On the Eve of History

There is very little I could write, at this late date, that hasn't been written a hundred thousand times already. So perhaps I can frame the whole Barack Obama festival slightly differently.

I really need to stop reading Internet comments. Most of the comments in this CBC.ca thread fall into three broad gutters:

1) Obama good, Harper evil. (It's the CBC, what did you expect?)

2) Obama's nothing but...a fraud/smoke and mirrors/a tool of Corporate America/blah blah blah

3) Fer Chrissake, CBC, when are you going to report on something Canadian, like, just for instance, how evil Mr. Harper is and how much better we are than them damn Yank bastards?

In order:

1) Oh, where to begin. Harper and Obama are actually fairly close politically on a great number of issues.  (gasp!) 

Barack Obama is pro-Israel; he does not support gay marriage; his economic stimulus package will closely mirror Harper's, with broad infrastructure spending and tax cuts. Both men are against the war in Iraq (though Harper initially supported it), and both want to expand the war in Afghanistan. 

Hell, they're both Trekkies.

Harper is not as far right as many Canadians insist: nor is Obama as far left as many Canadians imagine.

Moreover, the clusterfuck that is the United States economy won't cease its unravelling just because the 44th President takes office. Obama's going to have to paddle frantically just to stay in one place, and even that frantic effort probably won't be enough. No mere human can snap his fingers at an avalanche and make it unhappen. Obama may well end up being reviled even before his first term concludes, simply because he's not omnipotent.

2) Barack Obama is what he is: an intelligent man who couples a great ambition with a spiritual centeredness you don't often find in public figures. 

But Barack Obama is also what he represents, and that is indeed a mighty force. I'd call it the Great Overcoming. He embodies the hopes and dreams of a multitude, many of  whom now have an inkling of possibility where before there had been none. 

Both qualifications will come in mighty handy, because America's going to have to unite in ways it may not yet grasp to fight the economic storm that is still gathering. 

He will (as he should) put America's interests first and foremost. The difference between him and the unlamented departed is that he'll at least listen to other interests first. He may even try to incorporate them, where he can. 

3) You pissant, parochial party-poopers. Whatever awaits, this is a historic day in so many ways, for America and for the world of which it is a part. Sure, the media coverage can get a bit exhausting--haven't you noticed that with, well, everything the media seizes upon for the last decade or so?

Congratulations, Barack and Michelle Obama. Your Canadian friends (a few nitwits nothwithstanding) respect you, admire you, and wish you well.