Reading Into The Narrative

Sitting in my friend’s apartment last night watching the election with a handful of other people, it was clear where the support of this college community rested. We each filled out our own electoral maps, and the lowest estimated total of electoral votes for Obama was well north of three hundred. We each brought food, and the goodies included cookies with the Obama logo frosted onto the front. Then, as each successive “swing state” was called in Obama’s favor, everyone in the room let out a loud reprieve. And, when I finally returned home to my own apartment and laid in bed with the window open, I could hear the crowds of other students chanting “Obama! Obama!” and “Yes we can! Yes we can!” There was no in between, no need to wait on an official call here. This campus was deep Obama country.

Last night was, in many ways, a signal. It signaled a progressive step towards a post-racial era that has already been largely embraced by a younger generation and that has now found a real voice in the country’s broader political landscape. It signaled a defiant call for change in our political system. And, it signaled an olive branch being extended to the rest of the world; a call for a reevaluation and a second chance to prove that this country should be, as Obama called it, “a beacon of light”.

I understand that these are largely subjective measures of last night, and that they do not include recognition of the fact that, in the end, we elected another president and nothing else. If we are to really achieve a new era of interracial relations, then we need to reach a point where we only see it as that. However, last night, and right now, such subjectivity and narrative is unavoidable.

I saw Tucker Carlson being interviewed this morning and he argued that, by calling this election a huge step forward for America, we were inevitably saying that the election of John McCain would have represented a step in the opposite direction. He argued that emotions were running too high, and that he hoped we would judge Obama and be able to critique him on his actions, policies, and views rather than on the historical significance of his campaign. And I agree, but not today.

Elections are emotional entities, and especially one with as much enthusiasm and personal investment as this. Furthermore, to ignore the historical significance of this moment would be to lose a sense of context. Recognition of this context is what led us to raise Jackie Robinson as an American hero and to make his number the only one that is retired across major league baseball. In doing so, we are not attempting to say that a white player being called up to the Dodgers instead of Robinson, had he deserved it based on talent, would have been a step backwards. We recognize Robinson’s achievement as the breaking of a barrier. And so, had John McCain been elected, we would not have frowned down upon it as a move in the wrong direction, but rather as a delay of a barrier being crossed and the decision to call up a different player instead. The political equivalent of Jackie Robinson would simply not yet have been realized.

This is not to say that there wouldn’t have been talk of race had McCain won. Black voters would have felt hurt and let down, and pundits would surely have had to explain how polls so uniformly showing an Obama lead had been wrong. Bradley effect or not, racism would have been raised as one possible answer to the question. But that is not to say that a vote for McCain was racist. And anyone who says that is ignorant. McCain’s service to the country over the course of his life, and many of the central elements of his platform speak to a significant element of our population, and to a significant element of those that I know personally. Race would have been questioned as a factor in the process, but I do not think it would have been cast as the sole reason for the final result.

What I am saying is that votes should be made outside of race, but that the final impact of those votes on our social paradigm should be recognized after the fact. In the end, narratives are important to Americans. Narrative is what led most of us to root for the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series, George Mason in the NCAA tournament a few years ago, Boise State over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, and to cherish movies like Rudy and Rocky that tell stories of true underdogs. We are so consumed by narrative in the rest of our society that it should be no surprise when we find it equally fascinating in politics.

So, there will be plenty of time to judge Obama on what he accomplishes. But, for now, let us at least recognize what he has accomplished before he has even stepped into the oval office. And let us realize that to do so does not denigrate those who voted for John McCain, but that it simply acknowledges the impact of those who did.