Well it is the morning after the morning after the morning after the 2008 Presidential election. Consistent with some hopes and expectations and in spite of many doubts and fears we hailed the election of a candidate thought improbable and fatally flawed by some while inspirational and inevitable by others. This time I feel on the side of the practical, the short-sighted blinded by the long view of past failures and prior outcomes. Like so many the impact and influence of unexpected and unforseen circumstances demonstrated again that "man plans but Allah (God) decides." In this case, the significance of that aphorism is that without the economy tanking it is just as likely (some would say even more likely) that John McCain would have garnered the few hundred thousand votes necessary to ascend to the post of "leader of the free world," President of the United States. Stand in awe of the power of the forces of the universe and tremble!!
I contributed to the eventual outcome by working on the inside as a ballot inspector election official. This allowed me to monitor and observe the activties of the polling place workers. However, the more important significance of my presence at the polls seemed to have been as a symbol of the Obama candidacy for those who were his supporters. I was greeted warmly by the first time voters who were registering onsite. I was also host to the whispered hopes of Obama supporters, young and old, white, Black, Latino and other.
As I have heard several times, the easy part is over. Now it is time to get down to work. We will see the ebb and flow of challenges and opportunities that were primed prior to President-elect Obama's arrival. We will see the influence of factors that are latent and embedded in the national and world systems of social, political and economic institutions from times before his birth. We will also see his unique take on the world and what it should be through the coordination and conflation of the tools available to him.
It is morning again. But morning always follows night (even in the land of the midnight sun). Let us rejoice in the new dawn and soberly prepare for the new day.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posts
