Today the Struggle

[INDENT]

Tomorrow, perhaps, the future: the research on fatigue
And the movements of packers; the gradual exploring of all the
Octaves of radiation;
Tomorrow the enlarging of consciousness by diet and breathing.
Tomorrow the rediscovery of romantic love;
The photographing of ravens; all the fun under
Liberty's masterful shadow;
Tomorrow the hour of the pageant-master and the musician.
Tomorrow, for the young, the poets exploding like bombs,
The walks by the lake, the winter of perfect communion.
Tomorrow the bicycle races
Through the suburbs on summer evenings.
But today, the struggle.
W.H Auden
Spain 1937

[/INDENT]This is quite a special day. An election that could see the American body politic reject entirely the lies and propaganda and base emotional button-pressing of the last eight - no, forty years. An election that could hearken the end of Nixonland, that could put a halt to the creeping militarisation of popular discourse; an election that could see the first black man elected president of a country where segregation was a way of life in living memory.

Feel humble. History is happening.

'could'

EDIT - If you haven't already guessed I am sceptical about the amount of difference Senator Obama will make

It's historic alright; three separate threads on one topic.

low average really.. I expect a few in the coming days (from people just out of the nursery) selling a slightly soiled John McCain or asking whether or not it's alright to Anodise a Barack Obama

Will - I haven't been on the forum for a while, excuse the duplication.

Wibble - if Obama wins, he will already have changed American political discourse for the better. That makes me feel hopeful.

i'll expect all that optimism to be beaten out of you by the next corrupt and oppressive regime.
why should this one be any different from the last.

which topic will prevail...

well it would show that at least the American voters aren't all as right wing as I thought..

If this leads to something better then I'll be pleased but incredibly surprised.. Look at where the hype of Tony Blair left us..

i'll expect all that optimism to be beaten out of you by the next corrupt and oppressive regime.
why should this one be any different from the last.

I've been working as a journalist for quite a few years now, and I've covered some pretty shitty stuff in my time. Cynical and jaded doesn't quite capture it.

I'm optimistic about an Obama presidency because I think it'll shift the political debate to matters of more substance, and could potentially herald the end of the culture wars. Sure, the rump Republicans will fight a rear-guard battle, but for once the American electorate seems to be focused on policy rather than raw emotions.

I don't think that's such an outlandish premise.

well it would show that at least the American voters aren't all as right wing as I thought..

If this leads to something better then I'll be pleased but incredibly surprised.. Look at where the hype of Tony Blair left us..

Obama isn't that leftish. He's a moderate liberal with some focus on protecting domestic jobs. He'll disappoint, undoubtedly - too much hope has been placed in him - but if this means that future elections will be fought on policy rather than borderline fascist fear-mongering, I'll be a happy man.

. . . . but for once the American electorate seems to be focused on policy rather than raw emotions.

What do you have to back up this idea ?

If anything, I think the inclusion of a black man (or indeed anyone other than another rich white male) has engendered a large emotional response.

I think that it was when Republicans started breaking for Obama over the last couple of weeks, perhaps epitomised by Colin Powell's talk about how alienated he felt from a campaign that bandied about the term 'Muslim' as if it were a slur.

Sure, politicians aren't the electorate, but many of them are also standing for re-election, and it's clear the way they saw the wind blowing - hence their repudiation of the McCain campaign's tactics.

Anyway, exit polls so far tonight are suggesting that the economy is voters' number 1 priority; that a vast majority of them thought McCain's attacks on Obama unfair; and that the race issue isn't playing as strong a role as people thought - except perhaps in persuading a vast swathe of politically disenfranchised people to register and vote.

I'll pull up the numbers once I remember which news site I got them from.

if Obama wins, he will already have changed American political discourse for the better

How?

I think that it was when Republicans started breaking for Obama over the last couple of weeks, perhaps epitomised by Colin Powell's talk about how alienated he felt from a campaign that bandied about the term 'Muslim' as if it were a slur.

Sure, politicians aren't the electorate, but many of them are also standing for re-election, and it's clear the way they saw the wind blowing - hence their repudiation of the McCain campaign's tactics.

Anyway, exit polls so far tonight are suggesting that the economy is voters' number 1 priority; that a vast majority of them thought McCain's attacks on Obama unfair; and that the race issue isn't playing as strong a role as people thought - except perhaps in persuading a vast swathe of politically disenfranchised people to register and vote.

I'll pull up the numbers once I remember which news site I got them from.

Based on what assumptions? What's your dataset? What're the correlation coefficients? What other variables have been tested for?

Because if it's based on drawing a straight line out of a previous trend, it probably doesn't take into account myriad other factors that probably will change by the time these 8 year-olds reach adolescence.

53 years since Rosa Parks said 'f*** you' to the Man - a lot has changed and rightly so IMHO