How Different This Is

by dday

There is the obvious, of course, and that’s a big deal. Senior citizens who were the sons and daughters of slaves are going to the polls today to vote for the son of a Kenyan for President of the United States. It’s extremely unique, and anomalous for the world. In fact, the US is the most likely place for this to happen. Europe has never had an ethnic minority lead one of their countries (Nicolas Sarkozy is the son of Hungarian immigrants, but that’s not really what we’re talking about), and immigrants are simply not assimilated into the society in the same way. It sounds weird to say it, but this is a uniquely American event.

But believe it or not, I think Adam Nagourney gets this largely right – while the phrase “change politics as we know it” gets thrown around a lot, this election truly has.

It has rewritten the rules on how to reach voters, raise money, organize supporters, manage the news media, track and mold public opinion, and wage — and withstand — political attacks, including many carried by blogs that did not exist four years ago. It has challenged the consensus view of the American electoral battleground, suggesting that Democrats can at a minimum be competitive in states and regions that had long been Republican strongholds.

The size and makeup of the electorate could be changed because of efforts by Democrats to register and turn out new black, Hispanic and young voters. This shift may have long-lasting ramifications for what the parties do to build enduring coalitions, especially if intensive and technologically-driven voter turnout programs succeed in getting more people to the polls. Mr. McCain’s advisers expect a record-shattering turnout of 130 million people, many being brought into the political process for the first time.

“I think we’ll be analyzing this election for years as a seminal, transformative race,” said Mark McKinnon, a senior adviser to President Bush’s campaigns in 2000 and 2004. “The year campaigns leveraged the Internet in ways never imagined. The year we went to warp speed. The year the paradigm got turned upside down and truly became bottom up instead of top down.”

And regardless of whether that is good for Democrats or Republicans (right now, it’s Democrats, but that could change), it’s good for the country. Political engagement is good for America. It’s going to be sorely needed as we meet these enormous challenges, the fallout of the Age of Bush.

What was most different is that, despite the smear campaigns and the attacks, this was quite a substantive election. It was waged on ideological grounds, and while a lot of important issues hardly ever got raised, the core philosophies of conservatives and liberals was fully on display. And so the outcome ought to produce a bigger mandate than in the past. Obama made the argument, and so did McCain. Now the winner can act on it. And hopefully, we will see a citizenry as engaged about governing as they were about the horse race. That is the great challenge for the next President, because only people power will be able to overcome the special interests and the guardians of the status quo.

So go vote. But then on November 5, the work begins.

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