Obama!

A few thoughts on history and the election:

Obama began his campaign before a moderate crowd on the steps of the statehouse in Springfield, Illinois, the place where Abraham Lincoln began his political career. Obama ended his campaign with a speech in front of 90,000 in Manassas, Virginia which is the location of the first battle of the Civil War known as Bull Run. Coincidence? Don't think so. 

LBJ: For me there has been an 800 pound gorilla in the room throughout this entire campaign, Lyndon Baines Johnson.  I listened for his name throughout the campaign and it never came up. For all of the praise, in speech after speech, directed at JFK, RFK, and MLK, the silence on LBJ has been deafening. LBJ! The politician who probably did more for civil and voting rights for minorities than any other politician in the 20th century! When he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 he said that he knew he was signing away the south, and hence power, for his party, likely for generations. In 1965 LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act outlawing voter discrimination against millions of southern blacks which further alienated the south from the Democrats. Regardless of the political costs he did the right thing. As it turned out our party did suffer the consequences that LBJ predicted as Dems were only in the White House for 12 of the following 40 years, and even then we won by default-- first Carter won on the heels of Watergate, and second Clinton, arguably, would not have won without Ross Perot splitting the Republican vote. What happened last night signaled the end of the period of loss that LBJ so presciently foresaw. For my money LBJ is the most tragic political figure in the latter half of the 20th century. The Right will always hate him for the Great Society (and many for the civil rights and voting acts) and the Left will never forgive him for Vietnam.

Speaking of Vietnam isn't it fitting that this transformational election, that was given it's legs by LBJ, was lost by a Vietnam war hero. John McCain is an honorable man who served his country with great distinction and honor in that war and he has continued to do so ever since. Mr. McCain should be appreciated and we all owe him a great debt of thanks. How many of us have put our lives on the line for our country? But it is time to finally put the sorrow and division over Vietnam behind us. We have had two consecutive elections where Vietnam vets have run for president and lost. It is a true testament to the progress toward healing the wounds of the 1960s that today, all these years later, the country has finally rallied around LBJs legacy of humanism and  against the legacy of the Vietnam war. The sight of Obama's adoring, peaceful, crowd last night in Grant Park was in stark contrast with memories of the violence that took place there in 1968 over Vietnam. There is an amazing circularity to it all. And don't look now but the economic crisis, and the response to it, might resurrect some of the echoes of the Great Society. But I won't say that too loudly, at least not yet.

Other trends to ponder::

The Lou Dobbs effect: It turns out that even had McCain carried Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Virginia and all the other red Bush states east of the Mississippi, he would still have lost the election because Obama won overwhelmingly in New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. Why? Because Hispanic voters, who supported Bush in the last election, turned on the Republicans in huge numbers (and also in Virginia and Florida). It's incredible that Mr. McCain, who suffered the wrath of his own party for supporting immigration reform, lost this demographic so decisively. Thank you Lou Dobbs! If I were a Republican leader my first call this morning would be to CNN to demand that they take Lou Dobbs down a rung, if not cancel him altogether. Every night, year after year, his incessant xenophobic ramblings likely played a role in galvanizing Hispanics and many millions of new immigrants to march to our side. Shrill baby shrill.

Young voters: often portrayed in the media as lackadaisical and languid when it comes to political participation, came out in historic numbers to vote for the Democrat. Barack has now mobilized the next generation of foot soldiers for our party. The Republicans frequently denigrated him by belittling his experience as a community organizer in Chicago. They aren't anymore. In fact, not only did Barack get the young vote in huge numbers, but in the process his operation trained a whole new army of political organizers. For those of us who design projects for a living, the best process is an easily repeatable process. Mission accomplished.

Sarah Palin: Will we see Sarah Palin become the new face of the Republican party? No. Sarah Palin represents the old face of the Republican party-- a serious lack of diversity, culture wars and a political acumen that emphasizes provincialism. If the Republicans know what's good for them, and after yesterday they surely must, they will run, fast, away from Sarah Palin. History shows us that Vice Presidential candidates on losing tickets fade away, not the reverse, and Alaska is about as far away from power as one can get in America, both politically and geographically. Prediction: bye bye baby bye bye.

And Joe the plumber? His Andy Warhol allotment is up. Good riddance. 

To begin, Barack will need to govern from the center-- the good news, The Democratic leaders (Pelosi and Reid) are not exactly what we consider powerful politicians in the image of the old school like Tip O'Neil, Jim Wright, or LBJ (in his years in the Senate)... so even though I think the Dems are smart enough to know that it is not in our interests to tack too far to the left in the crucial period to come, even if the flood of pent-up interest group politics does appear at his door the leaders aren't powerful enough to push Barack around. Steady as she goes.

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