Since then I have calmed down a bit, noted that the final results in America are not quite as bad as we had feared (I am talking about Congress now) and I can now start thinking more or less rationally. (OK, stop sniggering at the back.)
First of all, let's get some of the hype out of the way. Yes, the new president is mixed race, something that could not have happened even forty years ago and can happen in only one country of the western world – the United States. On the other hand, he is not a descendant of slaves. In fact, given that there is East African Arab blood there, he is quite likely to be a descendant of slave traders. None of that matters.
Let us not forget that another barrier has still not been crossed – far too many people find the idea of a woman President (remember that 51 per cent of the population?) still unthinkable. I have high hopes for 2012, though.
The truth is that having an African father does not make one a magician who can change the world by waving a wand. In this case, it merely makes one a rather vacuous and somewhat corrupt politician. So, the world, despite the hysteria in our own and the American media, has remained stubbornly unchanged, though the New York Times is suddenly discovering nuances in Gitmo. Not long before David Cameron will follow suit, then.
Clearly, somebody has not given President Medvedev (Putin's mishka) the memo about it being a new dawn as he has used his first address to the nation to hit out at the “selfish” American foreign policy and announce that Russia was planning to install short-range missiles in the Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg) enclave. He said this just hours after Obama’s victory was confirmed and appeared not to be overawed by the historic significance. This sort of thing can make the German media seriously upset with the Russian president.
Our Islamist friends are completely unimpressed though the Muslim Brotherhood express their hope that Obama will do as they tell him.
Meanwhile, the markets tumble and Reuters, who also campaigned for Obama, fear that he will not have the money to introduce whatever it is he wanted to introduce for health care. I strongly suspect that, despite certain people getting carried away by the hope and change message, mortgages will still have to be repaid or the banks will foreclose and gasoline, though cheaper and no thanks to Obama, will not be free.
And, um, the first job offer seems to be going to a very familiar face, old Clinton hand and an associate of Mayor Richard Daley's. My, my, hope and change before our eyes.
Here is a good summary why things are not quite as bad as one might imagine, though they are not good. I don’t agree with everything in that analysis. I do not, for instance, think there will be a nuclear war between Iran and Israel for various reasons, though I do not think that the mad mullahs should be allowed to have nuclear weapons. I also think that with General Petraeus in place, there is a reasonable chance that things might be turned round in Afghanistan but that is in the realm of discussion.
However, the point about the American President having considerably less power than people think is a very good one. No American President could do to Congress what a succession of Prime Ministers have done to Parliament. Those who see Obama as a miracle worker do not seem to understand this. The Founding Fathers in their wisdom foresaw the possibility of a demagogue getting to the top and created various barriers. These are very hard to remove.
The scenario with the media, I suspect, will go differently. They are crazed with their triumph now and have forgotten that readerships, viewing figures, share prices are slipping. But those facts will catch up with them and there will be the problem of boredom. So one or two journalists might start doing what they refused to do in the last couple of years and dig up a few facts about Obama, which have been hidden away but are discussed on the blogosphere.
Will we finally find out more about the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and the millions wasted and mis-spent? Are we to be told what Obama’s achievements at Columbia and Harvard really were? Where is that birth certificate? There are many more questions. But what will happen to any journalist who might try to write about it now that it is too late and the election cannot be affected? My guess is that they will fall foul of the Obamatroops and will start whining. That will be fun to watch.
Will those who jumped on the bandwagon like Peggy Noonan and Colin Powell get their reward or will they be discarded as not being useful any more? What fun if it is the second. That’s what I would do if I were Obama. Not being nasty or anything but I do despise people who are that cheap.
It will be fun to watch all those who are screaming about hope and change slowly realize that there is no change and little hope; that nobody, least of all a complete novice, can make good all those promises.
It will be fun to see the European leaders reel in shock as President Obama asks for more troops in Afghanistan and imposes all kinds of protectionist measures to keep the unions who brought out the vote happy. What will the Tories say when President Obama instructs the Democratic Congress to pass legislation that abolishes secret ballot in union votes and elections? Still applaud the hope and change bringer? What if Prime Minister Gordon Brown decides to follow suit?
It will be fun to watch as the libertarians realize that yes, indeed, there is a difference between the likes of Obama and the likes of McCain and, especially, Palin.
It will be fun to watch Joe Biden make an even bigger fool of himself than he has done so far. Absolutely nobody can accuse him of being the evil genius behind the presidency and we can always remind people how much smarter and more attractive Sarah Palin is.
