Thursday, November 6, 2008

On Tuesday, America made history with the election of its next president, Barack Obama.

In this space today, GazetteNET features nine short essays solicited from area academics. They were asked to share thoughts on Obama's historic run to the White House.

Professors wrote about rejoicing at Obama's selection, how he was able to achieve the highest position in the U.S., the historic significance of his presidency and what challenges lie ahead.

Our contributors are Preston H. Smith II, Douglas J. Amy and Lena K. Zuckerwise of Mount Holyoke College, Jane Fountain, Peter M. Haas and Robert Paul Wolff of the University of Massachusetts, John A. Loughney of Westfield State College, Thomas L. Dumm of Amherst College and Ralph J. Hexter of Hampshire College.

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Will Barack Obama be nation's next Roosevelt?

SOUTH HADLEY - This election is historic since Barack Obama is the first black man to be elected president of the United States. But what does this mean?

Hopefully, it will represent a significant piece of evidence that black people can be as competent as white folks when it comes to managing the affairs of the country. But now the hard part of governing begins.

With a landslide victory, and large Democratic majorities in both the Senate and the House, there is no reason President-elect Obama cannot institute his program.

What will his program look like when he governs? We'll see. But there is a reason why the business press, including the Wall Street Journal and The Economist, endorsed him. After eight years of the Bush administration's cronyism and incompetence, U.S. power in the world is receding and the citizenry is angry and restive at a time of economic and political crisis. What better way to regain goodwill abroad and restore legitimacy at home than to support a charismatic and cosmopolitan political leader?

The economic crisis may give Obama the room to institute a public works program like FDR's New Deal that helps the working poor while rehabilitating our crumbling infrastructure. Unlike the 1930s, however, there is no organized protest led by the left to force such a governmental response. Having already been largely absorbed by Obama's campaign, the left will have little recourse if President Obama responds more to the investor class than to the vast majority of working people.

- Preston H. Smith II is a professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College.

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Signs of possible shift in acceptance of government

SOUTH HADLEY - Barack Obama's victory certainly marks a watershed moment in American race relations. But it has other important political implications that we should not overlook. For one thing, it means that Americans are now feeling more positive and hopeful about the role that government can play in society.

John McCain ran a campaign where he was constantly criticizing Washington and calling for lower taxes and a smaller government- the same virulently anti-government message that twice helped to elect George W. Bush.

But this time that tactic did not work. More Americans have begun to realize that government social programs and regulatory efforts play a critical role in our society. And they responded to Obama's call for government to take the lead in providing universal health care, a better education system, and increased investment in public infrastructure and alternative energy.

Hopefully, Obama's win - along with the decisive defeat of the ill-conceived attempt to abolish this state's income taxes - means that "tax phobia" is on the wane. This time we have elected a politician who doesn't think his main responsibility is to cut taxes, but that it is to solve the pressing social and economic problems we have as a nation.

We cannot address those problems without a strong and well-funded public sector. Taxing and spending are not inherently bad - they are one of the main ways that we act communally to make the world a better place.

- Douglas J. Amy is a professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College. He is also author of the Web site, www.governmentisgood.com.

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Networking technology clearly aided Obama win

AMHERST - What would the results of this campaign have been if there had been no Internet?

It is difficult to imagine how a Barack Obama could have become known to so many so quickly without the Internet.

It is difficult to explain the extraordinary reach of the campaign into historically Republican strongholds without the neighborhood and individual level data provided to an army of volunteers.

Obama's truly stunning "ground game" never could have moved with such fluidity and pinpoint precision without an array of social networking tools and formidable data on voters and those who were to become voters. Online political fundraising became part of the precision machine.

Chris Hughes, 24, one of the founders of Facebook, moved from his company to the Obama campaign in 2007 to build its online organization. The affinity between the technologies of social networking and the humanity of community organizing is striking. As Mark Stelter wrote of the campaign for the Herald Tribune: "The Internet served as the connective tissue." And we now know how to get out the youth vote. First, find a great candidate. Second, text kids constantly on their ubiquitous mobile devices.

- Jane Fountain is director of the National Center for Digital Government (ncdg.org), the Science, Technology and Society Initiative (www.umass.edu/sts) and professor of political science and public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of "Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change."

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Nothing in American politics is inevitable

SOUTH HADLEY - As I sit here only minutes after CNN declared that Barack Obama (is) the projected winner of the 2008 presidential election, all that comes to mind are clichéd one-liners that, at the moment, feel absolutely true.

The world has changed forever; hope triumphed over fear; and yes, something I never imagined I would think: I am proud of this country. Ardent displays of patriotism always seem to me suspiciously naïve at best and neo-fascist at worst, yet not right now. And this is not because the progressives have won, but because of what Obama's victory articulates about the world of which the United States is included.

I am inclined to flip one line of his victory address: "change has come to America." Not so. America itself has changed # from 1876 to 1954 to 2000 to 2008. And within this reality is something that even the most cynical among us cannot help but embrace, for these changes are the very sites of possibilities and potential that are not psychological, market-driven, ideological or spiritual, but completely political in nature.

At the tail end of one of the most dark and shameful periods in recent history, one cannot help but feel overwhelmed at the obvious and yet transformative point: nothing in politics is ever inevitable.

