Reflections On Obama’s Election

author : Marco Rosaire Rossi

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

I was there: Grant Park, November 4, at the time when Barack Obama was announced as president-elect of the United States. It was impossible to disregard the electricity within the crowd. Tens of thousands of people—most of them from Chicago, but some of them from other cities, even other states—had gathered to bear witness of the election of the first black president of the United States. They crammed themselves into the area, peeking up over each other to get a view of the giant screens showing CNN’s coverage of the polls. Some were calculating each result, trying to narrow in the exact moment that they could know for certain the fate of the election; some were sending themselves through jubilant highs with anticipation of what an Obama win would mean, followed by shattering lows of a McCain victory, followed by another jubilant high, and so on; some just waited, either because they were radicals who felt somewhat indifferent about the election choices, or because they were attracted to Grant Park that night more out of a sense for history than a sense for politics.

In general though, the feeling of the crowd was optimistic but cautious. Results for the polls from the East Coast were announced hours before anyone had even set foot in Grant Park. They confirmed what many pollsters were predicting the week before: since the collapse of Wall Street Obama had taken a commanding lead, capturing the national psyche with this rhetoric of “change” and aid to Main Street. He was going to win this election by a wide Electoral College margin. Still, many people were doubtful. With two stolen elections under the Republican’s belt, there were expectations by some that—despite Obama’s lead—they would be able to steal this one too. Also, for some people the idea that the hoi polloi of the United States, a nation founded on racism, could elect a black president still seemed unfeasible; it was like a distant dream, possible in a generation or two, but not now, not only a few years after Katrina.

But, Obama did win, and the symbolic importance of the event on African-Americans was undeniable. White and black—everyone—felt a wave of joyous sympathy when the CNN camera showed a close-up of Jesse Jackson weeping when he heard the news that Obama had become president. After the rally, many people poured into the streets, singing and dancing, some wearing t-shirts which read “Yes We Did!” On my walk home I heard one black man tell a line of white police officers, “Things are going to be different now, our guy is in office, that’s means you got be good to us, that’s right, all of you got to be good to us now.” I heard some African-Americans saying they have waited their whole lives for that day, while others were still in disbelief that this day had actually arrived.

In following weeks, especially in Chicago, the euphoria of the Obama victory has split. For some, the liberal wing of Obama’s supporters, it has sustained. These people hold out the highest hopes for the Obama presidency: hoping that he will enact his proposed green “New Deal” to revitalize the U.S. economy; hoping that he will end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home, hoping that he will be able to regain the trust and respect of the international community. For others, Obama’s progressive wing, the euphoria has gradually subsided; progressives are at times reluctantly returning to the harsh reality of the difficulty of creating fundamental changes in the United States. Despite the lofty rhetoric for “change” Obama has assembled his administration with known politicos—mostly from the Clinton era, but also from Bush Jr.’s administration, like Robert Gates. His economic plan, though much better than anything Bush has ever offered, still leaves much to be desired. It fails to address some of the major issues facing people in the U.S. today, including the mortgage crisis, the closing of the federal deficit, and the people’s desire for a single-payer universal healthcare system. His foreign policy decisions, though not as aggressive and foolish as those made by the the Bush administration, still do not recant the assumed right of American elites to military intervention.

The differences in feelings toward the Obama presidency represent a division within the left in the United States. The liberals—whose opposition to Bush may have given progressives a false sense of strength—are ready to take power and revive the glory days of the Kennedy/Johnson years. They are happy as long as they have the power. The progressives, on the other hand, don’t share in the enthusiasm because they remember those years in terms of Vietnam, a crackdown on campus dissent, and a selling out of civil rights. Essentially, they see the Obama presidency as a triumph over racism, not a triumph of the progressive left.

Either way, the election of Obama does represent a turning point, or rather an opening, in the U.S. political landscape. Whether this opportunity will mean anything—even in regards to race—in the coming years will depend on more than Obama alone. It will depend on how the American people will react to this event: whether they will become apathetic towards the centers of power, or defend them as some have already (downplaying the heinous record of some of Obama’s advisors and cabinet leaders), or continue to challenge them in the hope of creating a still better tomorrow. I know in Chicago, the liberal political elites see this moment as a cause for celebration, while many community activists see this a moment to get back to work.

Marco Rosaire Rossi is a frequent contributor to Works In Progress