Obama-Palooza

It's a winter wonderland day here in North Carolina. After a morning of playing in the snow, the fam cuddled up to watch the inauguration.

Some thoughts:

-Obama continues to be who we thought he was: a leader. That may or may not mean he makes good policy decisions, but he's tremendously poised and articulate and has "it"--that leadership thing that you can't fake.

-His inauguration speech captured "the genius of the and" that so mobilized the country to vote for him. Global leadership AND global partnerships, environmental issues AND economic growth, governmental activity AND individual responsibility, national security AND a willingness to extend olive branches.

His part about dismissing the cynics who are finding the ground shifting beneath their feet was genius--as was his dismissal of "big v. small government." It's exactly true: the old bifurcations and either/or's aren't there any more, or at least as far as most Gen X'ers and Y'ers see it.

This is a critical piece that McCain just didn't get and that I wonder if Republicans in general understand. Obama isn't just bridging in terms of race (more on that later) but also world view.

Obama's rhetoric represents the best of the post-modern over-corrective: less tribalism, less us v. them that so effectively galvanized the country during the Cold War era. Reagan traded on this ingeniusly during the '80's. G.W. tried to recycle it post-9/11. Whether or not Obama is able to live out the rhetoric consistently in terms of policy decisions and working the political machine in Washington obviously remains to be seen....but I find the early signs hopeful.

If Republicans do not want this to be the end of their parties' influence in our country, they will have to find ways to re-cast some of their primary values in terms that connect with the next generations willingness to embrace "the genius of the and" rather than the old dichotomies that no longer seem all that relevant.

-Pulling back a bit, let's just marvel for a moment at the 44th peaceful transfer of power in our nation's history. In the grand scheme of history, this is one of the most breath-taking and unexpected things imaginable.

-Finally, for those of us who take the Scriptures seriously, today was a tremendous day regardless of who you voted for. The Biblical picture of "powers and principalities" at war against God's created order has manifested itself most powerfully and grotesquely in our national struggle with racial issues.

Today, in the peaceful transfer of power to an African-American president, I think we at least partially exorcised a national demon.