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Obama Wins and Redefines Real America

So who's a real American now?

With his decisive triumph over Senator John McCain, Senate Barack Obama made obvious history: he is the first black (or biracial) man to win the presidency. But the meaning of his victory--in which Obama splashed blue across previously red states--extends far beyond its racial significance. Obama, a former community organizer and law professor, won the White House as one of the most progressive (or liberal) nominees in the Democratic Party's recent history. Mounting one of the best run presidential bids in decades, Obama tied his support for progressive positions (taxing the wealthy to pay for tax cuts for working Americans, addressing global warming, expanding affordable health insurance, withdrawing troops from Iraq) to calls for cleaning up Washington and for crafting a new type of politics. Charismatic, steady, and confident, he melded substance and style into a winning mix that could be summed up in simple and basic terms: hope and change.

After nearly eight years of George W. Bush's presidency, Obama was the non-Bush: intelligent, curious, thoughtful, deliberate, and competent. His personal narrative--he was the product of an unconventional family and worked his way into the nation's governing class--fueled his campaign narrative. His story was the American Dream v2.0. He was change, at least at skin level. But he also championed the end of Bushism. He had opposed the Iraq war. He had opposed Bush's tax cuts for the rich. He was no advocate of let-'er-rip, free market capitalism or American unilateralism. In policy terms, Obama represents a serious course correction.

And more. In the general election campaign, McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, turned the fight for the presidency into a culture clash. They accused Obama of being a socialist. They assailed him for having associated with William Ayers, a former, bomb-throwing Weather Underground radical,who has since become an education expert. Palin indirectly referred to Obama's relationship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who once preached fiery sermons denouncing the United States government for certain policies. On the campaign trail, Palin suggested there were "real" parts of America and fake parts. At campaign events, she promoted a combative, black-helicopter version of conservatism: if you're for government expansion, you're against freedom. During her one debate with Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, she hinted that if her opponents won the White House there might come a day when kids would ask their grandparents what it had been like to live in a free country. At McCain-Palin rallies, supporters shouted out, "Communist!" and "terrorist!" and "Muslim!" when the Republican candidates referred to Obama. And McCain and Palin hurled the standard charges at Obama: he will raise your taxes and he is weak on national security.

Put it all together and the message was clear: there are two types of Americans. Those who are true Americans--who love their nation and cherish freedom--and those who are not. The other Americans do not put their country first; they blame it first. The other Americans do not believe in opportunity; they want to take what you have and give it to someone else. The other Americans do not care about Joe the Plumber; they are out-of-touch elitists who look down on (and laugh at) hard-working, church-going folks. The other Americans do not get the idea of America. They are not patriots. And it just so happens that the other America is full of blacks, Latinos, gays, lesbians, and non-Christians.

McCain, Palin and their compatriots did what they could to depict Obama as the rebel chief of this other un-American America. (Hillary Clinton helped set up their effort during the primaries by beating the Ayers drum.) Remember the stories of Obama's supposed refusal to wear a flag pin or place his hand over his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance? The emails about Obama being a secret Muslim? The goal was to delegitimize Obama, as well as the Americans who were moved by his biography, his rhetoric, and his ideas. It was back to the 1960s--drawing a harsh line between the squares (the real Americans) and the freaks (those redistribution-loving, terrorist-coddling faux Americans).

It didn't work.

With the nation mired in two wars and beset by a financial crisis, Obama mobilized a diverse coalition that included committed Democratic liberals turned on by his policy stands (unabashed redistributionists, no doubt) and less ideologically-minded voters jazzed by his temperament, meta-themes, and come-together message. He showed that the old Republican attack tactics do not always draw blood. A candidate could advocate raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations and withstand being called a socialist. A candidate could advocate talking to the nation's enemies and withstand being tagged weak and dangerous. A candidate could be non-white, have an odd name, boast a less-than-usual ancestry, be an unrepentant Ivy Leaguer, profess a quiet and thoughtful patriotism (that encompasses both love and criticism of country), and still be a real American. And become president.

How He Did It -- The Primaries

From the start of the campaign, Obama and his advisers--notably campaign manager David Plouffe and chief strategist David Axelrod--shared a vision of how a freshman senator with relatively little national experience could reach the White House. Obama presented himself as an agent of change leading a movement for change. Given that a large majority of the voters believed the nation was heading in the wrong direction after two terms of George W. Bush, this was not the most brilliant of strategic strokes. But Obama had the chops to pull it off. He spoke well, he conveyed intelligence and energy, and he advocated policies that seemed like an antidote to the Bush years. And he effectively matched his own personal story (a best-selling book!) to this message of renewal.

Throughout the primaries, Obama addressed the sense of disenfranchisement Democrats and independents (and even some Republicans) had experienced during the W years. As these citizens watched Bush and Dick Cheney dole out tax cuts to the wealthy, do nothing about global warming, launch an optional war in Iraq, and expand secrecy and executive power, many felt locked out. It didn't help that Bush and his crowd appeared dismissive of those who disagreed with them, decrying elitism and playing to conservative know-nothingism. Obama came along and invited primary voters to join a crusade for change--which meant a crusade against them. It was a chance to strike back against the empire. Obama understood the need of many to reclaim their country. The right has often exploited such a sentiment. Think of the rise of the Moral Majority. But Obama was not playing the resentment card.

