Election 2008 II

A number of friends and family have commented to me about how I've yet to blog about Obama's victory. First, I'm flattered that people are still reading my blog. I'm doubly flattered that people care what I think about Obama winning.

That said, I'm happy to throw in my two cents.

I know enough about politics to know that just because someone gets elected president doesn't necessarily mean that everything will change. Moving a president's agenda forward requires either a very well orchestrated dance or a forceful jamming home of legislation, the latter having been perfected by the W. Bush administration.

Obama has intense plans for the future requiring extremely difficult legislation. He will have the advantage of a supportive Senate and House (though not quite fillibuster-proof), but he will have to fight some of the most powerful lobbies-the healthcare industry, the fossil fuel industry, and the military industrial complex- to achieve his goals. Further, he is taking the reins during the greatest financial crisis since the great depression. Given the right ideas and execution, he is poised to be a modern day FDR, putting people back to work repairing the infrastructure of our country, leading the world forward with advances in alternative energy, and providing healthcare to all those who are either too sick, poor, or middle class to afford it. By the same token, if he fails in execution and is mired in scandal or conflict, he could be the next Hoover.

What I feel about Obama's victory is not excitement nor relief....but hope. I realize that just because Obama has been elected doesn't automatically mean a happy ending. The agenda he has for the country is at least rigorous. As a nation, we have been eating donuts since the Carter presidency, or the last time that a president asked us to sacrifice. I have the feeling Obama will want to put us on a diet and make us all start running laps. That is, all this change won't come easy. We've got serious work to do. The Chinese and Japanese aren't going to give us the money to fund all of these wonderful programs. Weaning ourselves off fossil fuels will not be extremely uncomfortable. Removing funding from underperforming programs will not be pretty either. In short, to accomplish his goals for the nation, Obama will likely make changes that affect each and every one of us.

At first, despite whether or not a change is in the grand scheme of things a good thing, almost everyone has difficulty adapting. U.S. citizens are not accustomed to sacrificing. It's been a while. Can we do it? Of course. Has it been a while, maybe since Korea or WWII? I'm too young to be able to say it authoritatively, but history suggests it.

My concern is that people will at first reject the changes that Obama makes, that the daily discomfort and change in peoples' lives and routines will be too much. I think people in the U.S. have become accustomed to having it very easy, not having to deal with change or disruptions, always more or less landing on their feet, despite temporary setbacks.

The fact is, though, that for significant change to take place, people will have to put up with momentary and in some cases extended periods of discomfort as we push towards a new stasis, a new form of being. Obama will have to prepare the nation for this discomfort. He will have to ask the country to sacrifice, to be patriotic not just about going to war, but about achieving important domestic goals as well. If we honestly want to make progress with domestic programs, we have to transform from a country of patriotic warriors to a country with nationalistic fervor for assuring that our tax dollars do the greatest possible good for the greatest number and the country as a whole as well. We must be able to believe in and trust our government. We must be better watch dogs. We must all take more personal responsibility for our government. We must be our government.

I personally am sick of seeing the greatest number of my tax dollars go to wars and the military (though I certainly value their role). I'm disgusted by the fact that we're the richest nation on the planet and we don't yet have healthcare for all our citizens. I can't understand how we've allowed college to become so expensive. I'm annoyed at how we've ignored our potential to continue to power our economy forward while at the same time increasing our national security and decreasing our dependence on Middle Eastern oil by investing in alternative energy technology. I want us to change from a country of people who are only patriotic about war, to a country of people who are patriotic about improving life at home.

I think Obama shares this vision. More importantly, I think he possesses the strength, energy, passion, chutzbah, and rhetorical skills to carry us from this mess to a better place. I think he is smart enough to know that he must prepare people for the sacrifices that they will have to make, for the unsettling changes that are sure to come. I hope that he is able to convince people that the effort will be worth the final reward.

But most of all, I hope the people of the U.S. still know how to sacrifice. I hope we truly are the greatest country on Earth. I hope that we have the willpower and strength to adapt, to hold onto our place in the world while we evolve into something better.