Tuesday, Nov. 4 was a day filled with anticipation and enthusiasm as the race for the U.S. presidency drew to a close. Days after the election, however, the energy had still not subsided. Alan Wolfe, director of the Center for Religion and American Public Life; Marc Landy, professor in the political science department; and Kay Schlozman, professor in the political science department, spoke at the election roundtable discussion and addressed the prevalent issues that will face America after the election.
The panelists discussed the historical impact of this election. The professors seemed to agree that this election will definitely be significant in shaping this nation's history. "The election of an African-American president is clearly a mark for history books," Shlozman said. "An African-American got elected to the U.S. presidency … this is earth-shattering … it's extraordinary," Landy said.
Another issue discussed was political realignment, a dramatic change in the political system. The panelists agreed that realignment cannot be predicted so soon after the election, but some predictions can be made. "Realignments are what presidents make … elections give them an opportunity, but only policies can really determine if a realignment is possible … I would say a realignment is possible," Landy said. "Our parties are offering us alternatives on most things … conditions for realignment do not really exist in this election," Schlozman said.
Each panelist further spoke about the post-election issues. Wolfe said he was mainly concerned was those issues unresolved by the American Civil War. "I'm struck by the thought that many of the things fought for in the Civil War have taken so long to be solved. [There is a] possible danger if the Republican Party would be the party of the Confederacy … if they become the party that represents the part of the U.S. that lost the Civil War," Wolfe said.
"The Civil War was a war fought over the idea of citizenship. It took us until the passage of the 14th Amendment to establish this … the promise of 14th Amendment was not delivered until 1965 for African Americans … it took us over a century to establish the principle that everyone no matter race or gender has the right to vote … maybe some of the divisions of the Civil War are finally healed, and if that is true, then this election will prove to be a historically impacting election," he said.
"I would have to say that addressing the economic concerns is the first order of business," Scholzman said. "It is very clear that Obama's victory reflects dissatisfaction with the economic conditions of our country. People are holding the party in office responsible for what is happening economically. Obama's going to have to work with a congress that is hungry; the Democrats have felt pretty shut out for a while."
"They [American citizens] do expect a new politics from Obama … the rejection of the Bush administration is so thorough, it's a fact … the Bush administration was not up to what the country deserves, so Obama's got to make a big difference," Landy said.
The panelists also discussed the ethics of the election and the role played by the media. "What constitutes the media has been revolutionized … with cable there's a huge plurality. I think the Internet has made a huge impact … when we talk about the media and how it behaved in the election, it is now such a different phenomenon than it was a while ago," Schlozman said. "Networks are absolutely laughable, The New York Times is not as good as it once was," Landy said. "I think the media did a great job with the election. Blogs have forced regular media to be much better … we have to congratulate the pollsters - they got it right," Wolfe said. "In the context of U.S. history, it was not a dirty election … I almost wish it would have been uglier," Wolfe said.
The way the world perceives American politics was the next issue discussed. "The world is pretty excited about this [the election] … it will have an impact on some countries like Indonesia and Pakistan," Wolfe said. "People around the world do pay a lot of attention to American politics; we are the big heavy in the world. People pay attention to us in a way that we don't pay attention to them," Landy said.
The panelists then added a few of their own perspectives on the election. "George W. Bush did better in 2004 with the Latino vote than McCain did in this election. An important change for Latinos is what happened in Florida … the Cuban vote in Miami was not nearly as Republican this time than in the past. Latino voters are more in play in the electorate," Schlozman said.
"The issue of the moment was the fiscal crisis. Obama handled himself so much better than McCain, and that helped him so much," Landy said. "The only thing worse than having a divided government is having an overwhelming majority … that will be the great drama - the play on Congress. When your minority is that small in Congress, its power is very limited. I don't think there will be legislation that you can blame the Republican minority for stopping," Landy said.
The panelists' last few words were of praise for Obama and their hopes for the future. "Obama has this wonderful ability to relate in public … his victory speech was amazing," Landy said.
"The Obama campaign is the symbol of the fact that irrational prejudice has finally been buried," Wolfe said. "I hope we are not left with a diehard regional-based opposition. The future result of that would be devastating."
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