Barack The President

I'm flooded with oxytocin, so forgive me if this is a little gushy and maudlin:

You've no doubt heard of Joe The Plumber. Well last night, over 60 million of us voted for Barack The President. And as a result, Barack Hussein Obama is now the president-elect of the United States of America.

Now I have nothing against cranky white men with milquetoast names: I am one. But Americans of all creeds, colors and various reproductive anatomy have something to offer this great nation too. Obama's "exotic" background and skin color certainly don't qualify him for anything, but for the first time in our nation's history, they didn't disqualify him out of hand. I can't tell you how proud that makes me. What a thing to be a part of.

Don't underestimate the historical heft of this moment. A candidate of color, with a progressive agenda, a relatively thin resume and a "foreign" sounding name, overcame stunningly long odds, past political precedent and a ferocious smear campaign, to become elected to the presidency in a center-right country. In order to do it, he had to pretty much run a flawless campaign. And so he did just that. He out-organized, out-strategized, out fund-raised, and out-classed his opposition at every turn, running what is widely considered to be the finest campaign in our lifetime.

Obama was the perfect combination of inspirational and intellectual; of rhetorical and realistic. He was stable where McCain was erratic; competent where McCain was inept; thoughtful where McCain was reckless; lucid where McCain was ill-defined. In short, he was everything people look for in a president. Sometimes that's not enough. Such competence is not always rewarded by the electorate. This time it was.

It didn't hurt that the political climate was ripe, and voters were realizing (finally!) that it's okay for our leaders to be smarter than we are... especially in times of global-economic crisis and geopolitical instability. I think America said, in essence, "after eight years of 'the president with whom we'd like to watch a NASCAR race' leading us into unmitigated disaster, it's time for a little seriousness". We also realized, I hope, that behind the aww shucks, "what-me-worry?" shit-kicking was a greedy, truly elitist agenda that served the needs of the privileged few over everyone else; and that relished the perquisites of power while blatantly shunning the classic Constitutional values upon which this country was founded. Trick me once, shame on you. Trick me twice, shame on me. Trick me three times? We won't be tricked again.

As I've said before, the road is going to be a rocky one. Inspiration is easy, governing is hard. And the hole the neo-cons have dug for us will not be easy to climb out of. But I do believe, and not without reason, that if anyone can make it happen it's this singular man with his impressive mind, shockingly sound instincts, strong political will, and world-class temperament. It's actually not the "inspirational" Obama I'm excited about today (although I love that guy). It's the smart, competent, realistic and, yes, liberal Obama who I believe can actually govern that I'm looking forward to watching.

In the meantime, those of us who supported him have every right to be proud and to revel in the victory. We refused to be bullied, duped or pandered to by the politics of fear, smear and distraction. We knew that we had a good thing on our hands and we weren't going to allow ourselves to vote against our own interests any longer. And in the process we got to not only pick the best candidate for the job, but to stand up for the very diversity of background and experience that makes this country such a brilliant experiment.

There will be a time to cast a jaundiced and critical eye in Obama's direction. There will be a time to hold his feet to the fire, to take him to task. There will be a time to pressure, to scold, to call his administration to the carpet. We must ultimately be vigilant citizens and not gushing fans.

But for now, he gets the benefit of the doubt. For now, he gets our good will and unflinching support. Because despite what missteps lie ahead, he's been 100% right thus far about his key premise: he told us that yes, we could... and yes, we did.