It felt glorious because at the heart of America’s dysfunction has always been the deep state of slavery and its aftermath. It never fully went away, and Obama did so much to change that for us. Even a decade ago we couldn't have imagined an African-American in the White House. It made us, after eight years of Bush, happy and hopeful again.
Since he was elected, I’ve learned that Obama is smart, well-read, a brilliant individual, but I’ve learned that sometimes that is not enough. That’s the sad part. America is declining, as all empires do. I grew up in the Soviet Union, and I see certain parallels with the US. The xenophobia goes up, the flags get bigger, there’s all this bullshit patriotism. I was driving through Ohio recently and I saw a flag as big as a building flying over a Hyundai car dealership. A flag like that doesn’t say, “I’m proud to be an American”; it says, “I’m scared of the future”.
What would the difference be between an Obama presidency and a McCain presidency, if he had won? I think that Obama has managed the situation as skilfully as possible: he has saved us from a much worse decline. He has revived the auto industry, kept America from a Greek- or Spanish-style swoon. Healthcare is very important – it’s beyond understanding how a country of this might, of this wealth, could deny its citizens the very basics of healthcare. It’s not a perfect solution but his reform is going to be seen as a major achievement.
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