Crucial to his success was Obama's decision to keep anger (at least his own) out of the equation. For him and his supporters, there was cause to be damn mad. From their perspective, the country had been hijacked by Bush, Cheney and a small band of neocons. (A view they could hold with much justification.) But Obama appeared to have made a calculation: an angry black man could not win over a majority of the voters. He offered voters not fury, but hope. And considering his "improbable"--as he put it--rise, he was a natural pitchman for hope. Fixating on hope allowed him to talk about the problems of the United States (past and present) while remaining an optimist. Americans tend not to elect purveyors of doom and gloom to the presidency. Usually the candidate with the sunnier disposition wins. It's not hard to fathom why. When Americans select a president, many are voting for the person who they believe best reflects their own idea of America. Voting for president has a strong psychological component. It's how Americans define their nation. So personal attributes--character, strength, biography, personality--are important.

Obama described his presidential bid not as a campaign of outrage but as a cause of hope--a continuation of the grand and successful progressive movements of the past. For Democratic voters, he had the appropriate liberal policy stances. He had a record as a reformer in the Illinois state senate and the US Senate. But he provided more than resumé; he served up inspiration. Obama could advocate these policies--policies that often stir sharp partisan fights in Washington and beyond--and at the same time convincingly call for a new politics of productivity (not partisanship) in Washington. This took some talent. Mark Schmitt credits what he calls Obama's "communitarian populism"--a quiet, inclusive populism. Leave your pitchforks at the door. This message and his manner of delivering it led many Democratic voters to conclude that he was the right man for the post-Bush cleanup.

Obama had one big obstacle in the primaries: Hillary Clinton. She had a brand name that attracted and repulsed voters. She ran a conventional campaign. She uttered no talk of any movement. She relied on her resumé, and said she was ready to roll up her sleeves and work for you. Will you hire me as your advocate-in-chief? she asked. Obama was offering music; she was offering math. It was virtually a toss-up for the Democratic electorate. What made the difference was that Obama, the heady candidate, managed his campaign more effectively than Clinton, the down-to-earth candidate, managed hers. Clinton and her crew, after losing in Iowa and then fighting back in New Hampshire, botched the middle stretch and allowed Obama to rack up a series of wins that did give him--oh, that dreadful word--momentum. More important, her campaign seemed to bounce from one strategy to the next, as infighting roiled Clintonland. Not until the end of the primaries did Clinton get her groove back, winning over blue-collar voters in once-industrial states as the scrappy working-class hero. But it was too late. The delegate math became undeniable.

In beating Clinton, Obama showed that he had assembled a disciplined and skilled campaign staff. Not once was his campaign rocked by internal dissension. It never went through a staff shakeup. There were no media stories, relying on unnamed sources, revealing major disputes or fundamental disagreements at Obama HQ. ("We had our disagreements," says one top Obama aide. "But they were always within the confines of getting to the best decision. I was stunned by how well it all worked.") Consensus, smooth operations, no signs of turf fights or ego battles--this is virtually unheard of in a major modern presidential campaigns. Obama even handled his flip-flops--voting for the telecom immunity bill after vowing not to and opting out of public financing system after indicating he would remain within it--relatively well. The operation of his campaign sent a signal: Obama was a serious person who could ably handle pressure. Obama preached hope and at the same time he was the CEO of a well-managed enterprise that would raise and spend (in record amounts) hundreds of millions of dollars.

How He Did It --The General Election

Once it became clear that Obama and McCain would each be the presidential nominee of their respective parties, they faced two big tests--selecting a running mate and addressing the financial meltdown. Obama passed both; McCain failed both.

Obama's choice of Biden was not inspiring. It was, in a way, a conventional pick, a safe bet (relatively safe, given Biden's penchant for verbal slip-ups). Obama's campaign was predicated on the promise he would shake up Washington. Biden, a three-decade veteran of the Senate, was not known as a rebel. But he had deep foreign policy experience and had spent years courting the working-class voters of Delaware. He could reassure voters worried that Obama had not spent enough years toiling on national security matters. And Biden certainly would not compete with Obama for headlines and screen time. Obama was the inspiration on the ticket. Biden was the insurance policy.

By going with Biden, Obama dared to be boring and indicated he was willing to play it straight when necessary. He abided by the first rule of veep selection: do no harm. McCain took another route. He gambled. He picked a governor little-known on the national stage--a woman whom even McCain barely knew. It gave his campaign a shot of excitement and surprise. Her performance at the Republican convention was dazzling. But this high did not last, as Palin did miserably in media interviews. Several conservative columnists had to admit she was not ready for prime time. Within weeks, McCain's act of daring was widely perceived as an act of recklessness. Her approval ratings plummeted. Polls indicated she was a drag on a ticket and a prominent reason why some voters were not favoring McCain.

Palin was strike one. Strike two was McCain's erratic response to the financial crisis--saying different things, deciding to suspend his campaign but then suspending the suspension. His actions reinforced the impression created by the Palin misstep: he likes to shoot from the hip. But with the economy and Wall Street in a free fall, many voters were probably not eager for another cowboy president. Meanwhile, Obama, who met with establishment advisers and calmly backed the $700 billion bailout (which McCain also endorsed), looked like the adult in the room that crucial week, which culminated in the first debate. That face-off, according to the insta-polls, was a win for Obama, as were the next two confrontations.