It will be fun to watch all those who are hoping for a mega-hand-out walking away with little to show for their loyalty.
Of course, the trouble is that President-elect Obama has achieved nothing in his life and has put an omertá on every action in his past. So even those of us who have followed the campaign on the more outspoken blogs know nothing about him really. Perhaps he is a secret Reaganite. It is unlikely, given his various friends and mentors as well as the few pronouncements he has made, such as the one about redistributionist tax, but, of course, we don’t exactly know whether he really believes what he and his friends and mentors have been saying or whether he was just ready to be raised by the Chicago political machine.
It will not be fun to watch the Democrats make a complete hash of the American economy and reduce it to Carter-like levels. It has been calculated that FDR’s New Deal set back economic recovery by seven years and, eventually, he was rescued by the war. Obama can set it back even more and he will not be rescued by the Japanese who are not anxious to bomb anyone, least of all the Americans.
It will not be fun to watch the callow and ignorant Obama being bamboozled and challenged by our enemies just as the callow and ignorant Kennedy was by Khrushchev. Out of Kennedy’s lack of ability we got the Berlin Wall and the Cuban crisis. Then the man decided to get tough and tied America down in Vietnam.
What will come out of Obama’s lack of knowledge and experience? Another attack by Al-Qaeda, who did not dare to do so while Bush was president? What will Obama do if he decides to show himself to be tough? Will he bomb Pakistan as he said in one of the Primary debates? Or Iran? Contrary to what BDS sufferers might think, it is the weak, uncertain, fearful politicians who are dangerous not the ones who know what they want even if they are not always right about the path they take. Obama, the man who does not dare to reveal anything about himself, is a danger to us all, precisely because he is unknown and unpredictable.
It will be no fun to watch the poisonous, illiberal, anti-democratic tranzis and their supporters try to inveigle America into organizations such as the International Criminal Court, against express constitutional instructions and against the country’s interests. That is, of course, the promised land that the lefties and the tranzis have glimpsed: the surrender of the largest democracy in the world. Then again, it will not be as easy as they think.
So, what is to be done? I am delighted to see that the American right is regrouping already. This is what Michelle Malking is saying and she speaks for many:
There is no time to lick wounds, point fingers, and wallow in post-election mud. I'm getting a lot of moan-y, sad-face "What do we do now, Michelle?" e-mails.Above all, we do not behave like the British Conservative Party has done for the last ten years. She did not say it but I am happy to supply the extra words.
What do we do now? We do what we've always done.
We stand up for our principles, as we always have — through Democrat administrations and Republican administrations, in bear markets or bull markets, in peacetime and wartime.
We stay positive and focused.
We keep the faith.
We do not apologize for our beliefs. We do not re-brand them, re-form them, or relinquish them.
We defend them.
We pay respect to the office of the presidency. We count our blessings and recommit ourselves to our constitutional republic.
We gird our loins, to borrow a phrase from our Vice President-elect.
We lock and load our ideological ammunition.
We fight.
The right in America often does well under a left-wing government, though there is some worry about Obama’s distaste for the Constitution and his obvious dislike of the First Amendment. There is no getting away from the fact that they will be very busy in the next few years.
We must stop relying on the Yanks for unbounded political and financial support. Of course, they will remain our allies and the fight for the Anglosphere goes on but we, on this side of the Pond, must also gird our loins and start fighting.
I have pointed out before that the right in Britain is in a parlous state. We have become fat and complacent and allowed the Conservative Party to take over as the lead organization. If nothing else, their unholy glee over Obama’s election should put to rest any doubt we might have about what they are: Tory Socialists and we do not want them. In fact, if this ship is to reach its destination or even leave the harbour, the Tory Socialists will have to walk the plank.
No longer do I want to hear confidential whispers about how some Tory boy or girl really does not disagree with me at all, is not too far from my point of view, really would not like to see any further European integration. Let's say it loudly and clearly: if you are not with us you are against us.
The rest of us, those who want to build up the right, who believe in Britain being an independent democracy with small government and a great deal of individual freedom, who believe that the future belongs to the Anglosphere and we want to be part of it, need to start formulating a battle plan. And there can be no rest, no whining and no self-satisfied patting of each other's shoulders until we do so and act on it.
UPDATE: I have just been informed by a very sound American contact that one of the achievements of the blogosphere has been to change opinions on the American right from being vaguely pro-EU to being more than vaguely anti that pernicious organization. So here is a trek to follow, one that is very easy for us.
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