Rick Moran at PJM:
I suppose I got caught up in the emotion of the night due almost exclusively to the genuine and copious tears of black Americans. The ones I spoke to and interviewed were nearly speechless with joy. With a start, I realized something that had escaped me all these long months of writing and thinking about this race. For many African-Americans, this election was a spiritual event, something that transcended the corporeal and brought to mind ancestral yearnings and desires for freedom.
For perhaps many blacks, Obama is the word made flesh — the redemption of the promise in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.” The small sample of blacks I interviewed all spoke of the shattering of barriers, the hope that an Obama presidency would translate into a more just society, and the belief that for them personally, their lives would never be the same.
It struck me then and now that the world has turned upside down. When I was a boy, a black man could not get a sandwich at a lunch counter in much of the country. Now a black man has been elected president of the United States, receiving more votes from whites than his predecessor of 2004.
Commenter “portia9” cautions poignantly:
Where I come from, no matter how smart you are, no matter how hard you work you are extremely unlikely to ever achieve the kind of success that is available to citizens of the U.S. If by some unbelievable stroke of fortune you do achieve it, you will be taxed very heavily, penalized really, for your efforts. There is no can-do spirit. There is nothing like the “American Dream” because that dream exists nowhere but here.
Everything that I have learned about President Elect Obama leads me to believe that he does not cherish the American Dream. He does not believe in it, although, ironically, he is a prime beneficiary of it. He would rather remake this country in the image of those his friends and allies like William Ayers cherish. Socialist countries. Communist countries.
In the decade I have lived here, I have come to realize just how precious the much maligned “American Dream” really is. I was taught as a university student in Canada that it is a fiction, but I have learned through living here that it is real. Socialism is not the answer for this country. America has made a devastating choice this election. I only hope that he will not be able to change this country so much that it will be unrecognizable in four years.
I hope that Obama’s actual performance in office won’t merit these fears, but I fear portia9’s concerns are well-founded.
Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job.
It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.
Hilarious! And this video: Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are.
(Thank you, Instapundit!)
Glenn writes:
There’s a downside to everything!
Another fine essay:
Battles don’t always go that way. But sometimes they do. It depends on whether the individual soldier still has any fight in him.
It has been a source of delight for me these past few days to see nothing but evidence of this, all across our defeated lines. Nowhere have I heard a shred of defeatism or despair. On the contrary. In point of fact, the magnanimity and graciousness I have seen in defeat in so many places on the right tells me that this is a eager and seasoned army, one able to look defeat in the face and own up to the errors in tactics and strategy that got us there. And nowhere do I see a call to abandon our core principles and sue for terms, but rather that our loss was caused precisely by our abandonment of the issues we which hold dear and which have served us so well on battlefields past.
I’d say these calls for post-election civility are exemplary of the kind of graciousness in defeat that Bill refers to. I too am proud to associate with such a fine group of people.
Instapundit:
WELL, YOU HAVE TO LOVE THIS: At 109, Slave’s Daughter Revels In Historic Vote.
Others have duly pointed out that Barack Obama does not himself have ancestors who were slaves in the United States, and is technically “biracial” or “half white”. Points well taken, but at the same time I fully appreciate the important symbolism that this landmark event rightly holds for many.
New Screed, same James Lileks: Let Me Tell You About You, pt. 2
As a wise man said: half the people in the country live below the median income level. Half. In this day and age.
So if you don’t want to help them – that’s what you mean when you oppose taxes, after all – you’re selfish. If you protest that you’ll have to spend less, or invest less, or save less, or give less to charity, well, you had better start making more money, then. Go on; out to the woodshed; squat over that straw nest and pop out some more golden eggs, or whatever it is you do. Incidentally, you should spend less, because you spend money on things you don’t need, and we don’t have to know what they are to know you don’t need them, just like we don’t have to visit your house or neighborhood to know that the former is too big and the latter too far away.
Brilliant!
Glenn Reynolds: “Whoever Wins, Chill A Bit”
You don’t have to love the “other guy.” You don’t have to hold back on fighting against policies you don’t like. You don’t have to pull punches. But once someone is duly and legally elected president, you do owe some respect to the office and the Constitution. And to your fellow Americans.
Katie Granju adds:
I have made a point of teaching my own children that no matter how much one of them may disagree with the president on any specific issue (as I often have during George W. Bush’s tenure), they need to hold a respect for the office of the presidency … I also get annoyed when I hear progressives threaten to “move to France” or “defect to Canada” if their candidate loses. Frankly, if your civic investment in American democracy is so weak that it hinges on one single candidate or issue or election, then you probably would be happier elsewhere anyway…
Update:
neo-neocon:
My summation—for tonight, at least: the American people have hated Bush long and hard, for a number of reasons. They are repudiating everything about him and almost everyone who is connected with him. Obama happened to be the beneficiary, almost as though sent by central casting to meet the needs of an electorate that was looking for the un-Bush. I don’t think people were ready or willing to seriously look at who this man actually is and what he’s been saying, and he’s smooth enough to cover it up quite nicely anyway.
How will he govern? Will his recent incarnation as a relative moderate hold, or will he steer hard left? Even though I’ve found plenty of evidence to indicate the latter, I’m still hoping for the former. Stranger things have happened. Obama may feel the weight of responsibility, especially as the first black President, to not squander the goodwill of the public by alienating them with too many radical policies. Or he may really undergo a sea change towards the center as he adjusts to the powerful responsibilities inherent in being President.
I’m not being naive and saying it will happen. I am saying it is a possibility, and I plan to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Still More: Bill Whittle:
When he is inaugurated, President Obama will be my president. He cannot be otherwise. I will disagree with him at just about every turn, likely, and that is my right and duty as an American. However, in an emergency he will have my unqualified support, and I will always wish him wisdom and hope that he may do what is best for this great country of ours. I do not wish – I do not ever wish – to see my country suffer so that I may gain political leverage. If at this same time four years from now, President Obama has acted in such a way to make us more prosperous, more safe and more free, it will be my greatest pleasure to admit I was wrong about the man. I look forward to that day. I hope to see it come to pass.
Regardless of all of that, we have together achieved something noble and magnificent tonight. We have, after a long and hazardous journey, taken the final step in erasing the one real stain on our nations history. That war is not over, but it is won. And we may all take a great deal of pride in that.
