Peggy Noonan is hopeful for a moderate Obama presidency.
Americans want change, and they just voted for it, but in times of high-stakes history they appreciate stability. And while we love drama in our movie stars and on our television sets, we don't love unneeded drama in our government and among our govern-ors. This is already a dramatic time—two wars, economic collapse—and people are rattled. "Moderation in all things." It should be noted here that the split in the popular vote was 53% to 46%. That is a solid seven-point win for the new president elect, but it also means more than 56 million voters went for John McCain in a year when all the stars were aligned against the Republicans. (Though it is also true that many of the indices for the GOP are dreadful, especially that they lost the vote of two-thirds of those aged 18 to 29. They lost a generation! If that continues in coming years, it will be a rolling wave of doom.)Mr. Obama has a significant portion of the nation to win over. He acknowledged this in his sterling victory speech, when he spoke of "those whose support I have yet to earn." He does have yet to earn it. Hint: They want peace, progress in the economy and nothing socially extreme. And they want to respect their president. Forget "they want to have a beer with you." That was yesterday, when beer was cheaper. They want to respect you and look up to you; they want you to be a positive, not negative, role model for their children; they want to know you can lead as you ran, capable, Cool Hand Luke.
And they want you to handle whatever history sends over the transom, and that will be plenty dramatic enough, as everyone knows.
There are plenty of reasons to think we're getting King Barack the Lefitst instead, but I'd prefer to wait (warily) and see what happens in the coming days before driving off the edge of the road.
Posted by Alan at November 7, 2008 08:20 AM