Election Thoughts

Here's a brief video of President-Elect Obama walking with President Bush in many of the same places Sarah and I just visited.

What can I say about the events of last Tuesday? The final results far exceeded any projects I made, even on my most optimistic days. An African-American Democrat whose name sounds like Osama, and who has Hussein as a middle name, really won Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Iowa, etc, and will soon be sworn in as President. It's really incredible, and above all, shows how hungry America really is for change.

Strange as it may sound, I've been even more impressed with Pres-Elect Obama during the last week than I was during the campaign. He has seemed humbled and levelled by the weight of what has just been placed on his shoulders. I was amazed at how quickly he actede to appoint Rahm Emmanuel as his chief of staff, and while I initially had mixed reactions, I think it is a brilliant choice. It's true that Emmanuel has a history of sharp partisanship, but I think more than anything he's a pragmatist with strong political instincts. The right direction now calls for boldness but bi-partisanship, and he's pragmatic enough to go that direction. Best of all, he knows the House and has a lot of young legislators indebted to him. Combine that with Vice-Pres-Elect Biden's clout and experience in the Senate, and I think Obama will have a much easier time working with Congress than Pres. Clinton ever did.

Now what? in some ways it seems health care, energy, and all those priorities should be put off until the economy can be dealt with. It seems that every day in the paper there is someone arguing for doing as much at once as quickly as possible, and another arguing for babysteps. I'm somewhat inclined to believe that this is a golden opportunity that might not exist for long. Think of all LBJ was able to do in the first year after his huge victory in 1964, for example. As Al Gore pointed out in his recent op-ed, appropriately titled "A Climate for Change," the solutions to health care, energy, and the economy are so inter-related that dealing with the economy provides the opportunity to work towards solving the health care and energy problems. I know Ted Kennedy is working behind the scenes, even from his hospital bed, to craft health reform legislation. How will it play out? Only time will tell. What an exciting time!