Frankly I think you're all kidding yourself if you think that Obama will be able to affect all the positive changes that the author listed above. The author talks about Obama's "progressive ideals" but there's nothing progressive about Obama.

Obama will have a very "Clinton-esque" presidency... Imperialism with a smile, instead of Cheney's snarl... but it's still imperialism.

My only question is:

WHEN DO THE BUSH REGIME WAR CRIME TRIALS START???

I want a front row seat!!

"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats

I'm afraid this is far too long with too many big words for the intended audience...

The sore losers in the Republican party need to wake up and smell the coffee. Time to be part of the solution instead of the problem.

http://thecrotchetyoldman.blogspot.com/

I voted for Nader, because he represented what I believe in. I rejoiced when Obama was elected not because I think he is perfect, but because he leans a bit more to the left than the crazies that have held that office for 28 years. I cried like Jesse Jackson did, because for so many years we on the left were disappointed with the increasing stupidity in the voting masses and the stolen elections.

Now I did get attacked for voting for Nader. I was told that I threw my vote away. I did not throw my vote away. I was told that 3rd party people are a threat. I don't see it that way either. I believe that more and more 3rd party people will pick up the slack as the fading Republican party begins to retreat.

Obama is a great start, but the aggressive progressives need to continue the fight. It's not done yet. We need to continue to give the right wing a giant slap in the face, and move this country forward to a more European style equality.

From the article:

"You’re afraid Barack Obama will raise your taxes and take away your gun. You’re afraid he will encourage pregnant women to have late-term abortions. You’re afraid the government will make you sell your Hummer and see a Communist doctor. You’re afraid all those emails you received over the past few months are true—Barack Obama will take his oath on the Koran, promote homosexuality, outlaw Christian broadcasting, strip the phrase “bombs bursting in air” from the National Anthem, allow people on welfare to stay there, appoint Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to his cabinet in a plot to turn the White House black and help Islamic terrorists obliterate America."

I was feeling afraid myself after Bush "won" the first time. I do believe I had a list of reasons why.

However, as it turned out, I worried about some of the wrong things. I worried about Roe v Wade and the environment and the shame of having an ignorant president. I NEVER in my wildest dreams thought I should worry about the condition of our constitution, about the sheer amount of hubris and criminal behavior and incompetence and secrecy, about a non sequitur war or a terrorist attack.

My point is, some former McCain supporters might be afraid; would it comfort them to know that they don't even know what to be afraid of yet...?

The article does not list the change in my thinking about America and its people. How could it? And there are probably millions of individuals all over the world like me who have no other voice.

Some of my earlier posts here on CD, either explicitly or implicitly, attacked the American people for being politically dumb, misinformed, or just plain ignorant, and not knowing what’s good for their own interests. In doing so, my intention and hope was to spur them to some action.

Your electing Barak Obama has disabused my previous misconception about America and Americans. I am now most overjoyed to congratulate and applaud you. I sincerely hope that America will rise to its previous status of greatness, after some previous presidents, in particular the Bush cabal, fucked it up so much.

For whatever it’s worth, I now respect you greatly and wish you success. I only hope that Obama will not turn out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

I love this; Two weeks ago, and ten months ago too, there would have been 200 posts defaming Obama and insultingly singing that lesserevilist nonsense on Common Dreams.

I was insulted a million times defending him.

But I asked you all-don't change your screen-names and don't go away with your tails between your legs.

Remember the year of hateful insults.
I always will.

From Translucent. A Nader-Despising Obama Lover. Bring It ON. I never wilted though I was horribly outnumbered; Where are your legions, where is your hatred now?

OBAMA. YES.

I know many people that fear President elect Obama that loved McCain and from my perspective, the only way to reach these people is by example. They are for the most part, closed minded people that would vote for Satan if he was Republican. Many of these same people are also closet racists and when they repeat all the hateful mandacities that they hear from Rush,Drudge,Savage and the rest of the extremeist right wing nut cases, it gives them a way of being perjorative to Obama, while not needing to admit they are prejudiced.

I wonder if McCain will ever refer to Obama as My Friend?

Last evening some minimum wage worker in a rural store told me "It's the people in the cities who decide elections. We don't count." Then she said "Obama is going to make slaves out of all us white people" and she was perfectly serious.

Matt Pelken: I enjoyed your well written piece, but too bad it won't resonate with any Repugs. Repugs rule, Dems govern. Big difference. Remember, it was the Repugs who have been poorly treated by the same regime as everyone else yet they continue to vote against their own self interest. So when the Repugs will be better off in four years (along with everyone else) than they are now, they will not recognize it or they will deny that they're better off than today and they'll continue to vote for the McCain of the day.

