Great Expectations

The American voters have given the keys over to a new driver, and that of course is our 44th president-elect, Barack Obama. She’s a little banged up, some minor body damage and in need of not only a new paint job but some work under the hood as well. Like Danny Zuko in Grease, Obama needs to get the jump suit on and get working, we need a little greased lightning right about now. But the core is still there, 8 years of neglect haven’t changed that, but there is some work to be done, and the key here is that all of us need to step up and do our part, we need to get some grease on our own hands and scrape our knuckles a time or two. This is no one man job.

This is an historic moment for the nation and the world, especially for black folks and by extension many others who now can hope that our nation, though still plagued by racism, sexism, homophobia, and other maladies of intolerance and small-mindedness, is at least turning a corner and heading up a better path. This is a feel-good moment for our people, we made it through a long and often intense campaign season without managing to lose too many friendships, and now that Obama is our president those of us who believe in his promise no longer have to watch our tongue around McCain supporters for fear of offending, which liberals seem more inclined to worry about than conservatives, at least where I live. But Obama is our president now, which means that while you may not have voted for him, you now have to accept the fact that he has the keys, and for those of us who did vote for him enthusiastically, we can now finally be the patriotic supporters of our president, which after the last decade of Clinton sex scandals and Bush ineptitude, has been a long time coming.

So with all this history and good feelings, it is tempting to go into party mode and do a little celebrating, take a trip to Disneyland even. But now is not the time for lavish parties or congratulatory self-back slapping about how great we are because we finally elected a black man. Now is the time to get down to business, and there are great expectations for our new president, and more importantly for ourselves as citizens and residents of this great democratic republic.

The first expectation is for leadership, from the top, but also at all levels of society from people in all walks of life. We should expect Obama to provide the sound judgment and calm reflective demeanor that he demonstrated during the campaign. We will need it now more than ever considering all of the issues we face and those that are sure to come down the pike over time. We also should expect leadership from our congress, who needs to legislate with reform in mind but remember that their term only lasts two years, and it is easy to get bogged down in partisanship and to overshoot a mandate to the point that nothing substantial gets done. The outgoing 110th congress was a disappointment to put it mildly, and while they had the excuses of a Bush administration and a narrow majority, the 111th will have no such justifications for inaction.

We should expect unity, as much as that is possible in the times that we live in. No one should expect conservatives to give up their ideology and philosophy, and our system is better served when there are different ideas being bandied about and honestly debated. We should welcome conservative thought and do all we can to incorporate the best of liberalism and conservatism into a true progressive agenda for our nation. Obama gives us hope of a president who will be a unifier and not a divider, but the proof is in the pudding. Bush also promised the same in 2000, remember compassionate conservatism, but failed to deliver. We must hold Obama and the Congress accountable to rule on our behalf and according to our wishes, which is at the core of a republican government such as ours.

Finally, we must demand results on the issues that matter the most, namely the economy, the Iraq War, and health care. I will delve into these issues in greater detail in a future dispatch, but suffice to say for now that these are the three most pressing issues, among many important ones, that must be dealt with over the next two years. Each are complex in their own way, and each will require buy-in to a degree at least by the minority party, as well as broad public support, so the policies that address them must be crafted in an inclusive way, while adhering to the core principles that Obama and the majority party have run on. This is the art of politics, and the hope is that we have elected an artist with a deft touch who will be able to bring the Congress and the American people along with him.

To whom much is given much is expected. We’ve turned over the keys to our baby, our beloved nation and society, and we have every right to expect greatness, from our president, from our leadership, from each other, and from ourselves. The times demand no less and history will judge us accordingly. Just as previous generations have brought our nation through the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Cold War, so too must we bring ourselves through this challenging time so that we may keep this great experiment in democracy going for those that follow us.