Barack Obama is President elect. He has been elected on a wave of enthusiasm by young people, African Americans and people hyped up on a campaign of slogans and promises of a better future.
It is difficult to belittle how important Obama's success is to many African Americans who lived through appalling bigotry only a generation ago. If they now feel they can participate in the political process, that may well be nothing other than a good thing. Accusations that the USA does not have a system that offers opportunity can be put to one side.
However Obama has promised much, on the basis that government can deliver economic recovery, jobs, health care and a better society. He has promised cheap energy, he has promised a new foreign policy that makes friends abroad.
Now he will be expected to deliver - with a majority Democrat Congress.
Will he discover how hard it is to get government to deliver anything? Will his supporters learn that relying on government to save them is a lost cause?
Hopes have been raised high - on the basis of little more than Obama being a star. How will his groupies react when they find he can't deliver?
It is difficult to belittle how important Obama's success is to many African Americans who lived through appalling bigotry only a generation ago. If they now feel they can participate in the political process, that may well be nothing other than a good thing. Accusations that the USA does not have a system that offers opportunity can be put to one side.
However Obama has promised much, on the basis that government can deliver economic recovery, jobs, health care and a better society. He has promised cheap energy, he has promised a new foreign policy that makes friends abroad.
Now he will be expected to deliver - with a majority Democrat Congress.
Will he discover how hard it is to get government to deliver anything? Will his supporters learn that relying on government to save them is a lost cause?
Hopes have been raised high - on the basis of little more than Obama being a star. How will his groupies react when they find he can't deliver?
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