This article may tell you something about what the Obama future might bring:

"Obama's Wall Street Appointees: The Battles to Come

The political battles to come – which will have an enormous impact on our lives and the lives of people around the world – will not be easy. Having a president in the White House who is demonstrably intelligent and reasonable could be a good thing.

But let’s not pretend that, because Barack Obama has been elected, our battles are won.

For instance: today, flush with the glow of yesterday’s victory, Obama announced that he’s chosen Rahm Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff. This is the same man who, as the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, fought tooth and nail to exclude, marginalize, and demonize anti-war Democrats in the 2006 primary races. He withdrew national Democratic support from a progressive Congressional candidate and recruited opponents to defeat her in the primary. Emanuel has, time and time again, shown himself to be firmly allied with the “centrist” (read: “Republican”) wing of the Democratic party, personified by the Democratic Leadership Council. (See this Truthout special for more on Emanuel’s role in recruiting conservatives in the 2006 campaign.)

Rahm Emanuel is the opposite of someone like Howard Dean. After Dean lost his bid to be the Democratic nominee in 2004, he undertook another, far more unusual campaign – he campaigned to be the chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). What’s unusual about this is that the DNC chair is usually chosen by party insiders in Washington, who present their choice to the state parties as a fait accompli. Dean fought for the votes of the state party leaders, and when it was clear he had enough support, the other candidates withdrew, and Dean won the chairmanship (much to the chagrin of Rahm Emanuel, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, incidentally).

What Dean did next is stunning: he set out to devolve the DNC’s power to its state party organizations. He believed that the best decisions are made by people who are close to the issues that matter to voters. He also believed that Democrats need to compete in every county across the country. His emphasis on rebuilding (or, in some cases, building) viable state Democratic party organizations laid the groundwork for Obama’s successful use of Dean’s “fifty-state strategy” in this election.

Here’s what Rahm Emanuel said to Howard Dean about Dean’s strategy:

“You’re nowhere, Howard. Your field plan is not a field plan. That’s fucking bullshit … I know your field plan - it doesn’t exist. I’ve gone around the country with these races. I’ve seen your people. There is no plan, Howard.”

Howard Dean is smart, compassionate, and effective. I haven’t seen his name mentioned as a possible Cabinet appointee in the Obama administration, incidentally.

In Rahm Emanuel’s defense, he and Obama have been friends since their early days in Chicago together. And, since Emanuel served in the Clinton White House, he can be a bridge to the Clinton wing of the party. And, further, many times someone can sublimate his own opinions in the service of his boss. Nonetheless, the selection of this pro-war, anti-grassroots, former-Investment-Banker as Obama’s chief of staff is a clear signal that we’ll have to keep the pressure up throughout Obama’s term of office if we want to see real, progressive change.

Another crystal-clear signal of this sort are the reports that Obama will likely name Lawrence Summers to be Treasury Secretary. Larry Summers is the guy who signed a 1991 memo, when he was Chief Economist of the World Bank, asserting that “the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that.”

Larry Summers was Clinton’s Treasury Secretary from 1999 until the end of his term. He lobbied the Congress to repeal the Glass-Steagall Financial Services Act, which the Congress ultimately did – leading rather directly to the current financial disaster we’re witnessing. Here’s an excerpt from the 1999 New York Times article describing Clinton’s signing of the Gramm-Leach-Billey Act:

“With this bill,” Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said, “the American financial system takes a major step forward toward the 21st Century — one that will benefit American consumers, business and the national economy.” Opponents said it would have the opposite effect, creating behemoths that will raise fees, violate customers’ privacy by sharing and selling their personal data, and put the stability of the financial system at risk.

This is the same Larry Summers who announced that efforts by faculty at MIT and Harvard to force their institutions to divest from Israel, due to Israel’s ongoing occupation and subjugation of Palestinian territory, were “Anti-semitic in effect, if not in intent.” The same Larry Summers who drove the African American scholar Cornel West out of Harvard by accusing him of being unserious and contributing to grade inflation. The same Larry Summers who, while President of Harvard, asserted that perhaps the lack of women in top science, engineering, and math jobs was due to their innate lack of ability in those fields.

Obama’s choices of advisers and Cabinet members says a lot about how he’ll govern. The early signs are not very hopeful, at least for those of us who aren’t DLC “centrists.”

Any progressive change that comes out of an Obama administration is going to happen because we organize and fight for it every step of the way. The effort to get real change enacted is going to need the same organization, the same energy, and the same stamina as the effort that put Obama in the White House. And this time, we’re going to have to do it without Obama’s national and local organizations, without the support of the Democratic party, and – crucially – without their hundreds of millions of dollars.

