Tomorrows.

~

What are we hoping for exactly? I'm a cynic at heart, so I can see why sane people would worry about the Obama Phenomenon. And every one of us should have to answer this question. It's inspiring to hear that this election is about "the past versus the future." That "we are the change we have been waiting for." It's easy to wade into a crowd of your own generation, 100,000 strong, chanting happy generalities. But this doesn't have a great track record over the last 400 years. It usually leads to policies that are stupid, followed by death. And Committees.

That's why I gave a snarky toast last night. Warthog and I were drinking our liberal microbrews in our costal sports bar. The Sabres had just spanked a great team on the road. Our Man is about to lead our party into every house of government, tossing out the cruel legacies of the old farts before us. The toast I got the bar into was "Barack Obama! Tomorrow belongs to us!" Because I'm a dick.

My dickishness (and broad knowlege of show tunes ...) aside, couldn't it be true? It's not like the young believers in any other cause thought they were wrong. The students and post-graduates are always the worst. Self-satisfied in our ability to critique all the sad, dumb ideas of the past, we have a miserable track record when it comes to critisizing any idea we sell to ourselves as "new." Getting us to yell at statues is as hard as getting a dog to hump toddlers. And not as entertaining.  

We won't become fascists. Or Jacobins. The genius of the American system has withstood more tampering than my generation will give it. And there's no one we're eager to stamp out. But we don't need to be that stupid. We could just be stupid. Just be the class of confused, arrogant meddlers that some have already labeled us.

What non-working programs does Obama really intend to cut? If he gets his tax proposal through, has he ever said one thing about cutting Social Security, which is what will destroy our system? If we leave Iraq ... then what? If we kill Osama and sign some kind of treaty with Iran, what has really changed? Will the Pashtuns suddenly give up their 4,000 year way of life and become stock brokers? Will Russia and Saudi really Join Us in Investing In Peace? Hell no. Yet I voted for him. And I'm really happy I did.

~

Here's my bet about Tomorrow: it will be the little things that make it.

* Obama will not solve the inherent problem of entitlement growth and the Baby Boom. We've got at least one more big recession in my lifetime. But his financial team will shrink the deficit. Through progressive taxation and a less expansive foreign policy. Including a reduction in foreign aid spending. Which will be one of his big betrayals to the Left.

* Obama and Gates will not be able to disengage us from Iraq. He will not be able to undermine the Revolution in Iran, or finish off Al-Quaeda. But his policy team will effectively move Iraqi groups into political conflict with each other, while phasing out the most blatant U.S. involvement with their state. And broker a realist, non-democratic power-balancing deal in the 'Stans. Occasionally launching an offensive there. He'll probably fight slow. And effectively.

* He won't bring together the generations. Or make the hard culture warriors abandon their posts. But his appointees and judges will start to move us back to freedom. To undo the 10,000 bureaucratic intrusions of the purity police into our daily lives. For this, we will pay. With more PC seminars and money wasted on middle-managers in pointless Bureaus of Nice. More bullshit in the dorms and boardrooms, less in the hospital and classrooms.

* In his hiring policies, he will quietly re-introduce the idea of competence to the bureaucracy he won't get rid of or shrink in any way.

* He will bring an overall ethic of excellence to the Oval Office. He will go into negotiations to ruthlessly advance his interests, which mostly coincide with ours. He will actually attempt to learn about, and try novel approaches on the crises that surprise us. He may actually think of how to attack a problem, without campaigning first. He will really want to win.

~

That's most of the appeal of Barack to me. Not the flowing ideas of New Unity or Changliness. The day-to-day way he runs his operations. The effective, impure, focused way he takes on problems. The uncanny way he keeps his head "while all around are losing theirs." The everyday experience of curious, competent leadership. That's an option I have never, ever had in an election. Until today. Which leads to my one really big hope.

That a man like Barack is too smart to mistake posturing and cruelty for strength. That he's a goddamn Constitutional scholar, and will understand why limiting some of his own power dramatically increases that of the country he leads. That he appreciates the elegance of the slow, smart win.

And will therefore not need to be an angel, to put this evil shit to bed. For his own sake and ours.

~

So can we re-make the DNA of this nation, and make our future glorious? No. Should we hope for a transformative role in the world, and a Face to Unite the Nations? Fuck no. Can we at least be a little smarter, a little freer, and a lot more respectful to Citizenship? Yes we can.