post-vote

And how McCain helped him do it

‘Revolution’ may be too strong a word for many. After all, this election was about change and, every four or eight years, we hear about the necessity of it. Besides, Barack Obama has given every indication that he is a moderate, pragmatic and prudent politician. His cool temperament was on display both the night of his victory and two days later when, surrounded by his economic transition team, he displayed the very methodical approach to problem solving that is emerging as his managerial style. His appointment of Rahm Emmanuel, himself a smart and promising politician, is hardly the stuff of revolution. And yet, when you examine how Obama won and how he conducted himself,you know politics as practiced in the past 40 years is in for transformational change.

In one of his election promises, Obama said he would implement a cap-and-trade policy on emissions. This can be an efficient way of cutting carbon, but it can also lead to real problems, depending on the details of how it is done. If Obama is really going to implement a cap and trade policy, he should learn from Europe’s mistakes.

Each of us has two countries: our own and America. When America has an election, it is as much the whole world’s, or nearly so, for America is our laboratory, the place where all our hopes and ideals about democracy are put on trial, and as such we all have a direct stake in the outcome — not just because of what it might mean for American foreign policy or Canada-US relations, but because we are all invested in the United States: intellectually, emotionally, spiritually.

Emailed to Ottawa reporters a minute ago:
Read-out of Call between Prime Minister Harper and President-elect Obama

As explained by Glen Pearson (he of this fame/infamy).

Further to this post, in which I expressed grave doubts that Obama’s America—however superior it will turn out to be than the Americas that preceded it—will convince Canadians of their neighbour’s overall benevolent nature, the New York Times has a sobering article on the topic of closing Guantanamo. (They also have incredibly detailed dossiers on all current and former detainees.)

Must-reads: Don Macpherson on the Quebec election.

According to CNN’s exit polling, Americans making $200,000 or more per year voted as so.

Memo to all those Canadian pundits who believe Barack Obama will change vast numbers of Canadian progressives’ minds about the virtuousness of the United States of America. Maybe we should stay in Afghanistan, they’ll muse. What’s so bad about a common security perimeter, anyway? Surely we can trust Obama with our biometric data! Etc., etc. Anyway, it’s been 24 hours, and the media are already letting reality—or variations thereof—past security.

Will Wilkinson (via Sullivan).

So says Duncan Adel, a computer technician in Kenya.