Our editorial Sunday noted how Tuesday’s historic inauguration is made bigger by the serendipitous timing of the today’s federal holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. To King’s credit, when the nation first sees an African-American sworn in as president, many of its citizens will see no big deal in that moment. They’ve grown up in a post-King world in which races mingle and marry without a lot of drama, where race is identifying but not disqualifying. To Obama’s credit, such “postracial” voters weren’t the only ones willing to place their trust in the junior senator from Illinois. Obama reached across ethnicity, income, culture and geography to find common cause with 53 percent of voters. Much of King’s dream is still unrealized. But surely if too slowly, change has taken its place – in the classroom and courtroom, on the bus, at the lunch counter, in the voting booth, in the boardroom.
Memo to politicians: Assume that somebody is counting your promises with an eye toward holding you accountable for them later. It turns out that Barack Obama made a whopping 510 promises while running for president, according to PolitiFact.com, compared with Bill Clinton’s 204 in 1992 and George W. Bush’s 177 in 2000. Obama’s were as big as getting out of Iraq and as small as getting his daughters a dog.
In last week’s farewell press conference, President George W. Bush acknowledged a few mistakes during his tenure. But Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review, has 10 more for him to ponder: Not getting Congress to buy in to his detention policy right after Sept. 11. An ineffective management style that lacked accountability. Not replacing CIA Director George Tenet after Sept. 11. Deferring to generals. Not taking charge during Katrina. Being too accommodating of the GOP Congress. Not reading enough history. Refusing to settle internal fights within his administration. Underestimating the power of explanation. Ignoring health care reform too long. “Oddly enough for a president denounced as an executive monster by his perfervid critics,” Lowry writes, “many of Bush’s mistakes involve not being active enough or taking a stronger hand.”
Our editorial Sunday noted how Tuesday’s historic inauguration is made bigger by the serendipitous timing of the today’s federal holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. To King’s credit, when the nation first sees an African-American sworn in as president, many of its citizens will see no big deal in that moment. They’ve grown up in a post-King world in which races mingle and marry without a lot of drama, where race is identifying but not disqualifying. To Obama’s credit, such “postracial” voters weren’t the only ones willing to place their trust in the junior senator from Illinois. Obama reached across ethnicity, income, culture and geography to find common cause with 53 percent of voters. Much of King’s dream is still unrealized. But surely if too slowly, change has taken its place – in the classroom and courtroom, on the bus, at the lunch counter, in the voting booth, in the boardroom.