Weeks into the general election, Obama had made a pivot--but so smoothly that most of the politerati did not even see it. He had gone from the inspiring movement leader calling for wholesale change in Washington to a reassuring figure who demonstrated that he could play well with the establishment. The younger and less experienced of the two nominees seemed better suited to handle a crisis. Iraq and national security were no longer the issues; the economy was. And Obama showed he possessed the steadier hand. At the final debate, as McCain jabbed with punches that packed not much punch, Obama came across as confident if not so dynamic. But when the world is cracking up, who wants pizzazz?

Losing on the economy front--and in the temperament contest--McCain, with Palin acting like his gun moll, stepped up his use of the standard GOP attack lines. He went back to basics. Obama, he contended, yearned to raise taxes not just on the rich but on everybody. Even though independent experts had concluded that middle-class voters would receive a bigger tax cut under Obama's proposal than McCain's, the McCain camp kept issuing charges about Obama's tax aims that were not true. They found a mascot in Joe the Plumber (who was not really named Joe and not really a plumber). And they whipped up the old tax-and-spend fear about Democrats.

"Now is no the time to experiment with socialism," Palin exclaimed at rallies, ignoring the fact that she presides over the socialistic state of Alaska (which redistributes tax revenues collected from oil companies to the state's citizens). She dubbed Obama "Barack the Wealth Spreader." At a McCain rally near St. Louis, Representative Todd Akin (R-MO) said, "This campaign in the next couple of weeks is about one thing. It's a referendum on socialism.” Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) weighed in on Obama: "With all due respect, the man is a socialist.” McCain repeatedly referred to Obama as the "redistributionist-in-chief," often stumbling over the phrase. He must have forgotten that during a 2000 campaign event, he was asked, "Are we getting closer and closer to, like, socialism," and McCain replied, "Here's what I really believe: That when you reach a certain level of comfort, there’s nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."

It was an anti-intellectual attack--taxes equals socialism--ignoring basic facts and the personal history of McCain (who was roundly accused by conservatives of engaging in "class warfare" in 2000 when he opposed George W. Bush's tax cuts for the rich). The point was to strike fear into the hearts of voters who make far less money than Obama's proposed threshold for tax hikes. McCain was not appealing to the better nature of voters.

Putting up a fierce fight, Obama did not make it personal. He paid tribute to McCain's military service. But he slammed McCain for standing with Bush on economic issues. "If you want to know where Senator McCain will drive this economy, just look in the rearview mirror," Obama told campaign audiences. And he challenged the Big Idea of the Republican Party:

The last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven't worked, and it's time for change.

Obama wasn't just taking on Bushism. He was taking on Reaganism.

McCain, Palin, and their supporters did make it personal. They claimed that Obama was misleading the voters, that he was not what he seemed. They argued that he was not up to the job. The McCain-Palin campaign ran a series of ads--one falsely asserted that Obama had supported teaching kindergartners "comprehensive sex education"--that various MSM outlets pronounced untruthful and unfair. The Straight Talk Express was derided as a cavalcade of misrepresentation. The McCain-Palin campaign revived the Bill Ayers attack. It tried to brand Obama an associate of anti-Semites, pointing to his relationship with a Palestinian scholar--without producing evidence that this Palestinian was anti-Semitic. (The International Republican Institute, a group chaired by McCain, had given over $400,000 to a group co-founded by this scholar.)

It was an ugly assault. Speaking in support of McCain and Palin, Representative Robin Hayes (R-NC) declared, "Liberals hate real Americans that work, and accomplish, and achieve, and believe in God." McCain supporters referred to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama." At a Palin rally, Representative Steve King (R-IA) said that an Obama victory would cause the United States to turn into a “totalitarian dictatorship.” Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) declared that Obama was "anti-American." While she was at it, she urged the media to investigate and root out anti-Americanism within the US Congress.

This mud did not stick. Perhaps worse for McCain, his camp never presented a coherent strategic argument for its candidate. Obama had change and hope. McCain had no real case for McCain--other than he was a POW who put his country first. What did he want to do as president? Serve his country again. He essentially asked to be rewarded for his past service and sacrifice. He didn't feel the voters' pain; he wanted them to feel his. And his campaign ended up being defined mostly by its retro attack on Obama: he's an untested and untrustworthy liberal.

Most of the voters disagreed.

With his victory, Obama has ended the Bush II era with an exclamation point. (The Democratic gains in Congress seconded the point.) Now Obama faces a restoration project of unprecedented proportions. It may take years for him and the rest of Washington to remedy the ills neglected, exacerbated or caused by the Bush presidency. And he will have a tough time matching progress to promise. At his victory celebration in Chicago before tens of thousands, he lowered expectations: "the road ahead will be long. The climb ahead will be steep." And he noted that his electoral victory merely provided "only the chance for us to make that change."

But his barrier-breaking victory was indeed change in itself. Consider this: Obama ended his campaign at a rally on Monday night in Manassas, Virginia, the site of Battle of Bull Run, the opening land battle of the Civil War, in which Union troops were routed and forced to retreat back to Washington, DC There before a crowd of 90,000--young, old, black, white, affluent, working-class--Obama summed up his case:

Tomorrow, you can turn the page on policies that have put greed and irresponsibility before hard work and sacrifice. Tomorrow, you can choose policies that invest in our middle class and create new jobs, grow this economy so everybody has a chance to succeed, not just the CEO but the secretary and the janitor, not just the factory owner but the men and women who work the factory floors. And tomorrow, you can end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election, that pits region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat, that asks us to fear at a time when we need to hope.

