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What Happens If Obama Wins Tonight?
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Barack Obama, Campaign 2008, Campaign Finance, Congress, Election 2008, Election Day, Expectations, Jimmy Carter, Mybarackobama.Com, Nancy Pelosi, Obama Campaign, Obama Expectations, Political Action Committees, Republican Congressmen, Ronald Reagan, Voting,
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Right now, the people are going to the polls. Not the usual people. Not the political junkies, the special interest groups, the religious Right, but THE PEOPLE.
Even though racial fear is making the election extremely close, Barack Obama, regardless of skin color, has transformed American politics, and campaign finance. Now the question is, if he wins tonight, can he change government and live up to the expectations of the millions of people who gave $9, $15, and $50.00, who signed up by the hundreds of thousands to vote not for a Democrat ideology, but for the idea of democracy itself.
The pressure, as Mr. Obama goes to Washington, is squarely on him. It's kind of the booby prize. You've won, now fix everything, and get it done yesterday.
The Bush Administration, wanting to make sure that Obama founders, left him Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in some sort of Narnian winter-freeze that will have to be melted to free the fiscal empire of the United States.
That political hot potato, particularly in the hands of the Congress, should cause quite a few Maalox moments for Obama as he tries to wrestle the two very fractious parties that have spent the last twenty-six years acting more like the Hatfields and McCoys shooting at one another than the United States Congress.
By the very fact of his election, though, Obama is served a large mandate to curb both the more liberal enthusiasms of the Nancy Pelosi crowd and the more knee-jerk reaction of some social issue-driven Republican Congressmen and senators.
In fact, moderate Dems and fiscally conservative Republicans might well be forming a coalition or two to get their business, and the business of the people done under Obama, because they will, if he stays with his proposed agenda, definitely have the ear of the White House.
It will be a very cold and sobering Wednesday on K-Street as well. The simple realization that the American people have batted back the attack ads, the hate agenda, and the smear tactics, pretty much everything that the special interests and lobbyists had to fire at the voters, will mean that it is not business as usual heading into the next four years.
This country has been ruled by Political Action Committees (PAC) who have given lifeblood money and who have manipulated the airwaves since the latter days of Jimmy Carter before Ronald Reagan wiped the electoral map with him.
Obama's ground game, which leverages the Internet, will be studied for a long time. He is turning out people at the usual campaign offices, albeit stuffed with volunteers. The system of reaching voters is so complete that people are often, much to the annoyance of some voters, making contact with people three and four times. It is also focusing people at home on making phone calls via an Internet system called MyBarackObama.com at home.
It is that latter system which may also help Obama after the election. He has created a massive network which, with a little sophistication, will still allow people who can help both support and articulate his "bottom up" policy initiatives.
Ronald Reagan used the television to bury the Congress in telegrams when he thought that it was not doing his, er, the people's bidding.
Obama, if he preserves his network of loyal voters, can reach out to a social political network the likes of which has never been seen before.
It may be that agent of Change which gives Obama the ability to keep a handle on the House and Senate, a vivid reminder that it is the people, not big oil, big pharma, or big insurance that give him his mandate.
If, on the other hand, Mr. McCain wins, by hook or crook, the status quo will continue for another four lamentable years, and the religious right will silence the fiscal conservative wing of the party for another decade.
In many ways, it might be better for the GOP for McCain to lose. It would give the moderates of the party an ability to voice the idea that the only way that the GOP will be able to capture that newly energized "independent" voter by speaking to them without the fear and extreme rhetoric of the right.
Perhaps the best news today, though, is that your news will go back to being news, and after you read this, the name Joe the Plumber should, thankfully, slip into the bizarre hall of history that includes Clara Peller's "Where's the Beef!"
If you want to get Joe out of your head, try Alec Baldwin's riff on Sarah Palin. He called her "Bible Spice" on a recent Late Night with David Letterman. Priceless.
The biggest shame is that Barack Obama's grandmother passed last night, and did not live long enough to see him make history.
Help him make it. GO VOTE!
Follow Brian Ross on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mlnsports
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HuffPost's Pick
Answer: The nation heals, and prospers.
Obama's grandmother passed because she knew he was going to be OK. It was OK for her to go, because now his country needs him.
Wanna know what will happen if Mr. Obama wins tonight? That's easy he will have the same opportunity to make a difference that many other presidents had, odds are he will have a left leaning congress and senate so his challenge will be to convince everyone (moonbats as well as the religious right) to work together to make our nation great once again. The questions are will he renege on his promises like Bush senior? Can he work with both sides of the aisle and get results like Regan? Can he keep the people involved and on his side? There are many tools he can use to see that the will of the people (not the special interests from either the left or the right) gets done. Let's hope he can leave the blame game behind and convince congress and the senate to concentrate on getting America working and independent once again because in the end that is what will save our bacon. The man has a big load on his shoulders if he wins and no experience to help him but stranger things have been done in America so let's see if he has what it takes and if he doesn't there are always independents out there who have the experience to do the job in all three branches of government.
I want to hear Aretha singing "America, The Beautiful" on Inauguration day.
