Author: Lee M.

Like most of the people in my immediate social circle I’m somewhere between delighted and ecstatic about Obama’s victory, both because of what it means for our immediate future as a country and for overcoming, to some extent, the sins of our past (recent as well as more remote ones). Over the course of the campaign Obama’s intellect, judgment, and temperament increasingly impressed me, and I voted for him enthusiastically. I think this administration, along with a Democratic Congress, has at least an even chance at taking the country in a new and improved direction. I’m also really happy that America didn’t fall for the Republican slime machine and didn’t give into its more atavistic tendencies (whether out of idealism or cold, calculating self-interest doesn’t much matter). I’ve even found myself a bit verklempt on more than one occasion during the past 24 hours at the sheer historical-ness of it all.

Obama will undoubtedly do bad things and fail to do important things that need doing, and there’s a great risk that left-of-center folks in particular will give him a pass. Like any politician, he should be supported and praised when he does something right and ruthlessly criticized when he does something wrong. That said, I’m happy that liberalism has its turn at the helm, especially as conservatism in its present incarnation has proven itself to be such a dismal failure. Hopefully a saner conservatism will emerge in the years to come.

But before getting too complacent we should remind ourselves that this election, however significant, didn’t even touch on many of the “big” questions facing us, like the environmental crisis, the resource crunch, our military footprint, etc. The magnitude of these issuess highlights how ridiculous a debate about whether a 39% marginal tax rate constitues “socialism” really is. My hope is that the new political climate might open up a space where those debates can happen.

Anyway, here’s some reading on what to expect, what to hope for, and what to be wary of:

Obama’s Victory Speech

The war for Obama’s economic soul

Obama’s many majorities

A mandate to end the war

The great repudiator

America the liberal

The “real America”

What an Obama victory means for the environment

One more thing: it’s probably time to start putting away those t-shirts, posters, etc. with Obama’s face emblazoned on them. When he’s an avator of hope it may be inspiring, but when he’s president it’s creepy and Orwellian.