A black man on the verge of being elected president said that.

But race is just one part of the tale. Obama has done more than become a first. He has redrawn the electoral map (take that, Karl Rove) and reshaped the political culture of the United States. He has transformed the image of the United States--abroad and at home. (He vowed in Chicago that "a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.") Above all, after eight troubling years and after decades of ideological civil war, Obama has redefined what is real America. "Who knew that we were the Silent Majority?" his press secretary Linda Douglass said moments after Obama left the stage in Grant Park.

The voters who see President-elect Obama as the embodiment of their America can trade the Yes We Can motto for a new one: Yes We Are.

Comments

This is the greatest moment in American politics ever -
this has been my proudest moment as an American!
After living for almost 40 years in this country as a naturalized citizen, I honestly can say that today, with the election of Barack Obama as President, was and will be
my proudest day since I became an American citizen!
Today I realized that dream all over again ...this is what makes me feel so proud to say: I AM an AMERICAN ...and Long Live the New President!

Posted by: Proud Citizen on 11/05/08 at 12:27 AM Respond

"Who knew that we were the Silent Majority"? That's awesome!

You buried the best part at the end!

Posted by: chrismealy on 11/05/08 at 12:33 AM Respond

Thank you for this article I am not a US citizen and I do not live there anymore, but, to quote you:

He has transformed the image of the United States--abroad and at home.

This is the biggest thing. The rest of the world needs a USA which works with others, and while it is understandable that the rest of the world despises the USA for being selfish, ignorant and bullying, it is hardly desirable. President Obama has the opportinity to turn the US into 'nice neighbors' again, instead of being the greedy boors of Palin-world.

Thank you, United States of America, for not being terminally stupid. Thank you for electing this man as your President.

In words of my country that the president-elect may understand:

Omusana ogu gujwera omu mwirima

He can be that light.

Posted by: Juliet Masindi on 11/05/08 at 1:46 AM Respond

I'm looking forward to reading David Corn's rationalization of Obama future military draft when he follows George Bush's footsteps and proceeds to send more and more young Americans toward potential mutilation and death . But the "race" of the soldiers will have changed if not the death toll--just as many will die but the percentages of skin color will have varied and that will somehow "make it okay". The important thing is not good management of an exhausted country but that Americans prove that they are not racist and that those old Washington lobbies get their pay-off. So we'll keep fighting and never notice what an utter "fairy tale" that speech of Obama's was way back when. We'll let (what should be) our government buy the arms and let another inexperienced little boy play his war games out without ever risking his own life -- like George Bush, more of same. The Obama-watch begins.

Posted by: Kathy Giannini on 11/05/08 at 1:57 AM Respond

I am inspired and hopeful for the future because of this election. I did not think that we had the balls to change course. Thank you America you are amazing.

Posted by: jose on 11/05/08 at 3:14 AM Respond

Hey Bill Nigh, what's that stench I smell? hahahaha

Kathy G - Geeez, take a chill pill! Do you have *any*, even the slightest, justification for your oh so dire prognostications? Other than Palin, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and Coulter that is?

It's a new dawn people; let the sun shine in!

Posted by: DaveD on 11/05/08 at 3:55 AM Respond

Beautiful article Dave. I give you credit for breaking the Valerie Plame story, which exposed just one of the more nefarious deeds in the Bush saga. The narrative you paint in your article is a wonderful antidote. Thank you! Now the real work begins.

Posted by: Mike in Seattle on 11/05/08 at 6:41 AM Respond

America is not as progressive as one may think about the victory of the Black man over centuries of oppression. Florida and Arizona banned same-sex marriage and Arkansas passed a measure that would stop homosexuals from adopting children, NBC projected.

"The passage of this amendment is a bright star on an otherwise dismal night, in which America elected the most liberal(Blackest) President in her history," Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver said in a statement after the Florida measure passed. The state of Florida went for Obama.

Posted by: Latasha Jackson on 11/05/08 at 7:07 AM Respond

I wonder why the press hasn't
covered Obama's version of
the "Hitler Youth". There
is a web site that have
young men chanting:"Alpha,
Omega, Alpha,Omega, Obama,
Obama." Maybe "60 Minute"
or "Dateline " should do
a story on this .

Posted by: Thomas on 11/05/08 at 7:22 AM Respond

i do not personalize events. it's an ancient ruse not only to personalize events but also to make simplicity out of complexity and complexity out of simplicity.
a prez is just a tiny cog in a wheel.
govts come and go but US governance remains the same.
that means that even under obama, US will continue killing/maiming cildren in asia and justify it as defence of US interests.
and 90% of amers have just voted for more murder not less let alone to put a stop to such bestialies.
shame on u. thnx

Posted by: bozhidar bob balkas on 11/05/08 at 8:54 AM Respond

6% of voters voted third party.
Will Mother Jones join the revolution when they realize Obama is just another corporate front man?

Posted by: Liberal Larry on 11/05/08 at 9:07 AM Respond

http://yeswecan.spreadshirt.com

Posted by: ThirstyApe on 11/05/08 at 9:23 AM Respond

Excellent analysis of how we got to this day! I would add that in 2008, Americans proved that smear and fear no longer work. A majority of us are smarter than we were when Rove ran things.

