View from a Farley The Current Events and Opinion Weblog of Chris Farley

Election Post-Mortem

 

I went to bed around 1 AM on Election Night (well, the morning after Election Night if you want to be precise).  I probably could have gone to bed after the networks called Ohio and, if I had listened to pollsters, I could have gone to bed long before that.  I’m more excited for President-Elect Obama’s term to start than I have been about any other president’s term starting.  (That’s not saying much, though.  I was born during the Clinton years and the first election I remember was Bush’s first term).  A lot has been written about how historical this election has been and how amazing his term will be, so I doubt I can top the experts, but this is my take on this election, devoid of hyperbole.

Going into election night, I was cautiously optimistic.  During election night, I was overjoyed.  And now I’m back to cautiously optimistic.  A lot hinges on this next term – Supreme court justices, tax policy, the war in Iraq, and economic policy.  The promises made in a campaign are never promises to enact legislation; they’re promises to try.  By the time the promises get on paper, they become subject to political realities.  That’s why it’s not enough for a candidate to win the presidency.  They have to win decisively or they’re dead in the water.

The President-Elect has won decisively but I’m still worried.  Yes, this win is historic.  I still wake up every morning and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made.  But we’ve only made the first step.  The Republicans are in minority, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be a quiet minority.  No, the ones who are left are the most conservative wackos of their party and they will give the President-Elect no end of trouble.

In other words, we have a couple weeks of happiness and marveling in the amazing step the country has taken.  But then, as Jed Bartlett would say, “Break’s over.”