One Year Later: A Return to Normalcy

The election of Barack Obama on November 4th, 2008 was unlike any election day in recent memory. It was not only a day that changed America -- all presidential elections do that -- but it was a day laden with symbolic, and real, meaning. The image of Barack Obama and his family walking onto the stage in Grant Park in Chicago after Obama had been declared the winner of the election will be remembered for years. For many Americans, the day Obama was elected was a day of excitement and hope which had been all but forgotten in our political life.

It was also just one day. The excitement and adrenaline of that historic campaign and its historic outcome has now worn off. Even as Pennsylvania and other key states were being called for Obama that night, many became aware of the extraordinary challenges which President Obama would face, due in to small part to the destructive presidency of the previous eight years. Obama faced domestic and international problems including wars and recessions that were not going to be addressed easily or quickly-and they haven't been.

Politics is often about managing expectations; and the expectations placed on Obama were wildly unrealistic, particularly given the difficult environment in which he took office. These elevated expectations have contributed to some of Obama's difficulties. Obama ran a campaign based largely around the notion of change, but has brushed up against a political culture that has so far proven extremely resilient.

On November 4th 2008, there was a sense that anything was possible in America. We had finally brought an end to the Bush administration and elected our first African American president, a candidate who had campaigned on progressive positions and as an adamant opponent to most of the excesses of the Bush administration. A year later, some of that sense of possibility has begun to erode. Seemingly simple policies like closing Guantanamo Bay have proven elusive. Even simpler things like repealing the policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell have been delayed for reasons that remain unclear. Moreover, governance has proved, as it usually does, extremely difficult and laden with difficult compromises and choices between options ranging from bad to worse.

The sobering reality of the last year is that even with a resounding and historic victory, real change is still extremely difficult. The political process, even with a Democratic President and Democratic control of both houses of congress, remains maddeningly slow. Problems only seem more complicated when they are examined more closely and the ability of the president to do much about them, particularly in the post-Bush period, is less than it seems.

Three hundred days into the Obama administration, it is still a little too early to know whether his presidency will be successful or not. Viewing Obama as a failure, or even dismissing progressive hopes, would be premature. The real evaluation of Obama's presidency will very likely be heavily influenced, and perhaps determined, by two issues: health care and Afghanistan. A successful health care bill with a public option and avoiding drawing the US into a long and losing war effort in Afghanistan, both of which are still possible, would make Obama one of our greatest presidents. A never ending unwinnable war in Afghanistan coupled with failure on health care will mean a failed presidency.

While we cannot yet fully judge the Obama administration's overall success, there are some things we have seen in the last year. First, since Obama was elected, our country has returned to normalcy. We still face real problems, but the White House now seems to be seriously engaged in trying to solve them, rather than in using rigid, and often bizarre, ideologies as both explanation and policy solutions. There is still a loud and visible far right in the US, but they are relegated to the margins and to Fox News, rather than having the run of the country. The new president does not always make the right decision, but unlike his predecessor, Obama seems to value information and ideas, rather than viewing inflexibility as the most important virtue when making decisions. The US is better liked and more respected almost everywhere in the world compared to a year ago. This makes it possible to seek to address global problems together with our partners and allies.

The new normalcy which Obama's election has brought us is felt every day, often in strange ways. The occasional comment by Michelle Obama about eating healthy food, the extent to which the administration takes science and scientists seriously, the recognition by the administration that there are problems with the economy and that the government should do something about it, the absence of fear mongering when discussing national security related issues are only some examples of this. This normalcy is a welcome relief from eight years of the Bush administration, but it is only a start. If Obama builds on this start by pushing through a good health care bill and getting it right on Afghanistan, much of that hope that we felt on November 4th of last year will come back.

So, one year after the election, what do you think Candidate Obama would think of President Obama? Tweet your response (our Twitter hashtag is #OneYearLater), or post it in the comments section.

 

Comments

[seawolf77]

The status quo, for better or worse, is a formidable animal. It's like what I used to ask all my former conservative freinds what will it take for you to admit the planet is warming due to viciously irresponsible dumping of carbon into our atmosphere, Florida being underwater? Now I ask all my liberal freinds when will you admit that electing Obama instead of Hillary was a tragic mistake, 4 years gone by and still 2 wars (maybe more) , no health care reform or the 2013 kind that will be reveresed in 2012, no climate change bill, no holding accpountable all the criminal acts of the previous 8 years, etc etc etc

[missouriwatcher]

"Normalcy" does not necessarily mean "better". My main beef with the Republicans is that they had become too smug and too dictatorial over the many years of being in control. (Of course, this was an issue with the Democrats prior to Reagan.) While a party is in the minority, it seems to stick more to ideals; but once in power, forgets the ideals and the campaign promises. And while much campaign rhetoric is nothing but "hot air" since promises are made which cannot be kept under democratic conditions, the public never seems to catch on to that fact and keep falling for the same old lines. When will we ever learn? If history gives any clue, the answer is never. We all need to insist that the overall public interest is served, regardless of who is in office.

[jackiero]

I wish I felt some of that "normalcy" of which you speak. The fact is, I felt safe and economically sound (no matter how artificial) for at least 6 years of the Bush presidency, while I feel no safety under Obama's. It's not his fault, but let's not underestimate the crippling power that a bad economy has on its citizens, especially when you own your own business and the president and congress are looking to target you for more taxes, even if you are a responsible and moral business owner who gives good benefits and pays good wages. It's pretty hard to have hope when your own president seems to think you are a dolt for watching a news network he doesn't like, and when he waits 9 months to speak to the pain of the small business owner while propping up the big companies that created this mess. Oh, and when he campaigns a half-dozen times in your state and mentions that Republicans failed locally when Dems had 12 years to get it right...

[jerrypl]

I wish I was as optimistic as you, but I certainly do not see President Obama returning this nation's economy to any place resembling normalcy. I see him sending us back to Reagan's trickle down, supply side policies as he deflates the value of the dollar, forcing wages down, in a fantasy that appears to arise from a belief that the US can, once again, be a world industrial and manufacturing player without any real stimulus money placed in that direction. Obama has delusionalists in charge: Summers, Geithner, Gensler, Bernanke.

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

[unifyall]

Nothing this administration is doing or planning on doing can be confused as normalcy. The framers of our country would think all of this government intrusion we are facing is totaly abnormal and they would not recognize this country. With the name Lincoln you might think he has studied U.S. History.

[JustBNice]

Maybe you should read the whole article.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

How refreshing to read a thoughtful, reasonable analysis, instead of the "why didn't he fix MY own pet peeve yet?" complaints. In 2-3 years we can start throwing stones if they are deserved. (Or better yet, applaud, if that is deserved.) Strange how normalcy is not an accomplishment in itself after the last 8 years.

[AcePilot101]

I was at Columbia University back in the 1980s.
We all know it is the center for radical left political indoctrination.
A generation of academic Marxists raised on Herbert Marcuse, Noam Chomsky and Saul Alinsky have produced a new Democratic party. To be fair, it should be re-named the Social Democrats.
Obama is the figurehead of this movement. I think it's great that America has elected its first black president and that people like Jimmy Carter and Al Gore can boast they helped to bring this smart, Harvard-educated lawyer into the White House.
That said, Obama cannot expect to be free of criticism from the right, left or center just because he is black. That's playing the "race card" and is, in fact, inherently racist.
Truth has no race or gender.

[ThePeacemakers]

AcePilot,
WTF? Have you NOT been paying attention to current events.
O is surrounded by Geithner, Summers, Rubin all of them believe in the delusional school of "free market" capitalism, which does not exist. You know how I know? The army of lobbyists hired by corportations to manipulate the market (leave people with LESS choice - hence all the monopolies around) through influencing congress and getting loads of taxpayer dollars to help them make profit.


You can keep you economic theories for sociopaths as well. Austrian School, Ayn Rand, et al.

You want to go into hyperbole around economic beliefs - I'm here for ya.

[wendynyc]

It is sad that Americans are jumping up and down at the smallest thing Obama does.

Folks pray for yourselves and support our President.

Corporate America does not want change to happen!!

[JQ]

I find your choice of the term "a return to normalcy" to be quite a strange one. Surely as a professor of politics, you realize that this particular phrase was the campaign slogan of President Warren G. Harding whose administration was known to be rife with corruption and scandal. If you're trying to portray Obama in a positive light, that's a most unusual choice of words indeed.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

You're right Linc!!! I don't feel like vomiting when I see the president on TV; I'm not throwing things at the news anchors in anger at the frear mongering..... blue alert, red alert, yellow alert, bue alert, green alert, orange alert! What a joke that was. And I don't cringe when I know my president will be visiting a foreign country - cause I konw he won't be harshly rubbing the shoulders of the German chancellor, or insulting the president of a newly formed Eastern European country, or kissing the as... I meant, hand of any oil shiek that walks his way. You're right... I'm thankful... and I do feel some normalcy..... And thank you for pointing that out.

[GreatNews27]

Two forever wars and 15% unemployment. So this is normal?

[Agentprovokatur]

Yeah - aren't Republican legacies great . . . the "gifts" that keep on giving!

[Liberal2]

The problem I have with Obama isn't what he's failed to accomplish in the last ten months, it's what he's failed to try to accomplish. The opportunity to do big things is gone. Rethugs see someone they can push off the line. Obama moves further and further to the right, chasing bipartisanship into the republican trap of failure.

[FearlessFreep]

Co-sign.

[timewaster2dcore]

I wish more people think like you do, Lincoln. But unfortunately, that`s not the case. A very good, reality-based article by the way.

[silverball]

grant park...NOT lincoln park....