We’ve only just begun…"

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10838

These first 2 picks (Emanuel & Summers) are Clinton re-treads. Face it folks, we're probably in for a Clinton Redux.

My volunteer campaigning efforts this fall were primarily on the Obama voter protection project here in Michigan. I spent 14 hours on election day working the polls. Tuesday night around 10:00 pm at the union hall post-election party, the whole room levitated when Ohio was declared for Obama/Biden. The McCain concession speech and the Grant Park festivities made it all a great day to finally enjoy.

If Limbaugh is any indication, there certainly is no shortage of die hard right wingers out there who are hateful, hostile, bitter, and who might actually benefit from a toned down, less sarcastic version of Matt Peikens' open letter ostensibly addressed to McCain supporters. What has struck me in the last two days, however, is the number of rabid Republicans that I've encountered since the returns came in who said genuinely concilliatory things like "Obama's going to be my president too, and I really hope he can do some good to help the country get out of the mess we're in."

As a long time progressive lib, I confess that I never, ever, felt that way subjectively, or talked that way publicly, about George W. Bush, chiefly because of the illegitimate circumstances under which Bush stole Florida by disenfranchising blacks, and then was awarded the presidency by a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that disingenuously aborted the proper functioning of the democratic electoral process in the name of providing equal protection. At least that's how I reconcile my feelings, in contrast to the relative magnanimity verbalized by some of my Republican acquaintences today.

And I never felt or talked that way about George Bush after the 2004 election either, given the wars Bush/Cheney lied us into, his regime's open disdain for the Bill of Rights, and the fear mongering Swift Boat sleaze tactics that Karl Rove utilized to drive a bloody nail into the coffin of the Kerry campaign. As a member of what the GOP spinmeisters try to label "the angry left", I had no problem disavowing any allegiance or respect whatsoever for a man who richly deserved to be impeached for his high and brazen crimes.

So maybe there's a message here for people who sincerely want to lower the level of partisan rancor for awhile: Ye shall reap that which you sow.

Cheat and steal in order to win, and you may wind up drinking from a poisoned chalice.

Win fair and square by avoiding the low road, and even your most strident opponents may glumly tip their hats at the end of the day, and promise to keep an open mind - for awhile at least.

Bill from Saginaw

Forward this article to all the McCain voters you know. Go ahead, make my day!

And check out: Pinch Me ...a message from Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=240

The point has been made repeatedly that Obama himself is not the change that needs to occur. He represents the the majority saying that the idea of change is so important that we will work for it. He makes it possible - we put him there, and it will require constant and tireless attention, creativity and alliance building.

Time to roll up the sleeves.

I wouldn't worry too much about the McCain voters, many of whom got rich at the expense of everyone else during the Clinton/Bush years.

Lobo Gris

LeeAnnG
Some people just can't be optimistic about anything. Now that the Bush cabal is on its way out, they absolutely have to find not just something, but lots of things to carp about.

No, Obama is not the solution to all our ills - even if he were super human, the damage is unfathomable. Yes, he is too centrist for my views. But no black progressive was going to be president. No white, purple, green or polka-dotted progressive was going to be president. It was just not going to happen. And anyone who believes that Democrats and Republicans are the same should just try to imagine what the world would be like now if the election had not been stolen from Gore. No invasion or occupation of Iraq, no squelching of scientific thought, no denial of global warming, no Scalia or Alito on the Supreme Court. No torture memos, Guantanamo, international scorn, or embarrassment every time the US president opens his mouth. No executive privilege or secret energy meetings or multiple signing statements.

I realize that big business is still too powerful and likely to remain so under an Obama presidency. The occupaton of Iraq may continue longer than we like. Wiretapping and invasive surveillance may continue. And these issues are all unfortunate at best. However, the citizens of the United States have shown that they still have a voice. I know I am not the only person to whom it occurred that Bush and his cronies were capable of inventing a crisis allowing them to cancel the election. The power of the neocons became so far-reaching and overwhelming, sometimes it seemed like the entire experiment in democracy was at an end. But the era of Republican rule is waning instead.

It's far, far better for this country to move in a positive direction with an intelligent, moderate, deliberate, thinking president who actually was able to be elected than it would be for a true progressive, liberal, or leftist (whichever nitpicking distinctions some like to insist upon) to run and lose to McCain and Palin.

There is work to be done, but I, for one, am thrilled that the entrenched imperialists have been routed. It's like in a marriage - no woman will ever find a perfect man, and if one is found, he is likely to be looking for a pefect woman. And vice versa. We will never have a perfect presidential candidate, and if we ever got one, he or she just might be looking for a perfect constituency. No matter what the "America first" folks think, that ain't us!

