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Dawning Of The Age Of Obama Could Let The Sunshine In

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By BOB RAYNER

Media General News Service

Published: November 21, 2008

And there was great celebration across the land that the eight years of famine and pestilence were at last at an end so that the people were filled with hope and noble expectations. The scribes ceased their ceaseless lamentations and were overcome by joy. And it was good.

A prophet of peace and equality arose in the Midwest, from a place called Chicago, and the nation was ready to follow - even as the false prophet of profit and war prepared for his exile in a barren desert far from the coastal plains and mountains with their highly educated masses yearning for change we can believe in. So begins the age of Obama. And we shall see.

America is gripped by good feeling and cautious optimism, though there remain great concerns, complex and stubborn problems. Our next president, a young man of impressive calm and calming eloquence, can claim already accomplishments of not minor significance - a revival of the nation's best spirit and the first step toward a renewed confidence in great institutions that have been shaken. It is the president-elect's first gift to us - and ours to him. Gifts earned by a reasonable man chosen to lead by a reasonable people.

So there are indeed reasons to celebrate, to congratulate a tolerant nation that learns from its mistakes, that rewards talent and vision and the mastery of words and Internet fundraising. Are these the seeds from which great leaders spring? The president-elect and the country deserve a fair chance to find out.

That means the shrill voices on the right must not attack this man - elected by the people - using the bludgeon of false assaults on his character. They must be prepared - should be hopeful, even - to find that he is a man of integrity and good will.

The right has been handed a wonderful opportunity, if it is wise enough to grasp it, to rebuild the foundations of a loyal opposition, which were torn asunder by the left's nearly psychotic hatred of the man who will soon leave the White House. Conservatives have been given a chance to demonstrate that there is indeed a better way, that policy differences need not deteriorate into screeching assertions of dishonesty, deception and plain old dumbness.

The Obama era offers a test for the left, as well. Republicans will soon enough find legitimate objections to the policies of the new administration. Their duty - to country and constituents - will be to render strenuous and effective opposition based on facts and philosophy, history and experience. The new president's supporters will defend their man's positions with equal vigor. But will they be able to avoid a quick descent into name-calling, character assassination and racial politics? Will the left, in other words, find a way - now that one of its own has ascended to the pinnacle of American political power - to discard the nasty habits so finely honed during the past eight years? Hope lives.

And what of the traditional media, which have worked so hard at the national level to undermine one president and to elect another? Will they regain the trust of most of the people? I think not. The damage is too deep. Local news media may well flourish as credible sources of information, fair brokers in community disputes. But for national and international news, the people will choose their media, find the bias with which they are most comfortable.

Dueling points of view will dominate the airwaves and the Internet, the mobile phones and the printed page: a golden age for opinion journalism - much of it openly so and as much ineptly disguised. A marketplace of ideas - messy and contentious and deeply American - has replaced the objective model of journalism that was killed by many of its own practitioners, who remain among the few who've failed to notice its ignominious demise.

Barack Obama has wrought much change, even before he takes office. He will lead a dynamic nation, tense and durable, ready to reward him if he is able to succeed.

Bob Rayner is an associate editor of the editorial pages of the Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch. Contact him at (804) 649-6073 or brayner@timesdispatch.com.

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