model to a sustainable ecological economy?

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