The U.S. is about to experience a dramatic shift in its political landscape following the election Tuesday of Democratic candidate Barack Obama, the first African-American to ascend to the presidency.
The implications of the upcoming presidency and the likely radical departure from the past eight years of President George W. Bush’s conservative administration were the topics of discussion Wednesday at the Widener University School of Law in Brandywine Hundred.
“Barack Obama may be the most radical president in U.S. History,” said Professor Robert Justin Lipkin, a constitutional law scholar at Widener during the forum, entitled "Election 2008: The Aftermath."
“I don’t believe he is a socialist, but I think one of his political problems will be the fact that at some point, as he tries to fashion out solutions to national problems, everyone will have a level of dissatisfaction with his presidency," he said. "Obama wants to make us a community, to communicate and work together, but communities have never been a given in this country.”
Widener University Professor Richard Cooper, a sociology expert, said he is jubilant about Obama’s victory, “happy to finally see a black man in the presidency,” and compared Obama to President John F. Kennedy, whose Irish and Catholic roots initially caused people to wonder whether a Catholic president would report to the Pope.
“I’m still processing all about the Obama phenomenon,” said Cooper, “He is being critiqued by many different people through a multitude of lenses.”
Cooper said he admired Obama’s ability to speak and connect with a multitude of audiences.
“Undoubtedly, he won’t do everything people want him to do, but we should be there to push him, let him know our opinions, and definitely support him,” he said.
Lipkin agreed, adding that Americans should engage, but be prepared to lose some battles.
“Obama may not serve all black and progressive interests, but we should support him and push him, although he may not capitulate.”
Panel members were asked whether expectations for the Obama presidency may have exceeded the president-elect’s ability to follow through on campaign promises because of the aura he has created for himself. Cooper said that in four or eight years from now, Obama may be judged on his ability to improve the national economy, conclude the war in Iraq and fix up urban centers around the country.
“We may wind up imposing requirements on Obama that we haven’t imposed on other leaders,” said Cooper. “He is a consensus builder, and I feel he has allowed blacks in America to see the good in whites again.”
One audience member observed Obama seemed to be better prepared during the campaign than his opponents: he appeared to have studied the electorate and had a finger on the pulse of the voters wherever he traveled.
“The President-elect is truly unique – he saw things differently because of the way he was raised, due to his mixed ancestry,” Lipkin noted, “He has a tremendous sense of who he is, and who he’s becoming.”
Cooper said all Americans should be careful about criticizing the new president too soon as he begins his administration.
“We should let him get to work and we should let him show us what he can do in office,” said Cooper, and then observe whether he follows through on campaign promises, or made them just to satisfy crowds. Regardless, he said, Obama’s presidency will forever change what can be done by a minority in the U.S., even if it turns out to be “a bust.”
Lipkin said he feels Obama has a unique opportunity to help unify the country’s racial divide.
“We are ready for this, and I feel this could be a very special and exciting part of American history and American constitutionalism,” said Lipkin. “It’s something we all have to take responsibility for. We need to help him. We have to say ‘let’s support him where we can,’ but at the same tell him when we think his is wrong. That’s supporting him, also.”
Professor Nathan Nichols, one of the event organizers said the forum was intended to reflect on what may happen to our country with a new president about to take office. “It was set up to discuss the changing of the guard no matter who won the presidency, and the students did provide some thoughtful questions on the topics.”
