Hey Barack, Don't Forget: "You Gotta Dance With Them What Brung Ya"

By Don Hazen, AlterNet. Posted November 11, 2008.

Barack Obama was elected by a broad constituency, more diverse and less white than any in American history, and arguably the most progressive. A new majority, sure to grow in the future, has emerged in this election, as minority voters registered and turned out for Obama in record numbers. Ninety-five percent of African-American voters supported him; younger voters became more engaged in politics and voted decisively on behalf of the new president; union members and gays voted for Obama in high numbers; and the single-women vote, which included a huge share of minority women, came down overwhelmingly for the new president at the rate of 70 percent 29 percent -- compared with married women, who went for McCain 50 percent to 47 percent, creating a huge, record-breaking "marriage gap" of 44 points among women.

Furthermore, the decisive Obama victory should put to rest the enduring myth, perpetrated by innumerable media pundits, that the United States is a conservative country. Poll after poll, as well as long-term research, underscores that on every issue, the electorate is far more progressive -- and getting more progressive all the time -- than what people have experienced over the past eight Bush years, and even during the Clinton administration.

If the Obama administration is going to be in tune with its voters, there will need to be massive policy changes in every aspect of government. The power of lobbyists, corporations and overrepresented constituencies, like gun owners, senior citizens, white males, married women and the wealthy, are by necessity going to need to cede ground to a more populist rainbow confection that is the Obama coalition.

On the other hand, the pressure of the multiple international and national crises Obama faces is motivating him to staff up as quickly as is feasible. This, combined with his penchant for smart, savvy, experienced insiders, is leading Obama to bring in a host of Clinton administration operatives into his administration, with many more on the queue. This early trend is so obvious that it led New York Times writer Peter Baker to observe that Obama "faces the challenge of building an administration that does not look like a third term for former president Bill Clinton. ... Obama reached deep into the Clinton fold ... naming John Podesta, a former Clinton chief of staff, to lead his transition team. He has asked another former Clinton aide, Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, to be his own chief of staff and is said to be choosing between two former Clinton veterans to be his National Security adviser."

Molly Ivins, the late and revered populist Texas journalist and humorist, was fond of saying, "You Gotta Dance With Them What Brung Ya." Time will tell how well Barack Obama knows how to dance with his constituencies. Will he stay true to his change-oriented supporters who brought him to his crowning moment, who are ready to do any number of dances with him, from the funky chicken to the mashed potato, from crumping to salsa, from the jitterbug to the lindy? Or will the Illinois senator stick to the old insider dance card and slow dance with those who have enjoyed the fruits of the dance floor for so long?

Of Course, Obama Is Obama!

Any discussion of diversity and change in the new Obama administration has to start with the president-elect himself. A half-African, half-white Midwesterner with an Arab-sounding middle name, mostly raised by his grandmother in Hawaii 5,000 miles from the U.S. mainland, Obama will be our new president after conducting a campaign that was extraordinary in so many ways. This single event has provided enormous inspiration and hope, not only in the United States but also across the globe. The Obama presidency, by its very existence, speaks volumes for diversity and offers a new reality in the United States that so many, feeling hopeless for so long, essentially thought was impossible.

Still, voters deserve some credit, too. In a country known for its propaganda-style media, its large chunks of misinformed and living-in-denial voters, deep-seated racism and huge discrepancies in income and education, it took a near-perfect performance from the candidate and a leap of faith from millions of voters not used to taking chances; many voters did something very different than they had before in their lives. And the candidate performance was near ideal. Obama was the most effective, unflappable, articulate candidate in memory, while his campaign was probably the best organized in U.S. history.

See more stories tagged with: democrats, progressives, election 2008

Don Hazen is the executive editor of AlterNet.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Election 2008! Sign up now »