John Judis situates Barack Obama in the long sweep of American history:
The American instinct to continuously remake ourselves in the image of
Adam–to achieve a decisive and final break with history–has
periodically proven seductive to voters. And, sometimes, this instinct
can produce important, transformative results. Yet the past–in the
form of race or war or deeply held partisan animosities–has a way of
lingering around. At the very least, it rarely recedes without a bitter
fight. None of which is to say that Barack Obama will fail. He has
already defied the expectations of wizened political journalists like
me who believed he had no chance to win the nomination. If he becomes
president, he will have a chance to prove me wrong again: to show that
the party of youth and hope and change can govern effectively. No one
will be more delighted than I will if he succeeds.
Much, much more here.