- Lena K. Zuckerwise is a visiting instructor in politics at Mount Holyoke College.

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Obama will take reins of a deeply troubled nation

WESTFIELD - If this was one of the most important elections in a generation, some issues for the new Obama-Biden administration are not soon going away in the U.S. and world:

 · Two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, that are not ending as well as many in the U.S. once expected.

 · An economic crisis that threatens retirement planning and home equity in ways that scare many; health-care expenses overrunning families' ability to pay; rising higher education costs, (all of which are) resulting in more of those costs heavily falling on more families.

 · Concerns that the "mortgage crisis" may derail the American dream of expanding home ownership for most U.S. families.

 · A bizarre political campaign culture of deliberate deceptions and hateful overstatement.

 · Issues of the misuse of "homeland security" as a way of undermining fundamental U.S. liberties, while undercutting our traditional and hard-earned image as leader for the world in the advancing of democratic values and practices.

 · Expanding concern that some governmental processes in (the) U.S. are deeply flawed: electoral procedures and trust in our elections; runaway secrecy in government; a transfer of power from elected leaders to bureaucratic officials about topics like taxes, secrecy, and security.

 · Eroding confidence in our professions: law, medicine, higher education, the ministry, the military, and politicians, among others.

 · Accelerating fears that the transfer of manufacturing to other nations is a serious error preventing traditional economic stability for the U.S.

While each era assumes its special status, even such a partial list shows real worries about basics.

- John A. Loughney is a professor of political philosophy at Westfield State College

Needed: Sense of history, plus deep well of patience

AMHERST - Barack Obama's victory is a monumental historical event. The immediate afterglow of the first African-American to be elected to the presidency is apparent all around us, from the smiles on the faces of everyone on the streets of Amherst and Northampton to the remarkably powerful and positive response from around the world, like a collective sigh of relief.

That said, the post-election euphoria might obscure a fundamental and intractable fact: it took the onset of a depression to elect a Democrat president. Despite the "ruined brand" of the GOP, and despite the deep unpopularity of the incumbent, until October this was an extraordinarily tight race, tighter than most expected, even though in the end the election just about fulfilled the predictions of political scientists made early in the summer.

I note this fact because there is already talk about the possibility of this election signaling a political realignment, one akin to the election of FDR in 1932, which ushered in 40 years of Democratic party dominance. Obama and the Democratic majority have a limited time to begin the process of cleaning up the mess. Given the rapidity of the modern news cycle, the intensity of political partisanship and the depth of our troubles on the economic front, the key question going forward will be whether the American people will be patient enough to enable the sorts of policy solutions that are needed, whatever they may be, to take hold.

- Thomas L. Dumm is a professor of political science at Amherst College.

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Obama brings needed global, cultural view

AMHERST - Obama's victory is inspiring on so many fronts and not merely because he is our first president of color.

Obama won through determination and hard work, resolve and smarts. He took the high road and eschewed the tactics of smear and fear.

Many will comment on Barack Obama's biracial heritage, and even as his presidency will mark a new stage in our nation's history so often besmirched by racist hate, there will be much to do to achieve racial and social justice for all.

I'm also fascinated by another aspect of Obama's story, for his is also the new face of immigration and global migration: son of a man from Kenya who returned to his home country, Obama himself lived for a time outside the United States. He brings to the Oval Office a truly international perspective, and goodness knows we will need such a vision in the future.

- Ralph J. Hexter is the president of Hampshire College.

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Morning after, a sense of occupying a new world

AMHERST - In the romantic film "Shakespeare In Love," after her first night of love with the young playwright, Gwyneth Paltrow is awakened by her servant, who says, "My lady, it is a new day." Her face glowing, Paltrow replies, "It is a new world." Indeed! It is our new world, and we must all now make of it what we can.

- Robert Paul Wolff is a professor emeritus of philosophy and Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts.

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Obama and international environmental threats

AMHERST - Barack Obama's election promises much needed leadership for international environmental protection.

At his acceptance speech he referred in passing to a "planet in peril."

He made campaign promises to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050 and to invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in promoting alternative energy. He co-authored implementing legislation for an international treaty regulating persistent organic pollutants. He has indicated he will ratify the law of the sea treaty.

More generally he appears willing to rely on multilateral approaches to dealing with shared problems. His respect from the rest of the world will restore goodwill and offset the growing reputation the U.S. has abroad as an environmental rogue.

Environmental policymaking is more likely to be based on impartial science than in the past administration.

Several early indicators may provide further insight into the extent to which he will meaningfully commit to global environmental leadership. Key administrative appointments include the science and technology advisor, the undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency Office of International Affairs and the assistant secretary of state to run the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Scientific Affairs

He may also create a new interagency environmental task force on international environmental affairs and consolidate energy policy under an energy czar.

Signs of reoriented U.S. policies may be unveiled before he assumes office: at the next round of climate change negotiations in Poznan, Poland, Dec. 1-12, and at United Nations General Assembly discussion about institutional reform to improve sustainable development and environmental protection.

It remains to be seen whether climate change will crowd out other international environmental issues from the agenda, such as global ecosystems protection, and ocean governance.

His international environmental efforts will have to proceed under the shadow of real political constraints. The majority of national political concern and attention remains focused on economic issues: the recession and cleaning up from the financial meltdown.

- Peter M. Haas is a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts.