Tuesday, January 20, 2009
8 Years
Has it really been that long?
The 2000 election was the first in which I voted for president. That evening, I was late to my friends' election party, but when I called ahead it seemed like Gore had a lock. "Gore won Florida," they told me. The Democrats would have it in a walk. Several hours later, I wandered back to my dorm around midnight, amazed that Florida had been batted back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans like some sort of political ping-pong ball that ultimately sat, oh so precariously, on the edge of the net. Just a puff of wind either way would make all the difference.
Now eight years later, I have left college and gone out into the world. In the meanwhile, two towers have fallen and two wars have begun. America united the world (briefly) and then squandered its position through a foreign policy that, however well-intentioned, alienated our allies and invigorated our enemies. The Cold War with all of its James Bond intrigue was supplanted, replaced by the War on Terror, complete with its own archetypal figure: Jack Bauer. New place names entered American public consciousness: Fallujah, Kandahar, Guantanamo Bay...all part of our new national geography. And science and technology blossomed even as the spirit of intellectual debate further succumbed to the culture wars.
And at the head of this all? An Ivy-League history major. Someone like one of the Old Ivy students I am currently teaching or, heaven help us, yours truly. A man who, despite proudly announcing that "Reading is the basics for all learning" and stating flatly that no child would be left behind mangled both the English language and America's education system in an unprecedented fashion.
These have been eight great years for political pundits, satirists, and social networkers. It is, in fact, entirely possible that the blogosphere, of which this website is a part, would not have grown as quickly in the absence of such a controversial administration...though given how sharply divided the 2000 and 2004 elections, one could argue that any president would have triggered debate. But I would be hard-pressed to think of a more divisive figure in national politics in recent history than the current (for the next three hours or so) resident of the White House.
But eight years later, it looks like change is on the horizon. The old question posed by my 11th grade history teacher, whether a woman or an African-American would be elected president first has been answered, and before my ten year high school reunion. And maybe it's because the only black presidents up to this point have been fictional or maybe it's because of how much things have changed, for good or ill, during these past eight years, but I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around today's inauguration. Many of my friends are traveling to Washington today to watch the ceremonies in person. I'm not sure if being there in person would change my perceptions of this moment, but I am certain that whether one watches the ceremonies on a Jumbotron situated on the National Mall, a plasma TV in a London pub, or via a live stream over the Internet, we will be bearing witness to an undeniably crucial moment in American history.
I can only hope that the sense of optimism that our new president successfully cultivated over the past year of campaigning can last. I can only hope that under the new administration, America will be able to reclaim its leadership role and its moral authority on the international stage. And I can only hope that eight years from now, we do not look back and ask ourselves "How the hell did we get here?"
Has it really been that long?
The 2000 election was the first in which I voted for president. That evening, I was late to my friends' election party, but when I called ahead it seemed like Gore had a lock. "Gore won Florida," they told me. The Democrats would have it in a walk. Several hours later, I wandered back to my dorm around midnight, amazed that Florida had been batted back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans like some sort of political ping-pong ball that ultimately sat, oh so precariously, on the edge of the net. Just a puff of wind either way would make all the difference.
Now eight years later, I have left college and gone out into the world. In the meanwhile, two towers have fallen and two wars have begun. America united the world (briefly) and then squandered its position through a foreign policy that, however well-intentioned, alienated our allies and invigorated our enemies. The Cold War with all of its James Bond intrigue was supplanted, replaced by the War on Terror, complete with its own archetypal figure: Jack Bauer. New place names entered American public consciousness: Fallujah, Kandahar, Guantanamo Bay...all part of our new national geography. And science and technology blossomed even as the spirit of intellectual debate further succumbed to the culture wars.
And at the head of this all? An Ivy-League history major. Someone like one of the Old Ivy students I am currently teaching or, heaven help us, yours truly. A man who, despite proudly announcing that "Reading is the basics for all learning" and stating flatly that no child would be left behind mangled both the English language and America's education system in an unprecedented fashion.
These have been eight great years for political pundits, satirists, and social networkers. It is, in fact, entirely possible that the blogosphere, of which this website is a part, would not have grown as quickly in the absence of such a controversial administration...though given how sharply divided the 2000 and 2004 elections, one could argue that any president would have triggered debate. But I would be hard-pressed to think of a more divisive figure in national politics in recent history than the current (for the next three hours or so) resident of the White House.
But eight years later, it looks like change is on the horizon. The old question posed by my 11th grade history teacher, whether a woman or an African-American would be elected president first has been answered, and before my ten year high school reunion. And maybe it's because the only black presidents up to this point have been fictional or maybe it's because of how much things have changed, for good or ill, during these past eight years, but I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around today's inauguration. Many of my friends are traveling to Washington today to watch the ceremonies in person. I'm not sure if being there in person would change my perceptions of this moment, but I am certain that whether one watches the ceremonies on a Jumbotron situated on the National Mall, a plasma TV in a London pub, or via a live stream over the Internet, we will be bearing witness to an undeniably crucial moment in American history.
I can only hope that the sense of optimism that our new president successfully cultivated over the past year of campaigning can last. I can only hope that under the new administration, America will be able to reclaim its leadership role and its moral authority on the international stage. And I can only hope that eight years from now, we do not look back and ask ourselves "How the hell did we get here?"
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