OBAMA!

Well, he did it! We did it. They did, Obama's extraordinary campaign staff and millions of those who, like my daughter, were inspired to work their hearts out to assure that stunning victory last night. Our neighborhood down here in Laguna Beach, in the heart of conservative Orange County, California, exploded at eight o'clock when the election was called by the chattering media. The sight of the Obama family on stage at the time of the acceptance speech was stirring beyond words. Most moving, perhaps, was the face of Jesse Jackson, tears streaming down, recalling all those years it took to make this happen.

The media commentary this morning--as did the gracious Bush speech outside the White House--made story of Obama's victory to be about race, extolling the fact that a black American could win the presidency and the proof it offered that America is the place of unlimited opportunity. While this is true, I think the historical shift if greater and more important than this interpretation allows. The paradigm shift has more to do with the evidence it offers of a deep cultural tectonic event; it's a repudiation of that mean side of the American character that has been manifest these past thirty years and more, the smallness that has promoted the whole me-first mentality that was reflected first, in my opinion, in the so-called tax revolt of the 1970s. It's a repudiation of Ronald Reagan as much as George W. Bush, of the trickle-down theory of economics that made a travesty of the American notion of fairness and opportunity. It's a repudiation of the politics of division that has pitted Republican against Democrat, right against left, liberal against conservative. It's Barack Obama's appeal that he has insisted throughout on transcending these divisions.

The much-touted change is only partly about these things. But the relief that was tangible in the air last night was not just an American relief. You could almost feel the entire world taking a new breath. Obama's election is also about the realization that America must now take its place again in the community of nations, and that the world at large has much at stake in America's change of heart. I have heard it said that voting for the American President should not be restricted to Americans, since the choice affects the lives of people everywhere. There's truth to that. The world has become so small, so "flat"--to use NYTimes columnist Tom Friedman's term, that we can no longer hope to survive as a species if we cling to our old notion of a collection of competitive nation states. As a man whose very humanity is a complex blend of national and racial identity, Obama has the look of a person who transcends the old categories we must now discard.

I am convinced that the new President will make good on his promise to reach across the ideological divides. I hope that he will find a source of support in the new "old McCain" who made a reappearance last night in his gracious concession speech--a man of generosity and courage and dedication. I fully expect to see and hear more from him. I trust that the same is NOT true of the biggest mistake he made in the course of his campaign, the mistake that undermined the trust he had worked so hard to build in the American electorate. I refer, of course, to the Governor of Alaska, whose hysterical and pusillanimous campaign rhetoric did so much to discredit the ideology for which she stood.

Needless to say, we in this household are overjoyed to enjoy the prospect of a President Obama, and are prepared to do what we many need to do and make the sacrifices we may be called on to make in order to out this country back on track to fulfill its promise to itself and to the world.

The Right Medicine?

After reading this report on the presidential and vice-presidential candidates' health by Dr. Lawrence K. Altman in Monday's New York Times, I was jolted once more into a frightened understanding of just how reckless and cynical was John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running-mate. While the medical information remains incomplete--Altman's article calls urgently for more complete records for all the candidates, but particularly in the case of John McCain--enough of the Republican contender's has been made public to alarm any thinking person. In addition to his age, McCain's history of malignant skin cancer should be enough to require from him a vice-presidential choice who is truly capable of stepping into the office of the presidency at any moment.

Sarah Palin is apparently not even to be trusted with a serious, probing interview or a press conference. If this is the case, how in God's name can she be entrusted with the most powerful office in the history of the world? For reasons that are inexplicable even to ourselves, my wife and I sat through a rerun of last weekend's Saturday Night Live, which started with a mock press conference with Tina Frey playing the part of the VP nominee. Standing in the wings, the real one--playing the "good sport"--insisted that this was "not a real depiction of the way my press conferences might have gone." "One of"? "Might have?" She has not held a single one, and has been protected obsessively from all but the most Palin-friendly media.

I have to say that I found the whole performance at best adolescent, if not childish. From the (unrelated) "fart-face" skit--please!--to the mock news desk scene that included Palin, the level of humor was depressingly juvenile, and the parts she was entrusted with were pathetically small. The sight of the vice-presidential candidate sitting behind the news desk dancing with her arms whilst other performers did the song-and-dance work that the piece required was definitely not the least bit demonstrative of her performance skills, or even particularly of a sense of humor. She seemed not to get that she was encouraging the audience to laugh at, rather than with her. They say that humor is the best medicine. If this is the prescription the McCain campaign has to offer, I'd rather take my chances without swallowing it, thank you.

Last night, I watched the first part of the biography of Lyndon Johnson, up to the point where JFK was shot and killed, and Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One in a hastily gathered ceremony. Though his presidency was eventually marred by the tragedy of the Vietnam war, he was surely one of the great presidents in what he managed to achieve for the poor and disadvantaged. I was unable to watch his swearing-in, however, without thinking about Sarah Palin, and what McCain's election and subsequent disability or death would mean for this country. Obama, of course, is at a different kind of risk, one that I deeply dread in the atmosphere of barely supressed violence fostered by the Republican campaign. In that dire event, I would trust Sen. Biden to rise to the occasion.

