Post Election Thoughts

I am exuberantly fantastically happy. The pride I feel is new and exciting for me. Obama's win was decisive. The electoral vote count currently sits at 349 to 163 and his popular vote lead is a stunning 53% to 46%. Obama has a mandate that Bush, for one, never had. And here is where people have started to rain on my parade. It started before the election was even over with Newsweek's cover story cautioning Obama about "center-right nation" he might lead. Tonight on the news I heard Nancy Pelosi talking about starting the new legislative session with a children's health care bill, something she pointed out had been passed under Bush. Her message was one of cautious change and moderation.

Remember when Bush took office? He snuck into the presidency with a popular vote loss and a push from the Scalia and he took office like a cowboy. He appointed people with extreme conservative credentials and he started pushing conservative policies with such swagger you'd have thought he'd had a landslide behind him. And he got away with it. In his eight years he systematically undermined every progressive policy of the Clinton era and constructed an administration that has been an unapologetic disaster not just for their image but for the very lives of American and foreign citizens. Throughout all this, even when Democrats managed to take Congress their protests were meek at best.

Here we have a man who has the most liberal record of any senator. He has the most progressive platform of any presidential nominee since before Clinton. And he won decisively, even easily. He won on a message of Change and of Unity all balanced on a very progressive platform. He wants to tax the rich. He wants a new sustainable energy policy. He wants an economy tailored to narrowing the income gap, not widening it. He said in the second debate he thinks we should have the right to health care; this is a phenomenal and radical idea. How is it that we see a man like this get elected so decisively, at this moment in history where the economy is falling apart in such a big way, and the message, even from leaders in his party, is one of baby steps? Oh I remember, its because his party is the democratic one, the party of the spineless.

I believe Obama will be the leader he promised and has already shown himself to be. I will be happy if he appoints a cabinet with diverse politics and expertise. I want a white house full of discussion and argument and careful decision making. But that said, I want the big changes I voted for. I don't think the discussion of where the country sits politically at this point is actually worth asking. Even if this country has been a center right nation what this vote says unarguably is that this nation is ready to try something else. If Obama seizes his moment with the vision he has demonstrated up to now and fulfils the promise of this election he will make a center-left nation. Now, few know for sure what the effect of his ideas might be. This nation has known little else in my lifetime save a conservative corporate friendly government. This election demands that Obama show us something else. If he doesn't he will go down in history as a disappointment. I hardly dare imagine what consequences that might bring. I think Obama won because he has the fortitude and vision that his party is long lacking. Nancy Pelosi's remarks today reminded me that the change has not come yet. She still suffers from that instinct to just roll over. My biggest wish in the coming months is that she's the only one.