This Election Day passed like so many others in my life – an early-morning visit to the polls, a lot of work to do in the morning, afternoon and night, and maybe a perfunctory glance at the results of all the important races before heading off to sleep.
There was plenty to care about, from the Syracuse mayoral contest to the battle royal in the 23rd Congressional District. The latter had become downright grotesque, thanks to the ad blitz from the national parties – same old attacks, same old accusations, same old scare tactics –as if they wanted to make voting seem repugnant.
What a difference from what it felt like 364 days earlier.
The emotions, nervousness, tension, energy, excitement and, ultimately, fulfillment of Nov. 4, 2008 was unlike anything in my entire life. What had seemed, at first blush, like a crazy and impossible dream had come true, and the whole world seemed to rejoice with America at the barrier Barack Obama had broken by becoming the 44th president of the United States.
That heady feeling carried right through Inaguration Day two months later, when two million people filled every square inch from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial to see Obama enter his new job. The panorama of people, the hundreds of thousands of Stars and Stripes waiving – it was nothing short of an American rebirth.
Now we sit a year removed from Obama’s election, and what is abundantly clear was that his victory exposed both the beautiful and ugly aspects of our political culture – and that those divisions have only become worse.
As president, Obama has found out, like the previous men that occupied the Oval Office, that the job is rather tough, that pleasing everyone is impossible, that pleasing no one is quite possible, and that every little thing gets scrutinized beyond belief.
This rings especially true with the ongoing health-care reform saga. From the onset of proposals to the town-hall screamers of the summer to the legislative sausage-making this fall, it’s been too much to comprehend. At the moment, though, the government “public option” might be in after all, and that would be a major step forward.
As with Bill Clinton, Obama has dealt with an intransigent Republican opposition in Congress. Not one of them wanted the stimulus bill and not one is likely to want health-care reform. It hasn’t helped, of course, that the party’s loudest voices have turned out to be talk-show demagogues who see conspiracies in everything and, worse yet, demand an ideological purity that shuts out the idea of a middle ground.
At the same time, the new boss is getting just as much grief from the left for not doing enough, especially when it comes to taming Wall Street. Even in the health-care debate, it appeared that Obama was willing to forego the public option (though he never said so) before the progressives finally turned the Senate around. Making a demon out of the unregulated, monopolistic health insurance industry didn’t hurt the cause.
So much of it, of course, stems from the problems Obama inherited – namely, a sunken economy at the bottom of a deep recession and two difficult wars.
Whatever else happens, the economy’s health will likely shape Obama’s ultimate legacy, and the early verdict is quite mixed. Sure, the stock market has recovered, and there’s signs of life on the housing and retail fronts, but the unemployment rate remains alarming and may hover around 10 percent for a while. That might sink the whole operation.
Getting out of Iraq hasn’t proven clean, but it’s downright shiny compared to the complete mess in Afghanistan. Obama has taken a long time thinking about what to do next, with some telling him to send more troops and others telling him to bring them home and get out of a possible Vietnam-like quagmire. Add to that the threat of Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden (if he’s still alive), and even Solomon would find it difficult to be wise.
So much of it is due to the inconvenience of a four-year presidential term, relative to our desire for instant analysis and gratification. The decisions made by Obama, in many cases, won’t have its full impact until long after he leaves office, yet we must judge them now. It’s like grading the NFL Draft hours after the choices are made – a complete and utter waste of time.
It doesn’t help that our American tendency to spend inordinate amounts of TV, print and Internet space on trivial matters continues unabated. From the summer death of a certain gloved pop star to the recent balloon hoax, we too often indulge ourselves in tripe, which might be good for short-term ratings, but is bad for our long-term intelligence.
What is missed the most, a year after an election for the ages, is that feeling we had at that time about the work we were doing. When something truly matters, as the 2008 election did, and the result turns out positive, the emotions can be indescribable, especially when one believes that, despite all the obstacles, things can change for the better.
The cold reality of politics has set in for Barack Obama and all the people that believed in him and helped him get elected 12 months ago, and will continue to pervade, maybe for a long period to come.
But at least it happened - and the euphoria of Nov. 4, 2008 is something that will stay in our hearts forever.