Posted by: Lorijen on 11/05/08 at 10:54 AM Respond

Who can deny this is a defining moment in history? And not just because Barrack Obama is our first bi-racial president, but because the conservative "trickle-down" approach to economics is finally dead. That alone is cause to celebrate.

I wonder how the Republicans will re-invent themselves now?

Thanks for the great article David - right on target as usual.

Posted by: Duncan Bruce on 11/05/08 at 11:04 AM Respond

What kind of a person thinks partial birth abortion is ok? What kind of people vote for someone like that? I think Obama pulled the wool over the eyes of millions of Americans. Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. And, thank God for people with common sense in Arkansas, Arizona and California who banned the gay-friendly measures. Hey, has anyone out there ever heard of Sodom and Gommorah? It's not a fairy tale, people. Please wake up.

Posted by: Wanda E. on 11/05/08 at 12:32 PM Respond

May our next President be an American Indian, to lead the land that is truly his.

Posted by: marta kaye on 11/05/08 at 12:36 PM Respond

How ironic... Before the election Obama was an elitist-socialist-muslim-terrorist. Now, after kicking McCain's butt in the election, he's just a "tiny cog in the wheel" who's "just another corporate front man" that happens to be bi-racial.

Posted by: Merth on 11/05/08 at 12:51 PM Respond

Hey,

How about the next dem President be a:

One legged, gay, alaskan, female, transgender, biker..?

The dems would think that is great..:-)

hahahaha

Bill

Posted by: Bill Nigh on 11/05/08 at 12:56 PM Respond

Actually, I have heard of Sodom and Gomorrah, and yes, it IS a fairy tale.

Posted by: Open Minded on 11/05/08 at 1:00 PM Respond

It's a great day for BO!

Posted by: BM on 11/05/08 at 1:08 PM Respond

What has Obama done for me lately? The market's down almost 500 points!! Where's my wealth redistribution check? Why is he so slowwwww?? Gimme, gimme, gimme!!! NOW, NOW, NOW!!!

Posted by: Fastfood Nation on 11/05/08 at 1:19 PM Respond

Abortion is a complex issue in where no one has a right to speak of unless you have done the proper research about its pros, cons, pluses and minuses, its truths and myths. A lot of people are misguided on this "choice" issue.

As far as Obama redefining the world, I'm not sure; everyone is praising him too much before he's even gotten into office. This type of praise makes conspiracy theorists giddy.

Posted by: Idiots on 11/05/08 at 1:48 PM Respond

To Wanda E: Condoleezza Rice would have been on the ticket with McCain instead of Palin if there hadn't been rumors that she is a lesbian. Get over your self-righteous self. Too bad that Romney wasn't running, so he could get kicked around, too.

Posted by: Robert E on 11/05/08 at 3:36 PM Respond

Anyone who bases thier life on the good-evil dichotomy will do atrocious things in the name of 'good'. Anyone whose values are based on denying rights of another prefer tyrany over freedom.

Posted by: tgbobbi on 11/05/08 at 3:38 PM Respond

Bill,

Republicans are just as poor losers as they are poor winners.

Sad.

Posted by: tgbobbi on 11/05/08 at 3:53 PM Respond

This president after all the hoopla dies down will be a failure. The main reason obama won was the utter incompatance of Bush. Connecting Mccain with Bush was a killer for Mccain. Obama doesn't have the experience on foreign affairs,
universal health care doesn't work, Ferraro was right, if he wasn't biracial he wouldn't have won. I fear blacks will sit back and think they'll become sucessful. It'll still take hard work and I don't see that happening. I employee some black folks and most aren't very motivated, and don't work as hard as my spanish employees. Do you think that an Obama presidency will change that? I don't see it. As far as race relations I think that gets worse. Like I said when all of the hoopla dies down I think this country is in trouble, I hope not but I'm being realistic. I see a slick politition that can talk a good game but wheres the substance? Did anyone hear about the black panthers with night sticks at polling places in Philly? Shades of things to come. History will show everyone wanted to get away from bush (and rightly so) and Obama was as far away as they come, but thats no reason for him to become president. I'm sure people will respond to this and say I'm way off, for those that think all is well now are just being overly optimistic.
Again wheres the substance with Obama?

Posted by: Eric on 11/05/08 at 5:19 PM Respond

All of a sudden the naysayers and cynics crawl out of the woodwork and voice their negativity on these pages. What is your problem dude? I volunteered with the Obama campaign from January until today. I researched, read and reflected on his writings, speeches and policies. I listened to how he works with people both personally and professionally. His substance is there in full view. He is a man of great integrity, intelligence and dedication. Your implication that blacks will rest on their laurels is tantamount to the lazy n**ger stereotype and very offensive.

Congratulations President Barack Obama and congratulations America!

With love in action, yes we are!

Posted by: Respect on 11/05/08 at 5:49 PM Respond

Ok, we've heard all the stuff about the election, could you switch to something else for awhile!? I for one am happy to be able to turn on the television and not see ads for either candidate, and they should be ashamed spending two billion dollars on campaining with our economy the way it is!!

Posted by: Stephie on 11/05/08 at 5:50 PM Respond

This is in response to respect. You sure sound like a suburbanite who knows nothing about the real world in the city. I didn't just crawl out of the woodwork, I never thought Obama was ready.
And to your lazy ni**er comment it is what it is. Again I'm sure you have no idea as to whats really going on. Just stay in your lilly white world and stay ignorant to the reality of the situation. You find my comment offensive? I find your ignorance offensive.