So maybe, for just one short period of time, we could, as a nation, rejoice in the incredible, historic election of a man of mixed race as President of the United States. We can breath a sigh of relief that we still do have the right to vote, that the ugliness and vicious smears of the recent campaign were held up to the light and rejected, that we can realistically hope for an end to religious loopiness in our government, and that we can (at the very, very least) not cringe when our president gets up to make a speech.

Most of the Mccain voters were die-hard Republicans who would not even consider anyone else's view point. Mccain used to be a moderated conservative until Karl Rove was able to get Bush to successfully drub Mccain in 2000 back in the 2000 GOP primaries for president. So far, it looks like Obama won the popular vote 53-46 %. When it comes to voting, there will usually be a guarenteed 30% for Dems and a 30% for Republicans and 40% undecided or even other. So if 46% voted Mccain and 30% were die-hard GOP regardless, then that leaves 16% of those who voted or to put it precisely 33% of those who voted for Mccain. Feel free to correct me on this.

As a recovering conservative, I can tell you that the voters who have been conditioned to be die-hard Republicans aren't going to take this article seriously as it will be like teaching pigs to sing. However, there are a lot more recovering conservatives out there as the election results have shown. 53% and for an African American is no small number.

Terrance Mitchell
Redfield, South Dakota

Good article, and it would be nice to believe that disappointed McCain voters will take it to heart. But let's not let our relief and newfound optimism minimize conservatives' ever-present malice and their capacity to create mischief in what is certain to be a campaign to hamstring and cripple the Obama era before the new president can even begin to fulfil some of his promises. As evidence, I offer this, lifted off well-known conservative blog Townhall.com:

"So here is the mission statement from the Leader of the Conservative Resistance Movement, District 1, Virginia.
"1. Continue to cause hate and discontent within the Democrat Party.
"2. Whenever president Hussein missteps, to stick out a foot to trip him up more.
"3. Whenever president Hussein puts out a hand for help, deny it.
"4. Whenever president Hussein stumbles, to shove him from behind.
"5. Whenever president Hussein trips, to assist in yanking the rug out from under him.
"6. Whenever president Hussein falls, to kick him when he's down.
"7. Whenever bad news hits, to hype it up, promulgate it, publish it, and push it out to the American people.
"8. To spread rumors, disinformation, lies, scandals about liberals, whenever and wherever possible.
"9. To sow the seeds of pain and suffering within the Democrat Party.
"10. To remain staunchly partisan and to do NOTHING WHATSOEVER to assist liberals in any way, shape, or form."

So . . . be hopeful my friends, but vigilant. Very fucking vigilant.

-Richard

I have hope and faith in the American people to actually hold President-elect Obama to his promise to have an open and honest government. We all must be vigilant against the big money guys that will try to get him to govern like a money man instead of a man of the people and of principle.

Rahm Israel Emmanuel is going to be chief of staff.
that's change you can believe in.

I am not being cynical.

Sarcasm may not be the best way to promote constructive dialog. Why is there a great chasm between the "thinkers" and us drudges that daily do the heavy lifting?

Why would they admit being wrong about Obama when they can’t admit being wrong about everything else they believe?

John McCain is already forgotten. The pirhanas are swimming full speed ahead upstream, rapidly shedding brain cells along the way and eating each other so that in 2012 only the most stupid and brutal will be left to try and devour the donkey down to his bones.

I hope you're right but you're reading a lot of tea leaves. There is little basis to believe Obama is anywhere near as committed to open, transparent government as you portray here. (Unless you see a different meaning in things like, oh, say, his FISA/Immunity flop.) Again, I hope - desparately - you're right.

What a bunch of condecending clap trap. This kind of elitist arrogance is the very thing that will defeat us. Attitudes shine through.

Many of the points were OK, but the way it was presented, must have trained under some neocon.

This article, as harmless and hopeful as it may be. Is going to be destroyed by Cynics in the next few hours.

I understand the point your making Matt. But I am just warning you. Progressives are going to be angry about ever line in the third paragraph. And they are probably going to let you have it about how Obama will do, nor can do any of those things. And how he is another corporate sheep, etc......

I sit on neither side but more in the middle where I hope that Obama can do atleast a few good things and they work. So every 4 years we can inch a little more in the right direction.

So Cheers Matt.

It would be nice if McCain voters actually read this.

To those that do read it, I say, "Let's work with mutual effort in cooperation, communication and compromise. We are in this together."

That is far more than the Bush administration ever offered the opposition.

And to those who would never read anything like this, all I have to say is, "Get over it. At least this election wasn't stolen."

http://davedubya.com