Thanks for pointing this out, I have been feeling similarly ever since last night.

To my mind the really big deal of this election is not that we elected our first African American, an historic event no doubt, but that for the first time in many years we elected a politician who decided to run on the issues and not cheap gimmicks, and actually won.

...choosing an obviously black man...

Not the most felicitous phraseology, but I know what you mean.

Well put. I too was incensed last night at McCain's opening remarks, which did indeed seem to frame the election as an accomplishment related to race alone rather than the ability of a majority of the electorate (and as you point out, especially the younger members) to distinguish between the politics of division and that of inclusion. Thankfully, voters are more subtle and nuanced than McCain.

I think this post just about says it all -- in four spare and nimble paragraphs. Many thanks.

Most of the 46% who voted for John McCain feel deeply anxious about a world in transition, where erudition, open-mindedness and intellectual discipline matter more and more, and their own sheer willingness to labor hard matters less and less. I bet they are more skittish about Obama's supremely elegant mind, his worldliness, than his dark skin; more drawn to the repudiation of "elitism" than to the rejection of "welfare."

How do you know all this?

How do you know what "most of the 46 percent" think?

Did you interview them?

Why should we have any confidence in your prediction about what all these millions of people are thinking -- people you admit you have never spoken to and have never interviewed?

Keep up the good work.

Mmmm. Just because the US can slap itself on its communal back for finally electing a racial minority (although he is white as well as black) to the presidency is not the same as saying there was no racism apparent either in the campaigning or among many voting individuals who openly admitted it, and the assumed more who would not admit it (there is research).

And whether you want to call it racism or resentment, those who could not ally with Obama but fled to McCain after Clinton's defeat can hardly claim it was because McCain's policies were closer.

Though I hope this historic event will improve their plight, there are still many among the US minorities who are judged daily by the color of their skin and not by the content of their character, resulting in a poorer and, often, unhealthier, unhappier life.

So keep a grip on reality and let's see if we can ALL get there.

I am sincerely moved today that America has finally elected ... a college professor. Seriously. As a former college professor myself, this is something I thought I might never live to see. Who was the last one? Woodrow Wilson? I tended to assume that the US culture of anti-intellectualism and hatred of academics was so deeply entrenched that we might never get past that particular form of bigotry.

But now? America: what a country! It's a place where even educated people can dream of becoming president!

I always liked Obama because I thought he was a great guy, and dared to hope that America was still a country where class, intelligence and respect for reason and analysis could still get a seat at the table, and might even sometimes get the seat at the head of the table. The racial dimension didn't play a huge role for me, except to the extent that I recognized that it would have a powerful positive effect on how Obama, and the United States, is viewed around the world.

But I will say that I was powerfully moved, and even taken aback a bit, by one of the scenes that was broadcast yesterday from Howard University. It was a scene of untamed ecstasy. They interviewed a young man who said "This shows we can do anything, and be whatever we want!"

"It is about our choosing an obviously brilliant, reciprocal man over a thick, cynical one"

brilliantly put

It stuns me that you compare electing a black President to following a black golfer or talk show host.

Don't kid yourself that this was about Obama's "brilliance" over McCain's "thickness". It's doubtful any Republican could have won against any Democrat this year, brilliant, thick or otherwise.

This election was about washing the taste of George W. Bush and his enablers out of our country's mouth. Doing it with our first black President and addressing so many racial ills of our past is a huge bonus well-worth savoring.

I do think for a segment of the population, it WAS about electing a black person. I live in a very mixed race and mixed income neighborhood in Northeast Florida. In talking to my black neighbors (and I mean no disparagement, one is free to be informed or not informed and then vote or not vote), it was very, very clear that some were voting for him solely because of race; some made it very clear that they wouldn't even be voting if a black man had not been nominated.
That said, I totally couldn't give less of a shit why they voted, just that they did.

Exactly. I think it's different for African Americans (or maybe it's not; what would I know?) but my first thought when he won the presidency was not about the historic moment of electing a black president. I thought, "Yay, the adults are going to be in charge again!" After 8 years of ideological extremism and thickheaded whateverism, a man who thinks and isn't afraid to let people know it is going to be such a refreshing change.

This tells me how far we've drifted: That I'm excited we've elected an intelligent man. Not a black man, not a white man, but a man who thinks and who wants to know more and who won't just make up his mind based on preconceived notions and ideological resentments. What a relief. We can solve our problems by thinking again. After 8 years of Constitutional abuse and incurious drift, we're going to have a leader who thinks again. That thought, not thoughts about race, is what brings tears to my eyes.