Posted by: Eric on 11/05/08 at 6:11 PM Respond

And now begins the even greater task: repairing the damage of the past 28 years of Friedman Chicago School economics. But is our new leadership aware of that? Furthermore, what about that huge economic entity of DOD war vendors and service contractor-army?

Posted by: Will H Penn on 11/05/08 at 7:12 PM Respond

Obama is a corporate front man. I have always said that. The folks at Goldman Sachs have always known that. Its just that some people have been inhaling a little too much clean coal to believe it.

Posted by: Liberal Larry on 11/05/08 at 9:18 PM Respond

I keep trying to turn my parents on to mother jones but every time I do another article is written using to much one sided attacking adjectives and it drives them away please stay in the middle we need that.

-Zac

Posted by: Zac on 11/05/08 at 9:37 PM Respond

why r we afraid to ask of what happened did happen didnt happen
i seem to remember this happening in the not to distant pass he came out of nowhere and promised and the only thing missing was the physical jesters of the mind dead masses.

Posted by: bopdad on 11/05/08 at 11:25 PM Respond

Electing the first black president is indeed something to celebrate. And while President Bush deserves to be scrutinized, it's a shame that he never got credit for having the first black Secretary of State and National Security Advisor his administration. But then again, they were Republicans, so that made them "sell outs" and whatever other names Harry Belafonte threw at them.

If Obama happened to be a Republican, the same thing would also happen. That's sad, but true.

Posted by: Matt R. on 11/06/08 at 4:12 AM Respond

President Obama! America came through!

Posted by: raju on 11/06/08 at 5:49 AM Respond

I know everyone is excited about electing the first non european, non lily white president of the US. However this an opportunity to forget about race all together. The first thing I learned from my first non-white friend was he would rather not be categorized at all. You can participate in this by whenever you are going to use a race distinction at all to first put it to yourself like this: I a white European American....

Posted by: radline9 on 11/06/08 at 6:34 AM Respond

Excellent article of David Corn. All things considered in this analysis, it was an intelligent decision to vote for Obama. Then, how do you explain that whites voted 55% for McCain, whereas Latins voted 70% for Obama. Are white people dumber than Latins? Maybe David should illustrate us on that!

Posted by: Pmpeyo on 11/06/08 at 6:45 AM Respond

Excellent summation, Mr. Corn; well thought-out and precise. Maybe the over-arching ideal is to quit demonizing the opposition and get back to negotiation and compromise; something the right has forgotten is part of the job of serving the peole.

Posted by: Chuck Wood on 11/06/08 at 9:04 AM Respond

"The other Americans do not get the idea of America. They are not patriots. And it just so happens that the other America is full of blacks, Latinos, gays, lesbians, and non-Christians.
"

agreed. but wait, so asian americans/pacific islanders ARE american? ... or just ignored/invisible?

Posted by: kristin on 11/06/08 at 10:08 AM Respond

The AKA as Hitler Youth?. Ah Martin Luther king was an Alpha.As was Dr Benjamin Mays.If Mays's name seems unfamilar to you then you know nothing about what you are talking about.You only see the color of those young men's skin.

Posted by: fred Sims on 11/07/08 at 7:45 AM Respond

I just think if McCain had picked someone normal for VP and the economic mess had come a few months later, he'd be the president-elect. It was a perfect storm for O to get elected. Hopefully in the future, it won't require all these things to happen.

Posted by: Samuel on 11/07/08 at 2:49 PM Respond

What a great day for America and the world...to finally elect not only a black man, but a guy with real brains. I'm in Arizona and wish you all could have seen the distorted commercials in support of one man, one woman marriage. Most people did not understand that they were voting AGAINST fellow Americans. The religious nuts should get the hell out of politics. I will work very hard to make sure they do...thru America United and American Humanists. For you who believe in a deity, geez, grow up...and quit judging others by your perverted, Old Testament standards. And may the GOP, if it continues, find better partners than the churchy nuts in the South and Midwest.

Posted by: sailor50 on 11/07/08 at 3:06 PM Respond

To Eric:

You may be trying to make a point, and demonstrate your ostensible intelligence, but you don't really make sense. You just rant, because you are stuck in your ways and perhaps you have no social mobility, so you are forced to draw ill-conceived conclusions and are aggrevated by positivity that surrounds you. If you read and and observed and tried to learn (might help with your spelling, too), then you might be able to get a grip on what that substance actually is.

Congratulations, Obama and the USA! I don't think that Obama is going to solve everyone's problems for them, but he sure will be supportive and motivating! We all have some real work to do (including you, Eric!)

Namaste

Posted by: Bully-ve on 11/07/08 at 5:06 PM Respond

See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVB6O-Fnwkw

for a moving Children's Choir tribute to President Elect Obama- Yes we can!

Posted by: Avidia on 11/08/08 at 3:46 AM Respond

Obama has done nothing except spend millions of dollars and together with McCain remained silent about the many progressive candidates who were blocked from the public eye. So, like most elections in this country, it was a presidency bought and paid for, corporatism, NOT a change.

