Barack and Roll

President Obama’s election rhetoric was based around the idea of change. He would do away with partisanship and bureaucracy and replace them with rainbows and unicorns. People with knowledge of politics and history knew this was unlikely. Governments are historically much more adept at expanding rather than contracting, and Obama’s only real chance to change things would be to build on what was already in place. You see a government is like a layer cake. If the cake doesn't taste quite right, you can’t take out the layers that you think are ruining the cake. You can only add more on and hope that they make it better.

But although the country will not change in any great substantive way, his election represents change through its symbolism. It showed that the values of the American electorate are shifting. Could a half-black smoker who admitted to using marijuana and cocaine (or as he calls it in his book ‘blow’) been elected twenty years ago? Or even four years ago? The answer is no. The American government isn’t changing, but it’s citizens are, and while this won’t effect the structure or policies of our government any time soon, it will change the type of politicians we see in Washington. With the ubiquity of modern media we get to know our political candidates better than ever before, and a candidates likability, not their experience, policies, or background, will be the great decider of elections. Obama isn’t a catalyst for change, but the result of it.