...of the bush era. no matter who wins the presidency, clinton, obama or mccain... the white house will make a noticeable shift to the left in less than a year. ideally, this shift will lead to a correction of orientation - away from the policies of the past 8 years. in spite of the bush administration, the economy has been strong... up until now. runaway bank lenders and constantly merging financial entities have lead to a private sector disaster. this isn't bush's fault, but he has helped it along. from iraq to gitmo to katrina to out-of-control government spending and expansion... cronyism... to outright treason... this administration will prove to be one of the most corrupt in our nation's history. the biggest travesty is that bush will not suffer any consequences. also, in spite of his efforts to spin it otherwise, there are thousands upon thousands of veterans, and their families... outsourced workers... victims of his draconian judicial policy... and many others... who will be forever damaged by his influence as president.
although none of our top 3 contenders are perfect... some more liberal than others... all 3 seem to understand the need to balance foreign and domestic policy... and they understand that although you do have to make promises to get to where you are... you still need to adhere to some sort of reliable political and societal orientation.
hillary clinton doesn't try to hide her intention to socialize american health care. mccain doesn't try to hide the fact that he is pro-military / iraq... although he does try to hide his liberalism, which has resulted in the weird romney/huckabee split. he also isn't shy about his former prisoner of war status, which is understandable. actually, his political career was based on it. obama knows he isn't entirely experienced compared to the other two and he doesn't try to hide it... but his vision for america is compelling.
it is this final point that i'm considering today. obama: what he wants by way of domestic policy and what he ultimately represents. ponder the outcome of an obama victory in the general election: having a mixed-race president as chief executive sends a message to the country and to the world... that power can shift, that change is possible, that race can be overcome in a general election. keep in mind how big of a step this is. thus far, the furthest we have come to challenging the white-male-as-president status quo was the nomination of geraldine ferraro on the horrendously ill-fated democratic ticket in '84. that was a quarter of a century ago.
obama's presence, demeanor and commanding / articulated voice will go far to stitch up the image that bush left behind... one of ignorant verbosity and uninformed adolescent swagger. obama has promised that he will talk to our allies abroad as well as our enemies. and the fact that he would be leading a christian nation with a muslim name, could go far to reverse long held ethno-centric belief systems throughout america's sphere of influence. and yes, if obama makes it past this evening... and eventually onto the presidency... he will seriously fuck up at least a few times during his term(s). everyone does.
surely there will be thousands who would be horrified by a black president, or one who's name isn't george or john or bill or jack or theodore... but these are precisely the people who need to be horrified. sometimes shock goes a long way toward enlightenment. obama has the potential to drag multitudes out of the 20th century. his detachment from the war machine... if he is effective in reversing bush's iraq policies... could have beneficial effects on the united states in the next decade. his spending domestically is still up for debate... but then again, it would be less of the same...
bush has spent everything that has come his way... both in war and at home. he has liquified our stability as a financial entity. obama might have a better solution. the safe bet has become a liability. wouldn't it be a fantastic conceptual leap of faith to elect a man named barack obama?
doesn't this in and of itself contribute somewhat to the burning of the fort? diversity for diversity's sake is a vapid, irrational concept. but change, when change is needed... delivered by someone who represents a complex shift of ideals... is vital right now.