History is stirring. No matter who wins, it’s inevitable. As Clio bestirs herself, it’s time to note some salient features of this year’s election season:

  1. Emotional Voting: We’ve always liked or not liked particular politicians, but the emotional investment supporters have made in Barack Obama is something new in American politics. We have a new electorate, and the new electorate wants more from government and a President than ever before in our history. Children in a now famous video expect a President Obama to “spread happiness.” Supposed intellectuals (who were also supposedly conservative) find Senator Obama candidate “transformational,” without saying what the transformation will be. As Obama supporter Martha Stewart might put it, this is not a Good Thing.
  2. Change Agenda: At first, it appeared that this was a code way of attacking George W. Bush. But it refers to a much more fundamental change. The America of 2012 will be very different from the America of 2008. Dennis Prager writes: “If Barack Obama wins and he is given a Democratic-controlled Congress, the United States will indeed be transformed. There will be, in Charles Krauthammer’s words, ‘an unprecedented expansion of government power.’ Economic growth will be slowed in favor of achieving economic equality. Unions will be allowed to abolish secret ballots.”
  3. Class Warfare: It used to be assumed that if you worked hard and did well and were honest, you were entitled to your goods. No longer. In fact, it’s now generally assumed that you were dishonest, benefited from fat-cat-loving Republican protection. Something should be done about these scabs; the something is high taxes to spread the wealth.
  4. Media Collusion: It seemed in 2004 that the media had lost its gatekeeper status and could no longer determine what is “a story.” Wrong. They still have the resources to report the big stories that small outfits often don’t have the expertise or money to get. Because the media, which managed to nail the identity of father of Bristol Palin’s baby (irrelevant to anyone beyond the friends and family of the two young people) but told us nothing about Barack Obama’s working history with radicals (very relevant when the economy is in the process of being remade), we are electing a young man about whom much of the public knows too little. As far as I can tell, the only thing we know he believes in his higher taxes. And not to raise tax revenue-he just believes in taxes.

It’s not out of the question that John McCain could win, but  am writing under the assumption that Senator Obama will be our next President-and we must all wish him well and be of good cheer. Whoever wins, he must have our loyalty.