The Irate Spectator

To nobody's surprise, well at least not to me, the two year drama that was the US Election concludes with the election of the first African-American President of the United States. As if that's not historical enough, Obama's win overturned the more than two decades-long Republican dominance dating from Ronald Reagan's 1980 victory. The GOP triad of strong national defense, family values and neoliberal economic policies had failed them only once before during the brief Clinton Interregnum, whose Third Way politics didn't really depart much from his predecessors. The Obama presidency, coming in the wake of financial crisis and economic recession, is reminiscent the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration whose New Deal put an end to the free-wheeling capitalism that brought on the Great Depression.

What is ironic and at the same time remarkable about Obama's election is that he didn't really play the race card. He won not because of his "black-ness" but because he presented an image of change that went beyond race. Obama's support came not only from African-Americans, whose turnout was unchanged from previous elections, but from Jews, whites, and even the Hispanics won over from the Democrats by Bush. His personal story and charismatic idealism, not the color of his skin, was actually enough to win him the vote and trounce two political heavyweights from both parties. Not bad for someone who was a nobody four years ago.

Meanwhile, McCain played the graceful loser, conceding to Obama and promising his support, like Clinton before him. in hindsight, his campaign was ramshackle at the outset lacking the money, efficiency and celebrity endorsements that Obama wasn't in short supply of. Factor in two hated wars and a financial meltdown everyone blames on the Republicans and you just can't imagine why the heck Obama would lose.