November 4, 2008, San Diego, CA

I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary and when it became obvious that she was not going to win, I rationalized that while either of those candidates would make for a historic result, an Obama candidature and victory would be more historic since there had never been a leader of color in any Western democracy, while there had been several women, most recently in Germany. At that point, I had taken it for granted that the Democratic candidate would win easily in this election, although it all had a certain fairy tale quality to it.

Of course the campaign season did not quite go the way I expected - the Republicans were not going to go away without a fight. In retrospect, maybe it looked closer than it ever was only to the beholder who was nervous about the prospect of another Republican administration - not so much for what it would bring, but for the verdict it would have passed on the Bush/Cheney presidency. A McCain victory to a large degree would have sent the message that the actions of the current administration were not all the very bad. Bush Jr would have been resurrected to some degree and I would have found it very difficult to accept that.

America is a unique country - it is in many ways a 'manufactured' country (Australia is another example), but that is not what makes it great. It is the fact that America is a country of ideas. This is no great insight, of course, but this has always been the appeal for me. Vaneee may be a recent convert to politics, but I have been a political junkie most of my life. It is hard to get enthusiastic about politics in India - so much of the power seems to be vested in the brawn and not in the brain. However, coming to the US in 1991, and following politics here, I was struck by the idealism and genuine desire to play by the rules. So, it was with deep anguish that I watched the Bush/Cheney team dismantle and tarnish that ideal. The right wing media cheering squad drowned out any protest and the low point came when any questioning of the government was automatically deemed unpatriotic. How much longer would it be, I wondered, before there was an actual suspension of civil rights? Maybe Bush/Cheney would even claim that they needed a third term to avoid a change in the middle of the "war on terror." After all, that hero of 9/11, Mr. Guiliani, tried to extend his term as mayor of NY on a similar pretext.

The loss of Gore was harder to take than that of Kerry. It was famously said during that campaign that the election was really inconsequential and it wouldn't matter which candidate won (remember "compassionate conservatism?"). Who believes that today? But as Sid has pointed out, perhaps the silver lining was just too far in the future - would Barack Obama be President-elect today if Bush had not won 8 years ago? The price for this piece of history has been very high though: the blunders in Iraq, the needless loss of life, both Iraqi and American, the loss of credibility and respect around the world, the limits on civil liberties. Will the Obama presidency be so significant that it justifies this cost to some degree? I am not going to guess, but a McCain victory would have destroyed even the hope that something positive could come out of the mess of the last 8 years.

What did really win Obama this presidency? His composure in the eye of a storm? His organizational skills? Disgust with the current administration? The selection of Palin? McCain's erratic behavior? I believe all of those played a part, but the ultimate clincher was something more elemental, something that showed up all the culture wars and race issues for exactly what they were - non-issues. This is not a big unknown - it was the deep economic crisis that was put into a tailspin by the banking mess. It has often been observed that ideals are the privilege of the well-fed. When you are hungry, nothing else matters other than getting the next meal. Morals, ethics, and almost any other principle of modern western civilization gets tossed out the window when it comes to satisfying basic needs. How many Indians do you think will jump at the chance of swapping Indian economic conditions with that of China even if it means getting their political conditions? So, when the economic crisis hit, the issue of Obama's race ceased to be a real factor. People instinctively grasped that it was inconsequential. That is what broke the election in his favor.

Sanjay & Geetha organized an election viewing party, unprodded. Sanjay has a thing or two to learn about full disclosure and I know of a certain house in Miro Ct that will be tuned to CNN for at least 48 hours straight to overcome the withdrawal symptoms. I guess it contributed to the air of wonder and bewilderment of the evening. Could this be happening? Grown men and women were struggling to come to terms with the cold, cruel, reality - no cable! We had the choice of the three networks (accessed through a complex sequence of remote key presses) and an extremely dull effort from PBS. Even the CSPAN programming looked positively exciting, in comparison. There are still some folks who are still waiting for somebody to change the channel to MSNBC or FoxNews. What would be next? Huddle around a vacuum tube radio, smacking it occasionally to improve the reception?

I joke of course. It wasn't that bad - true, some of us may have to have therapy to fully recover, but we did manage to follow the results (except RDX, who kept getting extremely confused by the differences in the projections between the 3 networks) and a good time was had by all. The hosts retained their grace despite constant needling by yours truly and they deserve our thanks. I had to agree with Sanjay's comment -"See what fun you can have with five channels?" at nights end. In the end, the only thing that mattered was that Obama won. It was a special moment when the whole room broke into a cheer when the sign "President-elect Obama" went up on the TV screen. I had to pause for a moment to savor it - here were a group of Indians who are by nature cynical and highly unlikely to admit to any sentimentality, actually cheering an election result in their adopted country. Obama's speech was magnificent as usual. I still remember Mario Cuomo's speech in 1992, nominating Bill Clinton. Clinton himself is no slouch, but an Obama speech is something special. The control and poise that he was able to command at such a powerful moment made his already well crafted text all the more striking.

Will this be a transformational presidency? Maybe it almost does not matter - the transformation has already happened.