After The Cheering Stops

As the world celebrates the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States--no small achievement in itself--and explores the significance of it, we wonder what's going to happen once the cheering dies down come January 21, 2009.

No new president ever has it easy, inheriting the messes created by the outgoing Commander-in-Chief. Obama could very well spend the next four years (and maybe four more if he's so inclined?) undoing the damage to American prestige at home and abroad caused by President George W. Bush, leaving precious little time for the president-elect to pursue his own agenda.

Bush' s legacy--two wars, obsessive secrecy, general incompetence, and the nice parting gift of a recession, among other things--have been well documented. Obama has challenges of his own--a new energy policy, climate change initiative and a health care plan--in an age of the trillion-dollar deficit. A Democratic-controlled Congress, which Obama was part of until recently, won't always accede to his wishes. Ask Bill Clinton.

The people Obama chooses to carry out his agenda in the next few weeks will make all the difference between success and failure. The first to heed the call is Illinois congressman Rahm Emanuel, chosen as the President-elect's Chief of Staff.

Looking back at the campaign for a moment, John McCain goes back to his day job as Arizona's U.S. Senator wondering what the heck happened. He is a good man who would have been elected if it weren't for:

• conservative Republicans hijacking his campaign.
• funding, or the lack of it. McCain's war chest was nowhere near Obama's, pointing out the limits of public financing.
• racist yahoos, which he neither encouraged or discouraged.
• the Great Wall Street Meltdown, making him look like a modern-day Herbert Hoover.
• President Bush as a millstone around his neck.

Then there's the selection of Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate. How the Alaska governor went from an overnight phenomenon to a punchline in a few short weeks is simply breathtaking. Whether you love her or dislike her, Palin won't be going away. We could be seeing her again in 2012.

History was made Tuesday with the first African-American elected president (biracial for you nitpickers), decades removed from the time when blacks were discouraged from voting through intimidation, Jim Crow laws and outright violence. People of all races have reason to celebrate this development. The next four years will tell us if President Barack Obama will become more than just a footnote.