What happens if Obama wins is that millions of voters CAN'T just sit back and leave it for government to bring about change, but rather they must continue to be active in the political process. They also must be active individually - doing what they each and every one can do to heal our hurting economy, and to save our threatened world. Recycle, be energy efficient, don't waste water, keep fighting for civil rights, work to save the non-human inhabitants of the world - ALL of those things and so many more. What has been MOST exciting about this election is NOT that the U.S. may have its first black president, but that after decades of apathy, finally the American people are beginning to step up again and do their individual part in bringing about change that is absolutely vital not only to comfort, but in fact, to survival.
Amen . i was just thinking that after tomorrow's hangover, it's gonna be time to get to work.
we're on board. FIRED UP !
WHAT HAPPENS IF OBAMA WINS TONIGHT?
For the first time in eight years, I'll get a good night's sleep!
Thanks for this totally vacuous article.
How supercilious.
that's literally facetious. totally
I voted in SW Virginia this morning. It'll be blue tonight!
If he wins, Obama will have his work cut out for him, but the smartest thing he will do is continue his organizing efforts and keep the populace active in bringing about the future of this country, we cannot just sit back after the election and expect better results. McCain can only win by hook or crook, he has not been an honest politician by any measure, being chummy with the press is not the same thing as being honest and open with them, he never has been. His career has been involved with big business shenanigans since Charles Keating put him up for congress. Do not think for a moment that he will hesitate to pull a fast one whether he thinks he can get away with it or not. It is time for the evangelicals and big business to take a big step back from the halls of power.
You know Senator Obama has mass gravitas, when Senator Biden's blunders are nothing more than a little dirt on his shoulder..........Obama 08
My fellow Democrats, we have the technology to build the worlds first bionic President...........Obama08
I'm predicting milk and honey on tap in every home.
Sounds sticky!
Sticky and Sweet. Maybe we can get Madonna to stop by The White House on her Sticky and Sweet Tour!
What did you mean when you implied that if McCain won it would be "by hook or crook"?? McCain is very honest (relatively speaking for a politician) and what about all that acorn garbage? I don't hear much about that from you. Obama may make a good President but me major concern is judges he may appoint - crime is high enough without the prison doors being opened-up.
is crime really up in America? because crime is down, especially violent crime, in Canada even though handguns are pouring in from US and making big news, still statistics are way down. Locking people up doesn't seem to be working for you. And on the subject of McCain's 'honesty'; he is forever 'coming clean' and apologising for one unethical fiasco after another his whole life. He is 'honest' about owning up after he is caught. Not my idea of 'honest'; just not a 'denial'-machine. But he does what he feels like and figures he can charm his way out of consequences. Works for selling cars, but if the President is a dud, you can't get another one. (see: George Dubya)
The best man will win.
that is less likely than you might think. The best man is not likely to try to use legal and illegal chicanery to eliminate votes, the best man will probably not go after the character when it is clear his political positions are not enough to sway voters. The person who seeks this office and actually understands and loves what this country is founded on and stands for, The Constutution, will work to make sure that each registered voter has the opportunity to vote and that vote is counted, not just in states where they might win, but in every state. John McCain is not that man, but with less effort than you might imagine, he could win this contest as dishonorably as he has run his campaign, not that this would matter to him.
what is the point of appointing learned judges when there is mandatory sentencing? We need to be more proactive in preventing crime. Nearly 2/3 of prisoners in CA prisons are non-violen offenders that are serving mandatory sentences. that threat doesn't work and does nothing to solve the problems of these people in the first place. Education, opportunity, intervention. These things will do more to reduce crime than the threat of punishment.
The ACORN "garbage" as you call it has pretty much been exposed as just that: garbage. Far from some orchestrated attempt at mass voter fraud the GOP tried to claim it as, it was, rather an attempt by individual workers to defraud ACORN as they were paid according to the number of people they signed up. ACORN screened all of the phony registrations before turning them in. At no time were these registrations in danger of being taken seriously. Sorry YOU did not get the memo!
they got the memo alright. The one from FAUX news, where facts are optional.
If you examine John McCain's life in public service, and his campaign, honesty is not one of his strong suits. He has taken positions contrary to his party, true, but mostly in ways that he felt would maximize his opportunities for advancement. He has been "running" for president for nearly 20 years. This bottom of his class, ditched enough aircraft that he would have been put on a boat save for his admiral dad, POW whose apparent claim to fame was that he did what all other POWs did and did not come home when they offered him the chance if he would forsake his country, man is nothing more than an OPPORTUNIST.
"In many ways, it might be better for the GOP for McCain to lose. It would give the moderates of the party an ability to voice the idea that the only way that the GOP will be able to capture that newly energized "independent" voter by speaking to them without the fear and extreme rhetoric of the right."
Yes, yes, and yes. Us moderate, anti-interventionist, true fiscal conservatives have all but been laughed out of the party. Even if some of us couldn't vote for Obama (I did this morning), many of us voted third party. I only know of a few who admitted they'll vote for McCain, and they were either very religious or had some neocon tendencies to begin with.
Seriously, we have got to get rid of the neocons in that party, they're worse, in so many ways than even the religious right.
This campaign and his rise have proven that he has EXCELLENT advisors. Obama chose these people. I hope for the future and the people he will choose to bring the US back to the top.
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