Memorial Day, New York Times, 11/5/08On Election Night, almost 148 years to the day since Lincoln was first elected, a small group of people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, the site where Martin Luther King had delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, to listen to President-elect Barack Obama's victory speech on a transistor radio. A poignant scene, no doubt about it. One wonders why more people didn't think to do this. Regardless of ones politics or party affiliation, there is no denying that Obama's election was very moving in light of this country's racial history.
Now, I did not vote for Obama, for a lot of reasons. But I assure you it wasn't because he's black. I sincerely hope that he can make good on his promise to bring a new spirit to Washington, and I sincerely hope that he can continue to inspire young people to get involved in the political life of their nation--even when he lets them down. Because he will; they all do. But maybe, just maybe, he can communicate something to us about our responsibility to be civil with each other, to listen to each other, to compromise with each other, to work together in search of the elusive compromises that best allow for all our views to be expressed in public life and in policy. I hope he can make good on that promise. We'll see. I hope he can resist the temptation to tack to the far-left. I hope he realizes that he has to go centrist on healthcare and on taxes. I hope he sees Iraq through to the end. I hope he surges in Afghanistan. We'll see. All that aside, the majority has spoken, and I have too much respect for the uniqueness of the American political process, and for the Office of the Presidency, not to give the guy his due. I'm actually looking forward to my son's growing up without ever being haunted by the nagging suspicion that one has to be white to be president. But I also have a real fear of Obama's radical left leanings, and I hope he means it when he says that he is my president, too. I hope he realizes, once he's in office, that he can't force one group's ideas down another group's collective throat without there being consequences come re-election time. And I hope he believes, as I do, that his own electoral fate is insignificant compared to the fate of the entire nation should he sell it out to the far left. It would be a damn shame to see Martin Luther King's dream come to such happy fruition, only to see it go down in history as a terrible mistake. I hope that doesn't happen. I didn't vote for the guy--because he had no record to examine. But I concede that he inspires people like nobody has for a long time, and that should be part of the job. I just hope that over the next four years he can build a real record that will justify his having been elected. I hope so. We'll see.
