Obama - Cope
Obama - Cope
Is it over yet? As we write, it is Sunday, Nov. 4, and the only change that has occurred is the shift back from daylight savings time. As you read this issue of The Pulse, the election itself may not be over. Very real scenarios reminiscent of the 2000 Gore vs. Bush quagmire continue to be discussed, as do either President Obama or Mitt Romney winning the electoral college or the popular vote. We hope—because we are into hope—this is not the case, for the sake of Americans everywhere and ourselves.
While it is the preference and assumption of The Editors that President Obama will emerge victorious, that victory will not come without cost. And while our passions for Obama do not run as deep as they once did, we still believe in his ability to effect change and foster hope, even in a sharply divided nation. If Obama did not achieve all his promises, we blame first a reckless, right-wing Congress abducted by Tea Party partisans and the once-moderate and now shameless and cowering Republican Party they have bent to their will. In smaller measure, we blame the president for acting as if he were a one-term president from the start and focused so relentlessly, if not righteously, on the Affordable Care Act—a great achievement, to be sure—that took his focus off of jobs and the economy.
His other achievements—from the bookending Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to his deft handling of Hurricane Sandy and the many in between less global in scope, but taken together equally admirable—possess us with reason for hope. Not the magical, misty-eyed hope of 2008, but the sort that comes only through hard-fought battles with a Congress whose stated goal from the beginning of his administration was to thwart any and all progress.
It is unfortunate, we think, that in his second term President Obama will continue to face similar opposition. But with a clear agenda focusing on rebuilding America’s still limping economy, we expect the next Congress to return to bipartisanship and cooperation. Are we fools? No. It won’t happen without many compromises. But to defy any initiative to create jobs (inasmuch as a president can) and policy targeted at restoring the American economy is not only lunacy but also political suicide.
If we are wrong, this nation will not have elected a new leader in Mitt Romney, but a shape-shifting transitional shadow puppet whose policy we can only imagine since he has yet to reveal it. For a man who has spent six years vainly seeking the presidency, we deserve better. A Romney win will certify him as a victor who bought and slogged himself into office—and we will pay the bill.
All we know for sure is that either way, the world will not end. God will not smite us. Life will go on. And in the end, we will have gotten the government we deserved.
All we can do is cope.
—The Editors
Postscript: At 11:18 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, President Obama was re-elected to a second term as the 44th president of the United States.