Zeitgeist Zephyr

 Never fear, my conservative friends out there!  With the exit polls flowing in, it appears that Barack Obama has won the 2008 Presidential race.  These numbers will be confirmed in the days ahead when all the votes are tallied for the electoral college and the next President of the United States will be determined.There has been a great deal of concern among my friends who voted for John McCain that Barack Obama will destroy America.  This fear is perfectly natural, as anything deviating from the status quo can cause bouts of panic in anyone.  All I have to say to that is welcome to the emotions I’ve felt for the last eight years.  

That being said, I truly believe that a lot of it is in your head.  While Obama has yet to prove himself as President, anything that might come up as a perceived attack on the American Way of life will be trivial.  

End of an Era 

Looking back at what the last eight years has brought, I’m sure most will agree with me.  President Bush ushered in an era of unprecedented attacks on not just U.S. policy, but the Constitution itself.  President Bush was the first president to advocate the use of torture during interrogations of suspected terrorists, something that has been banned under the Geneva Convention for quite some time (might I remind you the U.S. had a key role in drafting it.)  Through the PATRIOT ACT and countless executive orders, he approved of warrant-less wiretapping.  While the right to privacy is not spelled out in the Constitution, the requirement of needing a warrant is.  President Bush invaded Iraq riding on a wave of popularity at home and abroad following 9/11.  Remember those weapons of mass destruction that we were supposed to find upon invading?  The economic Panic of 08 was influenced by bad policies of President Bush and the fact that America’s budget deficit has blossomed under his belt doesn’t help his rep either.    

My personal favorite is my own run-in with the Bush’s Department of Homeland (in)Security.  For nearly 6 months I feared the prospects of my future being thrown out the window because I was pursuing a peaceful hobby that the government didn’t approve of.  (My fears were unfounded, but my hatred towards Bush hit its peak during that time period.)

The worst thing that Bush did though as president was alienate the United States from the rest of the world.  He had the sympathy and cooperation of everyone in the world after 9/11.  He took advantage of that with the Iraq War and blew all of our credibility as a country out of the water.  Whether intentionally or not, that action alone has sealed President Bush’s fate to history as one of the most arrogant and ignorant world leaders in history.  As the curtain falls on his presidency and Act 44 of the “Saga of the American Presidency” begins, it seems that America is going to get a second chance.

New Dawn

President-elect Barack Obama is the antithesis of the last eight years.  He promises to reverse the unjust policies of George W. and to renew America’s credibility on the world stage.  There is ample evidence to believe that he will be able to pull this off.  Polls taken over the past few weeks indicate an overwhelming majority of the rest of the world wanted Obama to win the election.  In most countries that favored Obama, the difference in opinion was staggering.  The numbers ranged from 51% to over 80% approving him in Kenya.  Citizens in countries from around the world stayed up late into the night local time to see the results come in from the American Presidential election half a world away.  America stills has influence in the world, and the global citizenry want it to be an America they can love.

With the election of a black American man as president (I refuse to call him African American, since he was born in the United States), America has proven that it is still a beacon of hope in a world that is at times still very turbulent and bigoted.  The world has a reason to love America again, and I’m sure with increased approval from the abroad and increased success in foreign affairs as a result of that, approval of Obama at home will increase.

Bear in mind these little tidbits courtesy of Gallup:  When Ronald Reagan left office in 1989, his approval rating was at about 68%.  George H.W. Bush’s was hovering around 54% and Bill “Bubba” Clinton had an approval rating of 68%, even after having an extramarital affair in his second term.  President Bush currently has an approval rating of about 28% (could go up, could go down before he leaves office, but not too much.)  The only President in the last century since polling data has been collected that had a lower rating was Nixon, at 24%.  I doubt, despite what die-hard conservatives are saying, that Bush will rebound in popularity like Truman did.  I can talk about that in a later post.

My point is, when things have gone well for the United States on the global stage, approval of the President is high at home. Reagan effectively ended the Cold War and kept America at relative peace during his tenure and Clinton oversaw the post-Cold War boom of American influence and popularity in the world from both a diplomatic and economic standpoint. Obama is a good choice for President and I believe that once he starts work in the White House, many of those who still don’t believe will realize his value in American history and rally behind him as the next President of the United States.