Posted by: julian vigo on 11/08/08 at 4:34 AM Respond

One thing is for sure when reading these comments, we are a divided Nation! Pro-Life vs Pro-Choice, Pro-Gay vs Pro-Straight, Pro-War vs Pro- Peace, Pro-Rich vs Pro-Poor! Sadly, I am in the minority, I am pro-reason and that is the reason I voted for Obama. Not because of his Race, Sexual orientation, War Policies, and tax Plan but because he was pro-Reason because I think the U.S. has gone just plain NUTS!To the Pro-life bunch, I can only say that nobody wants a woman to have an abortion! To the Gay community-when you chose an Alternative Lifestyle that excluded you from Marriage!To those who don't want our troops at War, we were attacked by terrorists who seek our destruction! To the Rich-Greed is demoralizing and ill becomes you!

Posted by: Mr. Independent on 11/08/08 at 5:29 AM Respond

Civil wars are the only real wars. Obama present one answer to he only real war of the history of the US.
But now the world is pluralistic and THE
question is how to manage a industrial life in China, India and so on. If it is by war it will be the new disaster.
The answer will come very soon.

Posted by: wibault on 11/08/08 at 7:20 AM Respond

Obama Wins and Redefines fantasy America.

He is party of the SAME system that brought us to this ditch.
they do this every now and then to fool the population to play alonf with their scam.

Posted by: john on 11/08/08 at 10:55 AM Respond

Obama Wins and Redefines fantasy America.

He is party of the SAME system that brought us to this ditch.
they do this every now and then to fool the population to play along with their scam.

Posted by: john on 11/08/08 at 11:14 AM Respond

Julian Vigo - Obama HAD to vastly outspend McCain. He had to counter the lies, libel and slander against him by making ads that set out the truth, build a national grass roots network, create a nationwide, effective campaign to win this. That's why it took hard work by millions of people, and a massive fundraising campaign which, averaging out the total donations, worked out at roughly $80 per donor.

As for third parties - this election was not the platform for him to change politics. He can only do that once he is in the White House after Bush has gone. Petition him after 20th January - he will listen.

Posted by: MediaWeasel on 11/09/08 at 12:48 PM Respond

This is a great moment in History. I am excited about the possibilities.

We shouldn't pat ourselves on the back too much:

1) This country (and it's economy) is in such a spot that we would have voted for just about anyone who wasn't a Republican.

2) Over 49 million people still voted for McCain / Palin. (I can't believe the popular vote was as close as it was!!!)

This country still has a large number of rightwing conservatives who keep step to their "party line" and it won't take much for the Democrats to loose power. Let's hope that the Democrats can show some positive results so that we don't fall into such long periods of right wing idealism.

Posted by: Kdog on 11/09/08 at 5:45 PM Respond

In Missouri, where McCain eked out a victory, a proposal to make English the official state language carried six to one. In Nebraska, a proposal to ban affirmative action carried 58 to 42.

Posted by: Mary Jo on 11/09/08 at 8:24 PM Respond

Hey Bill N........ONLY if they could do the job !! .... and it seems to be a history making moment in America that a Dem MUST come in to office to CLEAN-UP after the Rep - -

Great article - David C!!

The most important message out of this election win is that FEAR AND LIES will no longer work on the American Voters ..... WHEW!

Posted by: Lulu on 11/10/08 at 7:20 AM Respond

Hey Sailor50 - right on !! Ditto/ditto.....we absolutely NEED to CONTINUALLY remind voters to get the church out of the state affairs! I believe this election WIN sent that message.....thankfully.

Religion is exactly WHY we got in this mess in the first place - all in the name of religion....destruction of.... ourselves; our laws; our personal rights, etc. The belief that such a "religious" (God-loving ????) administration brought us to WAR with a country that - had no fight with us still astounds me! We now have more enemies than we could possibly kill!!! Meanwhile the real culprit was allowed to get away...I think the REAL hunt for him will begin shortly and we will TRY to reassemble those war-torn areas we ravaged for 4 years and hope to keep face with ourselves and globally while doing it - - since our men and women who died in that war - should NOT have done so in vain.....Religion has NO place in politics....If you don't believe in abortion - don't have one - simply put! Rhetorically speaking..... how do you feel about your financial stadning now - savings; mortgage; retirement?? (Let's keep the REAL issues on the table and we would be fine!)

Posted by: Lulu on 11/10/08 at 7:48 AM Respond

LuLu-Religion had nothing to do with our problems other than the Church's "prolife" button being pushed repeatedly to put the Hawks in power! Kerry accused Bush of going against "Roe vs Wade" in the Presidential Debates and literally handed the Christian Right Vote to Bush. Is Roe vs Wade still with us? Yes! Did the Christian Right get fooled? Yes! Rove and Cheney are manipulators and play power politics extremely well-They manipulated the entire Congress and American Public into going to war and we are now paying the price-Don't blame the Church, you were fooled to!

