Rethinking the American Electorate after an Obama Victory
We are on the cusp of a very special moment in the US. Barring extremely unusual or dramatically unforeseen circumstances, we are less than two weeks away from a great day for the United States as we definitively close the book on the dishonesty, incompetence, belligerence and ignorance which has characterized the Bush administration. Election Day will not just mean the end of almost a decade of dysfunctional Republican governance, but will also show that Americans are ready and anxious for progressive and thoughtful leadership.
November 4th will also be a great day for democracy as millions of people will join together and through the simple act of voting change their country and the world unequivocally and for the better. The world has rarely seen the people of any democracy rise up peacefully and send such a clear message. All those who don't believe that democracy can work or that voters are only driven by their baser instincts will have to wrestle with the message the people of our country will send on Election Day.
It ain't, as the famous American philosopher Lawrence Berra would say, over until its over, but if I may continue the baseball allusion, we are now up by a few runs with one out in the 9th and have Mariano Rivera on the mound. I recognize that, even the great Rivera blows a save every now and then and than in order to ensure victory we all have to continue to work, volunteer and, of course, vote, but having said that, I am going to address some of the often overlooked issues which an Obama victory would raise.
One of the great things about an Obama victory is that it will force a lot of people to rethink a lot of things. People outside the US who have bought into the appealingly reductive anti-Americanism rhetoric of recent years, will have to rethink some of their basic assumptions about our country. This will be particularly true among those on the European left who may want to stop and ask themselves what it tells them about the US, and their own countries, that somebody like Barack Obama will be our leader. Others in Europe and elsewhere who perhaps pay less attention to the US will have to rethink their view of the US as a conservative country which likes to elect cowboys and bubbas, as we have in recent years.
Right wingers in the US will have to revisit their assumptions about the inherent racism and conservatism of the American people as well as the power of wedge issues to divide people and lead them to vote on their fears. Emphasizing bizarre issues such as Obama's acquaintance with Bill Ayers, or calling Obama a socialist because of his notion that tax policy should not simply redistribute wealth upwards, failed to influence more than a few voter this time. This should suggest to the operatives of the right wing that they their cynical understanding of America can be trumped by a more affirming and progressive sentiment in the electorate.
It is, however, the American left which will have to do the most intriguing and challenging rethinking of basic assumptions when Obama wins. For years now a central piece of the progressive worldview is that progressives are enlightened Americans in a sea of their ignorant, bigoted and narrow-minded compatriots. If you don't believe my assertion, see how many times in the comments section of a progressive blog, Americans voters are referred to as ignorant or uninformed, or eavesdrop at any progressive coffee shop or other hangout. Opposition to progressive causes is often explained away by saying that Americans are bigots, or somehow stupid. This demonstrates an ugly contempt for voters, and in fact for democracy, that should have no place in progressive politics.
Nonetheless, this feeling of specialness is a central part of progressive identity for many. For example, the tone often used to express disbelief that Obama could win, particularly early in this campaign, was often a mixture of anger with racism and a sense of self-righteousness from the speaker for being above that racism.
November 4th will almost certainly show these beliefs to be the nonsense that they are. After November 4th, whenever somebody belittles the intelligence or tolerance of the American voter the proper response will be "What about when we elected Barack Obama?" I hope for many this will be understood to be a sign that American voters can be more progressive, enlightened and thoughtful than had previously been believed. Obama will win because willingness to vote for somebody who looks different, and whose name sounds unusual, simply because he is the best candidate, is no longer the province of elites or an educated minority. This may cause progressives to rethink much of what they thought they knew about America, but it seems a small price to pay for an Obama presidency.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Can someone help me? Recently your hero Mr.Biden was stumping in Seattle and he was working the crowd into a frenzy. He told the crowd, mark my words, within the next 6 months the new administration is going to be tested. He then told the crowd to, "gird your loins"! This sounds kind of scary, should I get my jock strap on or get into my bomb shelter.?
Why should this surprise you? aren't presidents "tested" within their first 6 months in office? and with two wars going on what is it not to understand that if elected Obama would be tested?
When LBJ signed into law the Voting Rights Law in 1964 he said , "I just cost the Democrats the south for the next generation". How right he was. The "conservatives" and rasists flocked to the GOP, and it has taken this long for America to overcome rascism enough to believe that a man like Obama could run for the highest office in the land.
It took a decade or more of misgovernence for the majority of Americans to see what covservatism has done to their country. Our country is mired down in two wars, the economy is tanking, and we
owe more than we will ever be able to pay. Trade imbalances growing larger each year, the nations infrastructure is crumbling, our shcools are failing, our use of fossel fuels is helping to change our climate, and we've squandered our standing among the rest of mankind.
And after realizing all of this, we still want more of the same you think? I'm reminded of the words of Jesus, "If the blind lead the blind, won't they both fall into the ditch". And, "There are none so blind as those who refuse to see". Let's put America back on the road to progressive change. We've gone backwards long enough.
Your right on, the South was staunchly Democrat in those days, a conservative wing of the party called the Dixiecrats. These people kept the racist South mired in Jim Crow rules while securing the heart, sole, and votes of many conservative Americans to elect Democrats.
When the main stream Democrat party, under Kennedy and Johnson, fully supported equal rights for Black Americans in the mid sixties, the Dixiecrats left the party in droves. They crossed the road to the Republican party over the next 4 years and, by 1968, the former Dixiecrats had become the Far Right Wing of the Republican party; the first generation of Neocons. They kept the Republican Party in power for most of the next 40 years by concentrating the conservative vote under the Republican banner. Unfortunately this left the Democrat Party firmly under the influence of the extreme Left Wing which also drove many moderate Democrats to the Right. Since the 1980s, the transition has been completed as the Democrat leadership decided to move the party to the right in an attempt to compete for private special interest money and copy a winning political strategy.
The America envisioned in our Constitution hasn’t existed for a long time !
The more of the same you are referring to is the past two years of a Democratic controlled incompetant congress not to mention the 7 trillion dollars they have squandered on entitlement programs since the early seventies and now thanks to your cronies like Barnie Rubble Frank, Dodd, Pelosi, and Harry 'the war is lost' Reid, we have a financial meltdown. These turds objected to the warnings of many on the right to put Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in check from buying paper forced on banks with threat of lawsuits by your buddies at ACORN.....
Aroleflin: How often have you watched congressional sessions on C-SPAN? Time after time after time, the Democrats in the House passed a bill that would have helped Americans only to have it blocked in the Senate because the Democrats didn't have enough of a majority to eliminate a filibuster or override a veto. I got so utterly sick of McConnel's (R - Kentudky) obstructionism I wanted to scream. Your "Democrat [six] controlled incompetent congress [sic]" is a fiction, and you ought to have your head examined. It sounds good, but it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Wait till we have a Democratic Administration AND a truly Democratically controlled Congress. THEN we'll see some real progress towards turning this country around as it needs to be turned!
Democratic controlled Congress??? We don't have enough of a majority to keep out a Republican filibuster or override a BUSH veto. I can't wait until we have a majority of 60 in the Senate!! It's going to happen!. THEN you can say we have a Democratic controlled Congress! Right now the Repub filibusters and the Bush vetoes rule it.
Let me see if I've got this right - a voter registration group forced banks to write shaky mortgages so they wouldn't be sued over - voter registration? And then the banks were then somehow pressured to hand off these shaky mortgages to freddie and fannie because if they didn't their coffers wouldn't be refilled so they couldn't pull off the same scam, I mean service, over and over again - against their wills? And the banks didn't profit from passing off the shaky mortgages, right? Just a public service. And the millions of shaky mortgages weren't sliced and diced into abstract entities and resold and re-resold and re-re-resold until nobody anywhere could tell if any of them or their tiny parts were worth any money because a few Democratic members of congress disguised themselves as digestive waste and should have known that the sky was going to fall even though their friends across the aisle told them there was too much regulation already? Is that it? Wow. Thank goodness we have the conservatives holding everything together..
IF YOU THINK CONGRESS SPEND MONEY WATCH WHEN DEMOCRATS GET INTO OFFICE. REMEMBER MOST CONSERVATIVES ARE JUST AS TEE OFF AS REST OF AMERICA. BUT THEIR ARE JUST AS MANY RACIST IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AS THEIR ARE IN THE REPULICANS PARTY. LIBERAL HATES CHRISTIANS, BECAUSE WE MAKE THEM FEEL GUILTY. FOR ALL THE STUPID STUFF THEY BELIEVE IN LIKE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE GIVE ME A BREAK LOOK AT ENGLAND,CANADA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM DO YOU REALLY WANT TO WAIT THREE TO FOUR MONTHS TO SEE A DOCTOR. DO THE RESEARCH.
Angel, you seem to be a product of an under-par education system, since you can't even get your spelling right.
Very thought provoking column. I am a Dutchman living in Bangkok and I too have high hopes for the impact that an Obama administration will have abroad. Eight years of betrayal, lies and spin have turned a worldwide feeling of empathy shortly after 9/11, into a worldwide feeling of resentment and anger towards "the American", however unjustified that may be, considering the fact that the United States is as divers as a nation can be. I pray that we can bury the Ugly American under a flag of change after November 4.
And to all of you out there: Please, vote!
How often do you go to the doctor that waiting 3 hours to see a doctor in a system that provides health care for everyone is such a terrible tradeoff. Just because other nations health care systems aren't all that attractive doesn't mean we have to model ours like theirs.
I'm not sure where you have done your research, ANGEL53545, but you are misinformed about the healthcare system in England. I lived there for 27 years and still have many relatives there, and I can tell you that it takes no longer to see your family doctor there than it does here in the U.S. If the doctor finds that you need urgent treatment, you get referred to a specialist or hospital and get treated quickly. If your condition is not urgent, you might have to wait a few months, just like here. But you never have to worry about the bills or the insurance company denying coverage because it is a public service and you pay for it as part of your taxes. Most Brits are horrified by what they hear about the American healthcare system.
It's not that the American voter is stupid, they just don't have much to choose from !
Ralph Nader makes this point every four years, "what can we expect when our only choice is the least worst of two candidates who are both being funded and controlled by the same corporate special interest groups".
Our elections have been bought and paid for in advance for the last 30 years. My bet is that Obama's change in direction will be a 360 degree turn to the same familiar path with the wealth flowing even faster toward the top 1 % !
This is it in a nutshell. If all our collective minds think of a positive outcome this will take place. So to all of you pessimistic bloggers, change your tune. Join us in the obvious truth out there. Obama is way ahead on the polls. People are sick and tired of the Republican party and Bush one and two. The economy sucks and it is the fault of the administration, not matter how bad they deny i. President Barack Hussein Obama is coming.
Great article...
OK, it's probably fashionable to believe Obama is going to win. I hope he does, but what are the possibilities that he might not. I mean, it appears as if he WILL win. But LORD only knows what can happen in our weird world. And WHAT will the world think, feel and do if he DOESN'T?
They will see us for the idiots we are, and we will deserve everything that happens to us.
This is why it is VITAL for Obama to not just win, but win with a landslide. We have to get out and vote, vote, vote! I am so proud of those who have gone out early to vote. Watch this, and pass it on to everyone you know. Enough is enough already.
http://www
Our very country is in the balance here. We cannot afford to be complacent!
People, I am cautiously optimistic. We cannot take our eyes off the prize. WE HAVE TO VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!! If you are lucky enough to be in a state that votes early, VOTE TOMORROW!!!!! get it done, and locked in!!! Dems are famous for losing it all at the last minute and we cannot lose this one!!!!!! Our very lives are at stake!!!
All this noise assumes that the junior Senator from Illinois has not been pre-approved by The Oligarchy that actually runs The Republic.
Honesty?
The Obama administration is going to bring us honesty?
What about all the voeter registration fraud and, in some cases, voter fraud by Acorn?
What about giving Acorn $832,000 and calling it "convention serices" when it was used for voter registration. In return Acorn registered a whole lot of people and cartoon characters and told them they have to vote for Obama?
What about raising funds from "Good Will" and other fictitious characters?
These are not the FACTS!!!!
Wow. You don't do your homework, JanP. Acorn gave money to people to register voters and some of those people signed up dead people, cartoon characters, and football players etc.
Acorn has to turn in every registration but they are flagged and reviewed. None of those fictitious characters are going to show up at the booth with their false voter id cards and their false identification cards and vote. Acorn got ripped off, not John McCain.
That is not true. Get your facts straight.
What's SOOOOOOO HORRIBLE about helping the American electorate register to vote??????
Wouldn't be because they're all gonna vote for Obama would it???????????
"What about all the voeter registration fraud and, in some cases, voter fraud by Acorn?"
So what about it? Are you bothered because you think that fraud in the registration of voters is a Republican privilege? ONE of the technicalities Bush needed to win in 2000 was for his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida's Secretary of State/Bush campaign manager Katherine Harris to falsely accuse a couple thousand voters of being convicted felons. (I mean with 90% wrong, if the itent was to purge the roles of ineligible voters, they could have been more accurate taping the printout to a wall and throwing darts.)
Republican operatives have sent registered letters to servicemembers in Black and Latino neighborhoods knowing that many were overseas; and using the returned envelopes to cancel their registration.
One Republican employee, Mark Jacoby, was recently arrested for using bait-and-switch tactics to trick people into changing their registratiion.
Now, we're seeing Republicans pump up the rumors that people in foreclosed homes (MIchigan) or who have outstanding traffic violations (Pennsylvania) can lose their right to vote.
ACORN is required by law to turn in ALL the applications in their possession. ACORN had flagged the fraudulent registration forms themselves. I seriously doubt the accusations will show anything worse than disgruntled staffers or Republican moles cranking out false forms instead of doing what they're paid to do.
Even if they were guilty as charged, the accusations amount to nothing more than Practicing Republicanism without a License.
It's not over yet. It's still a fight for every vote, despite what the polls say. Some of the polls appear to be tightening. Run through the finish line--- not to it.
Can people please not count their chickens before their hatched (or at least be knocking on wood). This thing is hardly decided. Republicans are running robocalls and stump speeches essentially calling Obama a terrorist/
I, like many Obama supporters, am optimistic about this election; but I'm concerned that this may be due in large part to a not-quite-fawning press. Today the AP reports that their latest poll shows the race is even. What about that Arianna, does this shock you as It does me? This is not the news we've been getting on our leftist blogs, including HuffPost. We all know what it feels like to have our aspirations blown out the water on the big day. We're getting reports that now voting has started so has the vote tampering. We need and deserve objectivity, more than ever now. And we need objectivity and reality - not hopefulness and complacency and the smugness of not being McCain/Palen supporters.
Sounding a little like the rhetoric from the GOP somewhat for a journalist with "People outside the US who have bought into the appealingly reductive anti-Americanism rhetoric..
Personally, I can see the appeal for "...anti-A
Here's hoping the world thinks more fondly of America...
Places like Argentina, for instance..
The 'price to pay ' that I worry about relates to Obama's endorsement for election by Iran, Hugo Chavez, Bill Ayers, Fidel Castro, and V. Putin. Now that is what I call casting confidence in our future.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
