A subsidiary theme within the flood of commentary on the Obama victory is the fate of the Republican Party. In an article on Monday entitled "The Republican Rump," Paul Krugman suggested that "the Republican rump, the party that's left after the election, will be the party that attends Sarah Palin's rallies, where crowds chant "Vote McCain, not Hussein!" It will be the party of Saxby Chambliss, the senator from Georgia, who, observing large-scale early voting by African-Americans, warns his supporters that "the other folks are voting." It will be the party that harbors menacing fantasies about Barack Obama's Marxist -- or was that Islamic? -- roots."

Let's hope it doesn't play out that way.

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As an American and a citizen of the world, I was thrilled by Barack Obama's victory in yesterday's election. But even as we savor his historic victory (our historic victory), it's not too soon to start thinking about how to transform the inspiration of the moment into the new policies we desperately need. This was a key theme of Obama's speech last night, and it's worth taking him up on it by beginning a thoughtful conversation about the future of the country.

In the area that I specialize in -- foreign policy -- change is hard. Disentangling from Iraq, finding a more practical course in Afghanistan, crafting coordinated international approaches to curbing climate change and reviving the global economy, making good on Obama's pledge to seek a world free of nuclear weapons -- these challenges will not be resolved in a day, a month, a year, or, in some cases, a decade or more. But we have a chance to get started in the right direction for the first time in this century -- if we can get beyond the politics of immediate gratification.

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As an American and a citizen of the world, I was thrilled by Barack Obama's victory in yesterday's election. But even as we savor his historic victory (our historic victory), it's not too soon to start thinking about how to transform the inspiration of the moment into the new policies we desperately need.  This was a key theme of Obama's speech last night, and it's worth taking him up on it by beginning a thoughtful conversation about the future of the country.

In the area that I specialize in -- foreign policy -- change is hard. Disentangling from Iraq, finding a more practical course in Afghanistan, crafting coordinated international approaches to curbing climate change and reviving the global economy, making good on Obama's pledge to seek a world free of nuclear weapons -- these challenges will not be resolved in a day, a month, a year, or, in some cases, a decade or more. But we have a chance to get started in the right direction for the first time in this century -- if we can get beyond the politics of immediate gratification. 

Read more »