He has been called a celebrity; his rise labeled meteoric. This man has become a symbol of hope and change; he supposedly represents the dawn of a new era.
This person is, of course, President Barack Obama.
The excitement and energy that has surrounded his campaign, transition to the Oval Office and, now, his presidency, is unparalleled. Many claim that a new era of politics is upon America; one that is post-partisan and where people will work together for a common purpose.
“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America,” Obama claimed in his victory speech at Chicago’s Grant Park on Nov. 4, 2008.
Regardless of whether a voter believes that Obama’s agenda will make a difference in Washington, we must agree on one thing: Some things were different this time because we elected an African-American man to the presidency. That is change if I ever saw it.
However, I have trouble seeing the post-partisan era of politics.
Last Wednesday, Obama’s economic stimulus package passed with a near party-line vote in the House of Representatives — a vote count of 244 to 188, to be exact. All Republican members voted against, with 11 Democrats following suit. A near party-line vote is not a stepping-stone to post-partisan politics.
The New York Times parallels it to Bill Clinton’s first months in office when he “had to rely solely on Democrats to win passage of a deficit-reduction bill that was a signature element of his presidency.”
History categorizes the ’90s as a bitter, partisan-filled era where a politics-as-war mentality existed. If Obama’s first few months in office echo those of the Clinton administration, how has “change come to America”?
Perhaps Obama is ahead of his time, or perhaps the rest of Washington just doesn’t share his same passion for bipartisanship. Obama approached Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire, about filling the Secretary of Commerce position. A Republican in a Democratic cabinet may as well be in the lion’s den if we continue our love for partisan politics.
But apparently, Obama believes that this time has passed.
The election results in Arizona were completely opposite than the national results; the Republican party came out strong, maintaining control of the legislature and taking command of the governor’s office.
Even in the first few weeks of Gov. Jan Brewer’s tenure, there has been so much tension between state Republicans and state Democrats.
Both sides have hotly contested the state budget, which decimates education and health care.
Meanwhile, a monumental task is in front of us, as we must fix not only the problems of our state and nation, but we must make sure that our future, which we have been told is bright, still exists.
A new era of politics is supposedly upon us, but I have yet to see it.
Andrew welcomes your thoughts and comments. He can be reached at andrew.hedlund@asu.edu.
