In the run-up to what had better be the most inspiring inaugural address ever, Barack Obama keeps breaking bad news about the economy, yesterday warning of "trillion-dollar deficits for years to come."
(Today the Congressional Budget Office upped the ante by estimating a $1.2 trillion shortfall for 2009.)
During his "media availability" yesterday, the President-Elect continued his running commentary on the evolution of the stimulus package he will present to Congress, disclosing it will be free of earmarks, thereby subsuming all of John McCain's economic policy during the campaign into a throwaway line.
Even before he takes the oath, Obama is bringing what Peggy Noonan calls the "bright promise" of "a certain freshness to the proceedings in Washington" by confiding in the American people about what he is learning and how he is going about becoming The Decider. We have traded in the Wizard of Oz for an FDR-like president of fireside chats.
That the news is all terrifying up to now only underscores the need for the new transparency. The subtext of our situation is a fight against panic, and Obama seems to understand that what would feed fears most is keeping us in the dark.
So keep bringing on the trillion-dollar bad news and talk to us about it like grownups. It may not keep us from wanting to hide under the covers, but it's comforting to know that our new president won't be there with us.
Showing posts with label Washington change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Washington change. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
American Turning Point
"Yes we can!" changed from a defiant campaign mantra into a soft-spoken promise from the nation's new voice as President-Elect Barack Obama rallied Americans, not to celebrate his victory but join him in meeting "the challenges that tomorrow will bring...the greatest of our lifetime--two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century."
In his graceful concession, John McCain became again the admirable man he once was, congratulating Obama for "inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president" and wishing "Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president."
The sea of faces in Chicago's Grant Park said what Obama did not dwell on, that the face America now presents to the world will for the first time confirm the promises of our democracy.
Their joyful tears were a reminder of those shed by Vietnam war protesters, I among them, 40 years ago being tear-gassed in that place for exercising the right of free speech only a few months after Martin Luther King was killed for championing the right of African-Americans to vote in some of the states that helped Obama win the presidency today.
The irony in all this is that George W. Bush and his followers, who hate government, damaged it enough in eight years to make the country ready for a new generation and a new approach to using it wisely and well rather than trying to destroy it.
Tomorrow will be the time to start thinking about the challenges the President-Elect talked about tonight, but for the moment, savoring this historic turning point in American history is an emotional challenge in itself.
Climate change is coming to American politics, and it will take a while to adjust to a new environment in Washington and learn how to make the most of it.
In his graceful concession, John McCain became again the admirable man he once was, congratulating Obama for "inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president" and wishing "Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president."
The sea of faces in Chicago's Grant Park said what Obama did not dwell on, that the face America now presents to the world will for the first time confirm the promises of our democracy.
Their joyful tears were a reminder of those shed by Vietnam war protesters, I among them, 40 years ago being tear-gassed in that place for exercising the right of free speech only a few months after Martin Luther King was killed for championing the right of African-Americans to vote in some of the states that helped Obama win the presidency today.
The irony in all this is that George W. Bush and his followers, who hate government, damaged it enough in eight years to make the country ready for a new generation and a new approach to using it wisely and well rather than trying to destroy it.
Tomorrow will be the time to start thinking about the challenges the President-Elect talked about tonight, but for the moment, savoring this historic turning point in American history is an emotional challenge in itself.
Climate change is coming to American politics, and it will take a while to adjust to a new environment in Washington and learn how to make the most of it.
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