I've considered giving today a holiday. Can't say if it will happen though. I'm still absorbing all the news this morning. But already there are some paragraphs I find worthy of mentioning around my reading list:
From Thomas PM Barnett:
For the vast majority of Americans, nothing will change. We'll continue in our pursuits, in our campaigns, and in our dreams. For me personally, all I see is a field slightly tilted in my direction, not so much in understanding of the world, but in distraction from unduly screwing up that world--and that is enough. It is never about the BEST answer, but always about the least worst one. I have hopes for the Obama administration--not high hopes but just enough. I don't expect anything from this administration in terms of advancing my long-held agenda. I simply expect that it won't make my path any more difficult, when I knew in my heart that a McCain administration would have been a huge obstacle. Why not more celebration and "hope"? The grand strategist needs only the next best iteration. That's it. That's all he hopes for and it is all he demands. The work does not change. The campaign continues. The battle--room by room--remains unabated. Remember: when you think horizontally and explore in terms of decades, you don't get too excited or too bummed out. You simply calculate the correlation of forces and press on. And so the history of this day is full of the personal and the profound, the petty and the professional.
From Information Dissemination:
Barak Obama built strength in the Democratic Party base specifically by adopting the primary issues of that constituency as his own, best exampled by his opposition to the Iraq War and every other Bush policy. That voting record is about the only thing anyone has to judge what Obama believes in governance, but I do not believe it is relevant. After defeating Hillary Clinton in the primary, Barak Obama "shifted", or "changed course" by almost immediately dropping his opposition to the Patriot Act and adjusting his policies on the Iraq war. We have seen it on other issues as well, NAFTA is another example.
In each case, Barak Obama represents a political enigma because he can change course with a perception of thoughtfulness that few in the nations political class can. I fully expect another major shift as Barak Obama moves from being the Democratic Party nominee to the President-elect of the United States. While some say he will be the most radical President in American history, I see a moderate who will change course in order to adopt and build a larger constituency.
That is his historical pattern, and if done right he will be the change candidate he has been telling America he is. If done right, as the most interesting and compelling politician in my lifetime, a brilliant communicator unique in having a complimentary communication team and strategy, the extent to which the Republican Party is broken won't be fully realized until Barak Obama begins his second term in 2012.
From Ron Radosh:
All of the above leaves the big question unresolved. How will Obama govern? Will he listen to moderate centrist Democrats like William Galston who advises him to go slow, not overreach, and not emulate FDR with implementation of a series of massive new governmental programs in the first 100 days; or will he go with those who are advising him to strike boldly and with a possibly filibuster proof Senate, begin his Administration with the immediate launching of ambitious and expensive government programs? Will he, as Fred Barnes argues, immediately decide to govern from the Left?
Whatever happens, I agree with Roger Kimball and others on this site who have commented that while the outcome may not be what we like, as citizens of this country we have a responsibility to help the new President do what he can to govern wisely, and not undertake measures that out of spite and anger help to tear down the country. Let us responsibly work to let Barack Obama know that he is President of all the American people, and not just that far Left he once used on his path to national leadership
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From American Thinker:
Now that he's won, letting The Great Unifier rule without opposition would be risky and inimical to the American political tradition. Obama is peddling the tired notion that America is weary of the divisiveness of partisan politics but his own record shows no evidence of unifying ability. It's obvious that people are frustrated by Congress' inability to make even the most minor progress on the great issues of our day, but partisan bickering is only a symptom of a general lack of leadership in both houses and both parties - and not something the election came close to solving. Aside from being great entertainment, aggressively partisan debates are just a standard part of making laws, and they're real debates, not the sanitized snoozers put on by a debate commission.
The energy and enthusiastic support behind the newly-elected Obama will be used by the media to claim a mandate and intimidate or discourage opposition. Here are five reasons to ignore that story line and gear up for a long fight..
From Avery Tooley
..I’m kinda nervous about this because of all the expectations. This is like when Patrick Ewing got picked by the Knicks, only worse. That is to say, given the state of affairs across the board, I’m actually wondering what a successful presidency would look like. Will it be a situation where anything less than a “championship” (whatever that might be) would be considered to be a failure because of the high expectations, or will the fervor temper into something more manageable?
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