(There is a follow-up on Dr. Altman's report, by the way, in the form of a lead editorial in today's New York Times. I trust that that this issue will receive greater attention and more thoughtful response in the days to come.)

Funny McCain, Funny Obama

It was heart-warming to be reminded of the old John McCain at yesterday's Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. He was funny, charming, effusive, self-deprecating, and warmly generous to his opponent. After watching his hilarious performance, I had a moment of anxiety for Barack Obama, who was to follow McCain at the podium. Would he be able to relax his seriousness and self-discipline for long enough to be just funny? Would he risk losing political points for failing to come up to the standard McCain had set?

I need not have worried. Obama proved to be an entertaining stand-up comedian. He was relaxed, comfortable, ready to poke fun at his own overblown messianic image. His material was first rate, his timing and delivery flawless. He had Ellie and me in those proverbial stitches as we watched. And he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. What a wonderful release from the nastiness of the campaign. It was a pleasure to watch both of these men laughing out loud and with unfeigned delight, for a change, at each other's barbs.


This was one debate where it didn't matter who came out on top--and where both sides won.

(On the other hand... if you pause for long enough to analyze the press photograph above, does it not offer a distressingly regressive image of our current political and social institutions? I'm looking at the picture--ahem, excuse the pointed-headed aside--"deconstructively," with three solid rows of participants, all powerful, all wealthy--and all male!--all reveling in their own importance, chuckling comfortably in the knowledge of their own position of security. This image of unassailable temporal power protects, at its core, the medievally red-robed cardinal, the very symbol of--also male!--spiritual power. In all, a perfect and deeply disturbing evocation of the power base of Western civilization. I'm just happy to see that single, stand-out black face edging in on the company. While Hillary, we know from other pictures and television footage, is off somewhere at the periphery. The picture speaks more eloquently than words.)

Sen. McCop-Out & Gov. Bubblewrap

The cynicism is breathtaking--all the more so for the fact that millions of McCain supporters will praise his wisdom, judgment, and patriotism for offering to sacrifice the great benefits of his first debate with Obama and move it from tomorrow to... October 2, the scheduled date for the Biden-Palin debate, Which would in turn, I can only suppose, be "postponed"?

Convenient?

Here's the question: are we--the electorate and the media who are supposed to keep us informed--going to quietly submit to the McCain's campaign plan to hide the nominee for Vice President of our country from sight and protect her from every legitimate question until after it's too late? So far, they seem to have gotten away with it. The grumblings from press and public have gone ignored or treated with scorn. Those who dare to question Palin's qualifications are brushed off as sexists or bullies--or both. And now the plan's afoot--who can doubt it?--to insulate her even from the scheduled vice-presidential debate.

This is not only about Palin and her qualifications. More importantly, this is about McCain and his judgment. Do we want, in the Oval Office, another man who makes gut-level decisions on important issues and, when pushed, leaps into risks that turn out to be disasters? I say no.

I'm sure that you, as have I, have been recipients of dozens of panicked online forwards begging you to vote on that PBS poll that asks if Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President. It seems that right-wing zealots have organized a campaign to activate the Republican "base" to mail in "yes" answers in the attempt to force the issue and prove, in what they surely see as a liberally biased medium, that their candidate is the popular choice.

The first time this thing reached me, I was seduced by the alarm, and went online to vote. The more forwards I received, however, the more it seemed to me that the best response would not have been to participate in the melee, but to ignore it. The poll has become a meaningless morass of unnecessary alarm, and its results are predictably as meaningless as the process. I can't believe, at this juncture, that PBS will want to put out the results without some caveat as to the rampant abuse of their poll on both sides of political spectrum.

There seems to be some small effort in the media to hold Palin's feet to the fire, as well they should be. No one should be given a free pass into the office that leads directly into the Oval Office should accident or illness befall the incumbent. I read today in the New York Times that even Campbell Brown of CNN--not a hotbed of radical journalism--was expressing outrage: "I call upon the McCain campaign," she said, "to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower who will wilt at any moment... For me, it's about accountability." And yes, writes the NYT, "she does think that the McCain campaign is being sexist about Ms. Palin. 'The McCain campaign says that if she were a man, the media would not be treating her this way. So it's fair for me to ask, If she were a man, would they be coddling her this way?'"

It's clear that the McCain campaign wants things both ways, and is thus far successful in getting it. The Obama people are soft-pedaling their approach to Palin, and for good reason: they'll get slapped with the sexist prejudice label as soon as they open their mouths, and that won't help their cause. So it's up to the media to demand accountability on our behalf, and for us to demand no less from our media. Let's be sure we're up to the task.