The Morning After
So the Obama girls will get a puppy.
And the nation gets to celebrate.
Barack Obama’s astonishing victory was the result of a nearly flawless, extremely well-run campaign. He assembled a talented, loyal and disciplined team around him who planned and implemented a remarkably effective strategy based on a message of change and hope, and built a grassroots organization all across the country around a candidate who believed that voters would support someone who displayed leadership qualities including intelligence, poise and maturity.
And it worked.
Obama’s acceptance speech was appropriately somber, leaving the joyful hosannas to others while keeping his focus on the hard work ahead.
So the long, long campaign is over.
But the hard work of governing is just beginning.
Let’s take a brief moment to reflect on the significance of this election. Much has been said about how historic it is that our nation will have it’s first African American president.
No question.
However, what might be even more consequential, especially to the community of nations that looks to us to set an example, is that we have held an orderly if rambunctious election that has resulted in a change in the party in power during a time of war.
This democracy stuff can be a messy but wonderful thing.
You will recall the contentious 2000 election sent a similar message when the outcome took weeks and a Supreme Court decision to get resolved. Remember how proud we were that the conflict ended peacefully, even if we weren’t so happy with that outcome?
Let’s hope this time turns out better for the country and the world.
One of the key local challenges will be to build upon the awesome organization that was created in support of candidate Obama. People turned out in droves to contribute their time and energy to elect someone they believed in. It will be difficult to maintain this organization without a specific focus or goal. But that’s our responsibility and there is no shortage of needs on the local scene.
The overwhelming support of the sick leave referendum by voters in the city of Milwaukee despite the opposition of Mayor Barrett and the business community is an exciting example of the potential of such a people power movement.
I find this recent trend by our political leaders to pass the buck on the pressing issues of our day by asking voters to tell them what to do through referendum to be very disturbing and cowardly.
If you run for office, you are asking voters to place their confidence in you. Earn your salary by making those decisions or get out of the way and let someone else do it.
One of the dangers of government through referendum is that voters may not take the time to analyze issues and may be susceptible to well-funded ad campaigns. Fortunately, the sick leave referendum benefited from clear and highly popular language and an environment where the people most likely to benefit from the measure, low wage workers, were expected to turn out in record numbers due to the presidential campaign.
Requiring employers to offer their workers a basic amount of sick leave is plain common sense. You certainly know it if you’ve ever worked around someone coughing or sneezing.
Sure, business owners hate mandates and believe they should be free to decide the matter for themselves.
Isn’t what they said about child labor laws, the 40 hour work week, anti-discrimination protections and Medicare and Social Security? I know the argument goes that these are issues best left to the federal government since we risk scaring away potential new businesses if we do it on our own.
You know what? Milwaukee’s leaders should spend more time looking for positive ways to enhance our region’s image like demonstrating we value the health and well-being of our friends, neighbors and co-workers and less kowtowing to the status quo.
Film fans of the Robert Redford movie, The Candidate, and others who have worked on campaigns, will be familiar with how the Redford character, exhausted after winning his election, wonders “Now what?”
One gets the sense that Barack Obama is the kind of candidate who has given careful, extensive thought about what he wants to do in office and how to go about accomplishing it.
He knows that the stumbles during the early years of the Clinton administration were largely self-inflicted. He knows that even a strong victory like his leaves many people disappointed and wary.
It is unlikely that he will do what George Bush did after his 2004 reelection when he declared his victory provided him with political capital that he intended to use. His greatest challenge, perhaps, will be working with the Democratic Congress to enact legislation that has the support of the entire nation. It ain’t gonna be easy but I have confidence that he is approaching this awesome responsibility with the right priorities and approach.
Our challenge as citizens, as shareholders in this great enterprise of democracy, will be to take an active interest and role in determining what direction our government, local, state and federal, should take.
You’ve heard it before: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
And that’s not only true during election season.
