When the People are Ready

The euphoria from election night lingers. It’s like stepping from a subterranean cavern into the first light of a fresh morning. The way ahead may be difficult and perplexing, but at least we can feel proud of our President as he represents us to the world. Obama reads, studies history, and speaks in complete sentences – by themselves these attributes make him radically different from the current occupant of the White House.

On January 20, 2009, intelligence and rational thought make a triumphant return to the White House. One thing is certain: willful ignorance will not be a virtue in an Obama Administration.

The reaction from people around the globe to Barack Obama’s victory proves that the idea of America is alive and kicking. Perhaps the world is reacting so favorably to Obama because he appears calm, collected and sane, reasonable and reassuring; he doesn’t swagger like a gunslinger (Bush) or talk like a fascist (Cheney). We have yet to fully appreciate the damage done by Bush and Cheney to our standing in the world. It won’t happen overnight, but Obama has a window of opportunity to repair that damage and restore our credibility and moral authority.

Tuesday night’s historic results were a relief, a catharsis -- hope that had been dammed for nearly eight years escaped in a deluge. Americans know that we are better than the last eight years. We’re hungry to rebuild our country along more equitable lines, with a stronger foundation that supports more citizens; hungry to prove that we are more than slaves to the “free” market and mindless consumerism; hungry to relate to the rest of the world in less bellicose ways; hungry to find solutions for pressing human needs.

George W. Bush is an aristocrat and he governed like one, never asking the people to sacrifice or put their collective shoulder to the wheel. Even when it came to Iraq, Bush asked for nothing but our prayers and blind faith in his word. In Bush’s twisted, out-of-touch worldview, the people need not concern themselves with complex matters of policy; instead, they should shop, watch TV and let the chosen ones at the top run things. When the people spoke about their concerns, as when millions took to the streets to protest the Iraq invasion, Bush ignored us.

When Barack Obama takes his seat in the Oval Office for the first time, he will face a daunting array of inherited challenges. Obama is stepping into a house trashed by a bunch of spoiled frat boys – light fixtures dangle from the ceiling, every toilet is clogged, furniture is upended, the kitchen is wrecked and nobody ever bothered to take out the garbage or clean out the refrigerator. What the frat boys couldn’t carry off they destroyed.

One of the great reclamation projects in American history will begin with the deck stacked against it.

But perhaps Americans owe George W. Bush a debt of gratitude, for it was Bush’s utter incompetence and failure that made it possible for Barack Obama to become President, for Obama’s message of hope to echo across the wasteland Bush bequeathed to us, and resonate with millions.

When the people are ready, the leader will appear.