It’s Obama!

Hail our new messiah! Now the land will heal and water will part…

On a more serious note, Barack Obama has won a thoroughly deserved victory. He ran a magnificent race and out-spent, out-thought and out-campaigned John MaCain. He was clearly the better candidate and in a democracy, that is all it counts! He sure was lucky but you need political skills to take advantage of it.

McCain tried hard and fought till the last but in the end it was never going to be enough. To his credit, he gave a gracious concession speech though some of his supporters did not have the common decency to respect a man who had beaten them fair and square.

As anyone who has ever read this blog will know, I am not someone too concerned with race. But even I understand why Obama’s victory may be so significant to African-Americans. I just hope they get the correct message from Obama’s victory–anything is possible if you want it badly enough–and not see redemption in Obama. Because he can’t deliver for them. Only they can for themselves. As is true for rest of us.

So how will Obama govern? More on this later, but I am firmly convinced that Obama will govern from center with a just a little Leftward orientation which is quite natural. For two reasons: He is pragmatic and he is ambitious. Pragmatism means that every one of his more unsavory associations–from Wright to Ayers–were used and then discarded. Ambition means that he will want a second term. That will require him to cater to a larger population than just his base. In fact, the sharp turn he effected in the general elections–it was hard to figure out who was more gung ho on national security–is illustrative of the fact that the man is smart enough to change with shifting political winds.

And he has the means to do it. He has a devoted base who really seems to think he is the Savior, he has the organization, money and most importantly, the legitimacy of carrying more than 50% of popular vote. At least in his honeymoon period, which typically lasts for one year, it is hard to see any democrat opposing him. That is typically the time period presidents manage to advance their agenda most; second year would be elections and then it would be to each his own. If he is popular then the party will stand with him; if he is not he will be ignored.

Anyway, enough time for this. For now, congratulations President Obama! A job well done.