Monday, November 17, 2008

A long way to go yet

A rather rambling and digressive essay, but worth a read.

As for Obama, I'm pleased that the Democrats are back in the majority, but he is a politician like any other; they're all the same, regardless of party affiliation. At the moment, lefties think he walks on water, and righties think he'll ruin everything. Neither side is thinking clearly. Let's see what he does, not what everyone imagines he might. Only then will we be one nation under a groove.
The reason Obama’s victory generated such enthusiasm is not only that, against all odds, it really happened: it demonstrated the possibility of such a thing happening. The same goes for all great historical ruptures – think of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Although we all knew about the rotten inefficiency of the Communist regimes, we didn’t really believe that they would disintegrate – like Kissinger, we were all victims of cynical pragmatism. Obama’s victory was clearly predictable for at least two weeks before the election, but it was still experienced as a surprise.

...Nothing was decided with Obama’s victory, but it widens our freedom and thereby the scope of our decisions. No matter what happens, it will remain a sign of hope in our otherwise dark times, a sign that the last word does not belong to realistic cynics, from the left or the right.

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