Of course the election has been a hot topic for discussion, well, not just at work but everywhere. An historic election. The most important election of our lives. Monumental. And many other adjectives have been used to describe this election.
My own description is this: a perfect storm for Obama.
Obama's rise to power parallels the hero's ride to the top in the old Broadway show/later turned film: How to Succeed in Business without really trying!
First, he found himself on the fast track to the U.S. Senate thanks to a series of fortunate (for him) events that kept others from holding the seat he wound up in. The guy that would have been in the seat had some personal problems in the sexual addiction area and couldn't satisfy himself with being married to a woman that many Trek fans would have killed to be with (7 of 9, yummmm!)
Also along the way Obama found himself invited to give the keynote speech at the 2004 Democrat National Convention. From there he eventually spring-boarded into the national spotlight as a person that represented change.
And of course, well, he continued to be the candidate representing change at a time when the citizens of the United States desperately wanting something different than President George W. Bush. The economy took a body blow from greedy oil nations that helped push food costs, transportation costs, and other costs for U.S. citizens up at a time when they could barely afford it. People cut back on their driving and spending because they couldn't afford the cost of gasoline to fuel their trips to and from work, and businesses started cutting back on their own costs by laying off employees.
From there, well, we had the housing meltdown thanks to the bubble bursting that the Fed undertook. As the problems in the economy kept getting worse, Obama was able to link McCain to Bush all the more and McCain wasn't able to fight back without potentially sounding racist.
Oh, yeah, definitely race played a factor too. Obama's candidacy came at a time when many minority voters were tired of being taken for granted by the major parties. Mrs. Clinton and others in the party couldn't take hard swipes at Obama because they too would be seen as potential racists and because of that a lot of the attacks that might have slowed down Obama's run to the presidency were left in the big box of potential dirty tricks. So, without the tricks and with many African Americans standing up and staking a claim to this being THEIR TIME, Obama sailed through the primaries and caucuses and used his communicative skills to preach of change and energize a base that contributed funds in record numbers.
Funds that were used later to advertise, organize, and continue to build a wide base that kept feeding the snowball that was rolling down hill so quickly.
Yep, Obama was apparently the right guy at the right time for a fair portion of the electorate. Were the economy in better shape could he have won? Against John McCain I'd say probably yes. And that's one of the other factors that helped make this a perfect storm for Obama -- a poor choice of candidate for the Republican party.
Not that the other potential Republican Candidates were much better, but John McCain was, in many ways, the second coming of Bob Dole. The party owed him the nomination and with a relatively weak field of other candidates, he was able to hold off the competition and take the nomination. Why such a weak slate of opponents? Well, to be fair, they weren't necessarily weak, but they also weren't necessarily candidates that had national appeal. They weren't necessarily known outside their own home states and even if they were known they were each bringing along skeletons of sorts that dropped their overall appeal to the nationwide audience.
Some of this goes back several years, to the 2004 election and perhaps back to the the 2000 election. George W. Bush and the party leadership went with Dick Cheney as W.'s VP candidate rather than setting up someone else to be groomed as a future candidate. In 2004 rather than drop the neocons -- especially Cheney -- W. sat on the potential resignation of Rumsfeld and apparently never pressured Cheney to resign. Rice was promoted to Secretary of State, but she was seen as part of the problem and never seemed to be headed to any potential run of her own. Other cabinet members were virtually unknown to most citizens, and leadership in the Senate and House (with the exception of McCain) was busy arguing with the Democrats and never quite making enough of a name for themselves to be taken seriously as candidates for the White House.
Can Obama actually do any of what he's promised or for that matter do anything positive for the country? Yet again he's walking into a perfect situation to do something. He'll have a sizable majority in the House of Representatives and looks to have a sizable majority in the U.S. Senate as well (perhaps even a filibuster proof majority -- though I really hope not). If he has any sort of plan put together he should be able to shepherd through several pieces of legislation with little chance of the minority blocking any of it. Unless the programs he tries to pass are terribly offensive to the liberal wing of the party (not bloody likely), chances are good he could declare the sky is green and probably have it made so.
In 2 years there'll be a mid-term election that might find things start shifting in the other direction, but from what I've seen of President-elect Obama's oratory skills, he'll likely be able to get at least 2 years in without really having to produce real results. He'll talk of progress, say we've made strides and that he still has plans for even more improvements and the status quo will likely remain. Which means it'll be near the end of Obama's first term before we really see a chance of change away from Obama (if that is desired at that time).
Just some rambling thoughts on how we got to President-elect Obama, and what we have to look forward to. You may differ, and if so, you're welcome to use the comments area below.
