So through that unripe election you will bear your head (And yet, I fear it will taste bitter)*

It is of course no secret that I am suspicious of Barack Obama; throughout the primaries as well as the general election I considered his platform of ‘change’ to be an empty signifier with which he was able to suture together a coalition of relatively obedient citizens who were disillusioned with the state of the American union. Unfortunately, this tactic has the disadvantage of possibly leaving large groups disgruntled once they realize that their concerns are not Obama’s concerns: they saw in Obama what they wanted to see, and he encouraged this illusion through vague rhetoric.

Though Obama’s positions did become increasingly tangible as the election unfolded, many of his more interesting policy proposals were usurped from Hillary Clinton’s playbook; thus, while I agree with some of Obama’s schemes, it is only because he parroted the politician who I initially favored. Regardless, at this point such issues must be tabled: Obama has won; he has led the democrats to victory not only in the executive branch but also in congress. There is great potential here for a radical rebirth between state and society. This post will address that potentiality. This post will not, however, deal with the aforementioned issue of Marxism and McCain – as that that particular theoretical issue was only posited for theoretical interest. This is a time for practice.

And now the day encroaches when which the great Obama will actually have to live up to the expectations many of you have placed in him: the empty vessel has been filled with your hopes and dreams; whether he actualizes them is now a matter of choice on the part of both Obama and the democratic congress. Unfortunately, the democratic party has a (recent) history of getting little done, while the republican party has a certain knack for obstructionist positioning. Thus my concern: the democrats have 1) woven together a tapestry of problematic policy positions which will be highly difficult to implement given the financial and foreign crises inherited from inept republican rule; 2) have yet to demonstrate the will to engage in necessary deficit spending, which will be crucial for rebuilding our physical and social infrastructure; 3) will doubtfully maintain coherent party unity in the face of highly contentious and difficult policy challenges. Republicans, however, have previously demonstrated their capacity to coalesce around a nexus of core, substantive issues. Thus, if the democrats do not fully and succinctly dominate in the next four years, this particular ideological pendulum will – in all probability – swing back to the right with the quickness.

So there’s my brief prediction: Obama will now bear his head, but I for one am not sure what that head will be. Will it be the one we’ve seen for the past 8 years – the one that did little except continue to run for higher and higher office while offering little in the way of policy initiatives? Or will it be the one that – sponge-like – absorbed the concerns of millions of angry American citizens and now has the opportunity to legitimate those concerns through the mandate he has now cobbled together?

Let us all hope it is the latter. Let us all hope this is the beginning of a great political re-alignment for the United States. I fear bitter times are ahead, but I hope instead it will be ‘his severed image that grows sweeter’.

*a nod to Phillip Larkin’s poem by similar title