Rendezvous with Destiny

From FDR to BHO

I want to end with two items. The title of this blog comes from a speech given by Franklin Roosevelt to the 1936 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. His words would seem to fit this moment also:

The defeats and victories of these years have given to us as a people a new understanding of our government and of ourselves. Never since the early days of the New England town meeting have the affairs of government been so widely discussed and so clearly appreciated. It has been brought home to us that the only effective guide for the safety of this most worldly of worlds, the greatest guide of all, is moral principle.

...

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

Many of the excellent pieces which have been written about this campaign attempt to pinpoint a moment at which Barack Obama's candidacy went from being impossible to merely improbable. It seems to have been that the Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Iowa on November 10th 2007 was the inflection point, at which Obama was finally able to articulate a message and a mission worthy of the excitement generated by his candidacy:

What's Next?

President-Elect Obama will be inaugurated as the actual President on January 20th 2009 (there's already a lot of interest for the various Inauguration Day events). Until then, he'll be putting together his cabinet, preparing a detailed plan for the first 100 days, and buying a puppy.

This means that the next two and a half months will be a rather strange period in which we have a lame duck President, and a President-Elect who is generating immense excitement but is unable to actually do anything substantial.

From this point on I will maintain the blog, but I won't be posting on a daily basis. I'm not as able (or as interested, frankly) to weigh up the relative merit of Timothy Geithner versus Larry Summers for Treasury Secretary. I would also argue that the race to be the Republican nominee in 2012 is perhaps something to come back to in a couple of years, rather than the weekend after the election.

I also want to reflect the fact that this was a truly momentous election, and that now is not the time to write about "Wasila hillbillies looting Nieman Marcus from coast to coast". We shouldn't forget how improbable an Obama victory looked until his victory in the Iowa caucus, and how much of a break with the past his election represents. This was a political story for the ages.

However, I am concious that the point of politics is not to win elections but to govern well. The real work begins now for Barack Obama. From all that I have seen and read, I believe that he has the potential to be an exceptional, consequential President. I hope that excitement and dynamism of the Obama candidacy is carried forward to the Obama presidency, and if so, I'm sure that there will be plenty more for me to write about once he takes office.

52 to 48

I thought this was rather nice, but then again I have been ingesting a lot of hope recently.

Isn't it 53 to 46?

Africa

An individual or faction within the McCain campaign is furiously talking trash about Sarah Palin:

They've gone too far with the Africa claim. Palin's mental driveway may not quite reach the road (*), but that's just implausible.

The conspiracy theory is that former Romney aides are circulating these stories with the intention of disqualifying Palin for a 2012 run.

Rahm Emmanuel

So it turns out that Rahm Emmanuel will be Obama's chief of staff. Politico has the definitive take:

President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) as his White House chief of staff is the latest demonstration of a quality Obama showed repeatedly over the course of his campaign: He’s willing to do what it takes to win.

If his goal had been to create a cordial bipartisan tone in Washington — much less a calm, profanity-free West Wing — Obama would have looked elsewhere.

The Emmanuel family are a fascinating bunch, as evidenced by this 1997 profile of the family.

Incidentally, whilst it's well known that Ari Emmanuel is the inspiration for Entourage's Ari Gold, Rahm himself was said to be the inspiration for The West Wing's Josh Lyman. That leads to this neat bit of symmetry, noticed by a commenter on Matthew Ygelsias' blog:

• 1998: Josh Lyman is modeled after Rahm Emanuel.
• 2004: Matt Santos is modeled after Barack Obama
• 2006: Matt Santos wins the presidency, and appoints Josh Lyman his Chief of Staff
• 2008: Barack Obama wins the presidency, and appoints Rahm his Chief of Staff.

Should these West Wing parallels continue, we should now expect Obama to name John McCain as his Secretary of State.

The Horror!

The Onion captures my feelings nicely [via Wonkette]:

And the best bit of their post-election coverage:

Carrying a majority of the popular vote, Obama did especially well among women and young voters, who polls showed were particularly sensitive to the current climate of everything being fucked. Another contributing factor to Obama's victory, political experts said, may have been the growing number of Americans who, faced with the complete collapse of their country, were at last able to abandon their preconceptions and cast their vote for a progressive African-American.

End of Satire

The Daily Show at the moment of Obama's victory:



Then feeling rather bereft at the end of this lengthy campaign - a sentiment I too share:



Politico raises a question that I have also been wondering about - will the serious and (hopefully) competent Obama administration deprive Stewart and Colbert of material?

The Election Project

Newsweek reporters were given behind the scenes access to both campaigns, on the understanding that the things they saw and heard would not be revealed until after the election. These are their stories.

All very interesting, but aren't these guys supposed to be reporters, not historians?

Two Fine Speeches

John McCain:



President-elect Barack Obama:

President-elect Obama

Man, that sounds good. It wasn't all a dream.

Newspaper front pages here and here. Editorials and other coverage here and here. Reaction from across the world here.