The aftermath

What a great win.

One might suppose that the end of this historic campaign might mark the end of this blog. Or at least that the pace of posting will remain at it’s recent lull of once every couple of weeks. Don’t be so sure! I have had many such enquiries from my reader, and I can assure them (used in the sense of a non-gender-specific singular rather than the plural) that I still have plenty of fodder to write about.

The election is not the most information-rich part of the governing-cycle. It is often the most drama-rich phase, but the task of actually governing presents many more opportunities for debate, analysis and satire. And dick jokes.

I am still savoring the election results, but have a few topics on my mind that I hope to write about soon. Here is a brief preview:

1) What does Obama need to do in government? Item number one: get over it. Get over the adulation of adoring crowds and get ready for criticism from all directions; get over the 9/11 mindset that allows civil liberties to be sacrificed in the name of a concept of “absolute” security that cannot be achieved; get over the panicky attitude towards the current economic downturn - it is a challenge, not a crisis.

2) Why we should not forgive John McCain. It has started in some quarters already, with laudatory reviews of his self-deprecating appearance on Saturday Night Live and of his gracious acceptance speech. Election post-mortems can be crushingly dull (although this cycle they are being enlivened by all the terrific republican infighting) but I do feel the need to record my own thoughts on the McCain campaign, which uncorked something desperate and dangerous. We may have dodged a bullet, but we need to learn the lessons of this campaign

3) Sarah Palin will never be president, but the future for women in national politics is enormously bright. Hillary Clinton did some incredible groundwork and the primary and general election processes unearthed some incredibly talented female politicians - fortunately for us all of them are on the left side of the aisle. As for Sarah Palin, she won’t ever be president. I highly doubt she’ll be the nominee in 2012 and am skeptical that she’ll even run.

4) What will become of the GOP? People who are talking about the republicans spending decades in the wilderness should remember that as recently as 2004 Karl Rove thought he had created a permanent republican majority. But, the republicans do need to decide what they stand for in order to regain the ground they’ve lost since 2006. The fight will be between the know-nothing, hillbilly evangelicals of the Palin and Huckabee wing and the small government conservatives on the Brooks and Sullivan wing. It will also be between the party elders and the youthful insurgents like Reihan and Douthat. The GOP of today is a coalition of the religious right, the neocons and the small government conservatives and libertarians. They forged a successful marriage of convenience under Bush and Rove but it seems the strain of living with people you disagree with has begun to show. I am constantly being told that America is a center-right country, by raving right wing fanatics. Can they build a center-right party?

As dramatic and exciting and, ultimately, exultant this election has been, I think the future will be even more fascinating. One of our national parties has an opportunity to create fundamental change in the country, and must avoid over-reaching in the process; the other must redefine (or perhaps just recommit) itself and articulate what it stands for. How exciting.