Posted by: Mr. Independent on 11/11/08 at 5:31 AM Respond

What kind of person thinks a young girl impregnanted by her father should have the baby? What is partial birth anyway - stuck in the birth canal? If an unwanted pregnancy goes past the tri mester its because women are denied their right to choose when they should and since most are young girls who have made a mistake they're afraid to come forward. Why would anyone else care if someone decides to end a pregnancy - for whatever reason? Why is it any of their business at all? Are they willing to adopt a result of rape and incest or a birth defected, chronically ill, genetically deficient, diseased or otherwise hopeless embryo? No? Then keep your mouth shut, your stupidity and hypocrisy is falling out. Why would anyone else care if two people of the same sex want to be together and what the hell does a piece of paper have to do with anything at all? Soddom and Gomorrah? I thought everyone for the past 50 years knew it was all a fable, fairy tale, myth, put together by self proclaimed divine rulers who needed the masses to produce their comfort without question (in exchange for the promise of heaven later if they were good little boys and girls). Why do the gays like to parade their sexual preference? Who knows, maybe its part of the same quirk or that makes them want to be or think they are different in the first place or its a genetic thing they can't control. (Seems kind of unbiological, given they are therefor rendered unprolific which might be a good idea after all given over population. The point is why does anyone care whether they get "married" or not - whatever the hell that means. They couldn't be too smart after all or they'd see marriage is a thing of convenience and habit and lasts because its financially easier and why are they so adamant about joining that group if they insist on being "different". Just because they can? The whole freaking thing is nuts. If people kept their nose in their own business and let everyone else the hell alone there wouldn't be any problems. and I wouldn't have to read such stupid opinions as given by "Eric" and "Wanda".

Posted by: dy foley on 11/15/08 at 7:54 PM Respond

Obama is not Black he is 50% white, 43.73% Arab and 6.25% Black. He is a Arab Muslim and comes from the part of Africa that is Arab. He has lied to the Black and White community. Google Obama Arab and see what you get.

Posted by: magnoliabel on 11/17/08 at 3:54 AM Respond

How do you get Arab out of Kansas b way of Hawaii? Where are you from Magnolabelle? Bethca you're not American Indian. Come to think of it neither are they, having walked across the Bering Srait in caveman days.
Maybe your from herbivorous since I think I had a cow named Magnolabelle when I was a kid. REgardless you can't read or understand the spoken word or you'd know Obama was born in the states and only met his Kenya African father, once, as a pre teen. Look it up. What the hell does that have to do with Obama? Oh, forget it, you probably can't read.

Posted by: dy foley on 11/18/08 at 11:38 AM Respond

Thank you, julian vigo. Honestly, I'm happy that Obama won, but what about the third parties? Simply because they aren't Republican or Democrat, they get the blind eye. All the parties on this list are completely ignored. Granted some of them may be only state parties or out of country, but my point is maybe we should pay a little more attention to them rather brushing them aside.

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_States

Posted by: brianna on 12/18/08 at 10:07 AM Respond

Oh yeah, and way to go dy foley, too! It turns out that a majority of the people who voted yes on 8 are around or past middle age. They were the ones who were the baby boomers. They were raised with Adam and Eve. Adam and Steve weren't even thought of. I haven't read the news or watched TV lately so i don't know what has happened with 8. I heard the CA courts are thinking about it. I was at a luncheon with my grandma and her friends. My grandma just kept saying it is SOOO wrong, and her friend was like how does it affect you? And my grandma couldn't answer. When my generation turns 18, EVERYONE will be equal,

Posted by: brianna on 12/18/08 at 10:20 AM Respond

brianna wrote: They were the ones who were the baby boomers. They were raised with Adam and Eve. Adam and Steve weren't even thought of.

It's obvious that you weren't around at the time (not yet 18), or you'd realize that the baby boomers (MY generation) are the ones who participated in, and fueled the Sexual Revolution (read up on it). It's the very thing that made it possible for Adam & Steve to come out of the closet and into the light of day.

Struggle's to open the minds of a whole nation to their age-old prejudices aren't won overnight. Or even in a generation. Black Civil Rights is a case in point.

It's minds that have to be changed. Not laws passed.
Laws can always be ignored or circumvented, if a significant portion of the people are not in tune with those laws.

The 14th & 15th Amendments, as well as the Civil Rights act of 1866 were ignored for 100 years, in the South and in the North. The alcohol prohibition of the 1930's was ignored, and eventually removed. The drug prohibition of the 20th Century has been roundly ignored, though the gov't in D.C. today doesn't have the intestinal fortitude of the one in the 1930's who eventually admitted to their mistake, and stopped making it.

You just have to keep plugging and chugging, don't lose faith, and eventually, we change the majority of minds, and Liberty and Equality follow.

Read Gandhi. He's quite on target about the real necessity to change minds & hearts, and history bears him out, again and again.

It's not words in law books that gets it done!

Posted by: A Little History on 12/18/08 at 12:12 PM Respond

Of course, Gandhi was a lawyer.

Posted by: Dr. Basu on 12/18/08 at 1:04 PM Respond

Dr. Basu observes: Of course, Gandhi was a lawyer.

Yes.
"Was".
A pursuit he walked away from in preference to a life of Service to the poeple of India, promoting their enlightenment, and the enlightenment of the people of the world at large.

He was able to ascertain which path was necessary for the Progress of Man.
No action which is not voluntary can be called moral. Any action that is dictated by fear or by coercion of any kind [such as legal edict] ceases to be moral. If it is man's privilege to be independent, it is equally his duty to be inter-dependent. Freedom of the individual is at the root of all progress.

Government control gives rise to fraud, suppression of Truth, intensification of the black market and artificial scarcity. Above all, it unmans the people and deprives them of initiative, it undoes the teaching of self-help. I look upon an increase in the power of the State with the greatest fear because, although while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality which lies at the heart of all progress.
-- M.K. Gandhi --

Posted by: A Little History on 12/18/08 at 4:13 PM Respond