What Americans Have Learned From the Obama Win and a Long Election Season
Is it over—really? No recount? No delayed concession? No lawyers or lawsuits or missing ballots? (Well, that last one remains to be seen.)
But so it is. The amazing, at times magical, occasionally infuriating, but always exhilarating two-year ride is over. Voters made history, and the nation—though still divided—is forever transformed.
Along the way, through all the twists and turns, Americans examined themselves and their country in ways unprecedented in recent history. And they learned things, too, not the least of which is that racism, while still alive and well, has receded enough to allow the highest office of the land to be occupied by a young man with black skin and the name Barack Hussein Obama.
Americans engaged in a frank and at times contentious national discussion about sexism, about racism, and about age. Over dinner tables, at work, and in the public square, they hashed over the meaning of Hillary Clinton's trailblazing run for the Democratic nomination. They looked at their own views on race, both latent and overt. They argued whether John McCain's age mattered. And they learned that it is, indeed, sexist to suggest that as a mother of five Sarah Palin shouldn't be running for vice president. But that it's not sexist to examine her credentials.
Americans learned that there is ugliness in their midst, sometimes right next door. There were people who hanged Obama and Palin in effigy, those who latched on to Republican talking points and called Obama a "terrorist," others whose rally-stoked racism and nativism bubbled over and figured in at-times chilling videos posted on YouTube. But all in all, it was not as bad as pessimists had expected.
Americans found out that young people care and they vote, that there is no limit to the nation's appetite for political news and punditry, that polls can't be trusted—unless they can, and that campaign finance has moved into a new, stratospheric, online realm.
Americans discovered that they can suss out phonies (think Mitt Romney and John Edwards) and do Electoral College math as well as the number crunchers on the tube, that the formidable Clintons can be outsmarted politically, and that Karl Rove's tactics of division are, for now, played out.
Americans now know how to caucus, how to become a superdelegate, and how to watch for skin cancer warning signs. They can feel for an opponent's personal loss—Who wasn't rooting for Obama's grandma to hold on for two more days?—and appreciate the ability of a nemesis to poke fun at himself or herself on Saturday Night Live.
African-Americans learned to shed their skepticism and believe that a black person could occupy the White House, and maybe discovered something new and profound about the real potential of American life.
And, perhaps most important, Americans—the nation in all its red, blue, and purple glory—witnessed the simple power of "Yes, we can."
Reader Comments
We still need answers-
Ted Meehan
For The Bulletin
A two-year presidential campaign has ended with a victory for the first African-American president. For the racial barrier that has been broken, we should all be thankful.
However, even as the breaking of this barrier is celebrated, we should recognize a number of troubling factors that affected the outcome of this campaign. With candidates spending two years on the campaign trail, there should hardly be a single question about any presidential candidate that would remain unanswered by our national news media. Yet, many questions were not asked of Barack Obama, and the media failed to follow up some that were.
* Has any presidential candidate ever before defended three separate lawsuits rather than produce his official birth certificate? Lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Washington were all defended by teams of Obama lawyers, when they each could have been dismissed by a simple handing over of Mr. Obama's official birth certificate. Mr. Obama was never even asked why he was so reluctant to show proof of his status as a natural born U.S. citizen, as is required by the Constitution.
* During an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle in January 2008, Mr. Obama described his plan to bankrupt the U.S. Coal industry by using the most aggressive "cap and trade" policy ever employed to tax coal plants. "This will necessarily cause electric rates to skyrocket," said Mr. Obama - asserting this burden as a favorable outcome. Yet, the San Francisco Chronicle did not release this information until the final 48 hours of the campaign. Why?
* Pennsylvanians were also protected by their friends in the media from learning about the news that Mr. Obama had pledged to eliminate finding for the Osprey, the tilt-wing military aircraft manufactured at Boeing in Delaware County. This policy will cost tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians their jobs. But, it wasn't deemed important enough to be reported by the news media. Voters were denied this information which they should have had to inform their votes.
* Only after Sean Hannity of Fox News beat the drum for many months was there any mention of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers or Tony Rezko. Questions about Mr. Obama's relationships with each of these continue to be virtually unanswered, and persist as potential future embarrassments - if not worse. Americans deserved better.
* Likewise, the Los Angeles Times refused to release a videotape in its possession, which reportedly recorded a testimonial dinner to Rashid Khalidi, at which speaker after speaker called for the destruction of Israel - after which Mr. Obama spoke glowingly about the former spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization. Was this information not relevant to many voters?
*During the campaign, Mr. Obama was asked about his position on the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, against which he voted three times as an Illinois state senator. Each time, he den
Change?
This election has been historic. And my hope is that Obama will govern from the center because I want the rancor to end and America to prosper. However, seeing an agenda like this one (which is stated on his website) makes me sick: "Obama will ask the wealthiest 2% of families to give back a portion of the tax cuts they have received over the past eight years to ensure we are restoring fairness and returning to fiscal responsibility." Is he trying to stir up class warfare?
As for leaving America as frank burns of NE proposes, the sore loser democrats promised to do that before and like all their promises, they broke that one too.
TO THE ANTI OBAMA
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DID NOT SUPPORT OBAMA I PLEAD WITH YOU TO STOP THE POISON. I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU MAY NOT AGREE WITH ALL HIS POLICIES OR BELIEFS BUT LETS BE CIVIL. LETS WORK TOGETHER FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF THIS COUNTRY. A NATION DIVIDED WILL NOT ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING IN THESE HARD TIMES. STOP THE HATE AND THE NAME CALLING AND THE LIES. I TRULY FEEL THAT A FEW ANTI- OBAMA AMERICANS ARE UNCOMFORTABLE (SOME DOWNRIGHT SCARED) BY THE THOUGHT OF A BLACK MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE BUT LOOK PAST COLOR. I READ SOMEWHERE ON THE INTERNET SO THIS IS NOT MY QUOTE THIS IS SOMEONE ELSE'S- "IF YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE, DO YOU CARE WHAT THE COLOR OF THE FIREMAN IS?". THE COUNTRY IS METAPHORICALLY ON FIRE WITH THE ECONOMIC CRISIS AND A NEVER ENDING WAR SO LET'S COME TOGETHER. LETS GET OUT OF THIS MESS WE'RE IN. LETS STOP LOOKING FOR DIFFERENCES IN EACH OTHER AND LOOK FOR THE SIMILIARITIES. LETS SUPPORT OUR NEW PRESIDENT, LETS AGREE AND DISAGREE TOGETHER ON ISSUES THAT MATTER BUT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS NOT BECAUSE OF HIS NAME OR HIS COLOR.
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