You touch on a complex issue. I know the first people I thought of after Obama's win was announced were Martin Luther King and those who gave everything for greater equality and justice. How could anyone not overflow to see hard evidence that the fruit of those sacrifices has no limits. Not once did I even consider that Obama won due to anything other than merit on steroids.

But I don't feel relived yet. Obama exudes a vibrant decency I think American's long to see more of in what has become a dismal government that no longer resembles its exceptional promise. But I believe other factors--especially dedicated and sustained participation by Americans--will have much to do with whether the Obama presidency is able to fulfill its highest potential.

I don't believe Obama's battle has been mostly about race, though I think many tried in vain to make it so. He and most Americans casually brushed the baiters off like flies. I do believe he had a harder battle than McCain and his primary contenders because he ran on a platform of change and some status quo lovers were uncertain of how compliant he would be once in office.

My relief will come when we give him the help and support he needs to fulfill his huge potential to one day take his place beside the greatest leaders in our history. My relief will come when we hold his feet to the fire to support and to ensure he fulfills his potential for greatness. My relief will come when we help him push back against those who will want to dim his bright light and replace the people's agenda with their own. My relief will come when I can say President Obama went a long way toward restoring decency to the American government...he helped us to help him do what was in the best interest of all Americans and the world at large. My relief will come when he steers this country back on the track laid down by the founders.

Until then, I cant say I'm relieved, beyond knowing that Americans finally showed some common sense and picked the person with the most potential, intelligence and heart for the difficult job of president.

I see this as the first step of a long journey that no rational or honest person would dare pretend to know for certain where it will lead.

Oh please, just relax. An African American was just elected president of the United States. That's big news, monumental news in fact. It doesn't meant that he would have been elected were he not a man deonstrated superior judgment, intellect, contagious passion, and an uncanny ability to bring people together. Stop with the political correctedness doctrainaire mishigash. This is a huge day for race relations in this country. We have crossed one more formerly inpenetrable bar.

FWIW, this humble poster has been writing for weeks that the election of now President-Elect Obama would not mean that the scourge of racism, that nagging inequality of opportunity between the races, would miraculously disappear. Of course, we must not lose sight of this national tragedy. But that doesn't change the fact that the election of Barack Obama is a really big step in the five centuries old saga of racial discrimanation in this country. So take your shoes off and chill dude.

I do not mean to diminish an historic first... but...

And I do not mean to be racist, but...

I appreciate the pragmatism in this piece by Avishai. I understand the sentiment that, while it's great we finally got around to electing a minority to high office, there are much larger immediate issues at stake, and there were countless better reasons to vote Obama into the White House than anything to do with the color of his skin. I do appreciate that.

But, look. There will be plenty of time for such pragmatism.

Quite frankly, the "well it's about time" attitude, and the notion that if Cosby and Oprah and Tiger can win popularity contests, it only stands to reason that, ho hum, we're bound to elect a black president one of these days too, are a deep and profound insult to the moment at hand.

Fifty years from now, a hundred years from now, there will have been many mundane details already filled in. But what will stand out, what our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, will highlight in their history lessons and commit to memory, is what happened yesterday.

I'm white and privileged, born and raised in a comfortable middle-class suburban setting. But I do know a little about the historical weight of this moment in the story of America. I have not borne its often iniquitous burdens and legacies. But I do know enough of it to know that this moment in that story is nothing to be diminished, for any reason.

Witness the streaming tears of ecstatic disbelief, the joyous celebrations all across the country. The last eight years notwithstanding, this is not the stuff of presidential election results. This is something different. This is something momentous, in a much broader scheme of things than whatever the next presidential term or two will bear witness to.

Yes, of course it was bound to happen sooner or later. But it happened now. Right now. We should not make haste to lose sight of this moment and what it means.

With Obama's election, I was infected with a pleasant feeling because of what this does for black people.

With all the shit they have been forced to live with all their lives, they deserve this and I'm happy for them.

Madison believed that we should have separation of church and state throughout the land, federal and local. There was a fascinating moment during the congressional debate over what became the First Amendment. How could the beloved First Amendment be harmful to religion? Huntington feared that it would overturn or interfere with Connecticut’s approach, which was to have state-supported religion.
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