Currying Favor While the Economy Lurks

It's hard to believe there's almost two and a half months to go before Barack Obama is inaugurated. Already, people and interests are maneuvering, schmoozing, and fighting to curry favor with the new president. There are some hard facts as to appointments. We do know he's offered Rahm Emanuel the job of chief of staff. He's also got the outlines of a transition team in place. He knows he's got to hit the ground running, and the economy will be his first priority.

If there's a subtext to the way out of the current economic mess, it would have to be what to do with that $700 billion dollars that's supposed to buoy the financial markets. Remember that at first, the money was supposed to be used to buy up bad assets of financial institutions. That mission has obviously changed. At least some of that money will be used to capitalize the banks. Our president-elect will have to figure out how it will be disbursed, and to whom. Will he change the initial terms and outlays the banks were told about a few weeks ago?

And what about the possibility of another economic stimulus package? Democrats in Congress, lead by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have this as a priority. It's not known yet if Barack Obama shares the immediacy of that agenda. He might, since all signs point to a grim 2009 on the economic front. There will be layoffs, and they could reach huge numbers all across the country. People thrown out of work will have problems paying their bills, meaning the mortgage crisis will continue, and consumer spending will continue its decline.

All of this speaks to the hard work ahead for the incoming president. George W. Bush hasn't left him much to work with. If there's a silver lining to all these clouds, it's contained in what a friend told me at the gym earlier today. "Barack is a smart man. He's going to surround himself with smart people. They'll figure a way to deal with this".

Is my friend right? You tell me.

An American President

There will be much analysis of Barack Obama's historic victory last night. How he pulled off wins in states that usually vote Republican. How his campaign ignored the skeptics, stuck to its course, and has now been vindicated. It's all true, and it's all good. Yet this campaign has been about a story, uniquely American story that ought to be told to generations who are now too young to vote.

It starts with two crowded fields in the race for the presidency. There was much conventional wisdom 20 odd months ago, and it focused on who would capture the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. Barack Obama and John McCain were two candidates that few thought would be facing each other November 4th. For Obama, conventional wisdom was he'd make a respectable showing, one that would position him to run again further down the road.

Barack Obama didn't see it that way, and he promoted a vision of hope and change that connected not just with young people, but with Americans who believed change was necessary for the sake of the republic. He spoke to the best instincts of millions of us, hard working people who were smarter than the pundits believed. His campaign sent people from one part of the country to neighboring states, to talk to folks and deliver his message.

It worked. It all worked. And in the end, he gave a speech that made Colin Powell weep. It won't be easy to implement his agenda, even with the gains his party made in Congress. The American economy is ailing, and it will take the best minds of the country to make it better. And yet, there is belief that if anyone can bring those minds together, it's the guy who won last night, a guy whose inspiration was, among other things, a 106 year old woman in Atlanta.

A page turned in America last night. What lies ahead will make for some interesting reading.

Are You Taking it Personal?

So, it's Election Day across America. I woke up this morning with a knot in my stomach. It's a familiar thing, one that comes when I think something should happen, will happen, but may not. I woke up with that same knot back in 1989, when David Dinkins became New York City's first black mayor. I felt it again four years later, when he lost by a razor thin margin to Rudy Giuliani. Forget 2000. That feeling stayed around for more than a month.

So here we are, on the precipice of history. That sick feeling in my gut was exacerbated when I arrived early this morning at what I thought was my polling site with my daughter. She's 11, and has been voting with me since she could walk. We got to the site, and there was no one there! It was then I realized I simply mistook the municipal building for City Hall. At my actual polling site, the line stretched a block, and this was at 7:00AM.

When I saw the line, and the rainbow of people waiting to vote, that feeling in my gut vanished. I said hello to several folks I knew, and waited. Someone mentioned the line was even longer earlier in the morning when the polls first opened. Anecdotal evidence from the cable networks echo what I saw in my local community. It all looks good, but my political instincts tell me this thing won't be over until we hear a concession speech.

It has truly been one extraordinary election cycle. What started for Democrats as a coronation ended up being something very different. For the Republicans, a candidate who had been written off came back and won his party's nomination. Today we'll find out if Barack Obama's meticulous campaign will win out, or whether John McCain will make one final comeback. Either way, I already know I'll be taking this one personally. It's not easy to admit, since during my younger days I thought politics was the final province of uncool fossils.

Things have changed for me. Have they changed for you? Are you taking this personal?

Done Deal?

First, many thanks to all of you who have posted, e-mailed, texted, and phoned your condolences on the loss of my brother Clayton. He wanted so much to live to see Tuesday's election. His spirit will be watching over all that happens.

The eve of this 2008 presidential election feels more and more like the night before Christmas. Never in my lifetime have I seen such interest and excitement about any election. And on election eve, we see a more relaxed John McCain, and a serene Barack Obama. Both will be hop-scotching across the country trying to wring out every last bit of support. The media, meanwhile, is licking its collective chops.

For this has been an election cycle to remember for those who have been covering it as well. Punditry has reached a new high (or low), as more and more people made good money handicapping the race. And don't let those right wing talk hosts fool you. They may rail against Obama and mean what they say, but they also know where their bread is buttered. Suffice to say its no accident that a couple of prominent conservative talkers signed four year deals recently. That takes them right into the next prsidential cycle.

For Barack Obama, the only remaining question is whether the nation has in fact changed enough to embrace him as its leader. He has run a campaign for the ages. Disciplined, focused, and virtually leakproof, the Obama campaign has provided a blueprint for campaigns of the future, no matter who wins Tuesday. And, while you can fault the McCain operation for a lot, it must be said that John McCain himself refused to use Rev. Jeremiah Wright against Obama, and he stuck to his word, even if those around him did not.

Now, all that's left is for the polls to open Tuesday morning, and for the American people to speak. An electorate that's been studied, analyzed, poked, prodded, and polled to death will finally register the only poll that matters.

Are you ready?