A new day calls for a vigilant public Between you and me
By Leah Dunaief	write the author
November 05, 2008 | 03:58 PM Yesterday was the same as every other day. I awoke, dressed, made the bed, got behind the wheel of the car, stopped to pick up a coffee and joked with the man behind the counter, then headed into the office. It was the usual routine. But yesterday was not business as usual, not life as we have known it. Below the serene morning was a smooth revolution that demonstrated the genius of the American system. The world has changed, without a drop of blood spilled, without a palace coup, without any destruction of property. Yesterday there was an orderly election, and today, there is no one who doubts that this is the beginning of a new era — in politics, government and society. Yesterday Americans peacefully and clearly elected a man to highest office who spoke to the profound desire for change. And his skin color was only his most obvious symbol of change in the making. Barack Obama also spoke of coming together in America, and Americans yearn to do that — to rise above the destructive partisanship that has spread like a cancer through all levels of government. This has been partisanship to the point of destroying institutions, reputations and the public good in the name of party victory. There is the theory that times pick the president just as times produce great inventions, new ideas and so forth. At this time in our history, Obama was able to sense what issues matter most in this country, to speak to them and frame himself into the picture. His life — bridging race, religion, class and national borders, as it uniquely does — made him the man for this hour. He persuaded millions of Americans to believe in him as the change agent and to fall in behind him. It is truly the dawning of a new day and proof that America has already changed and will continue to do so in its demographics and its national perceptions. John McCain is a beautiful man. Anyone who heard his more than gracious concession speech last night will agree. This was the McCain long admired and finally liberated from political constraints. Our nation treasures the McCains just as much as it needs the Obamas. And with that certitude, we must now all come together to build the future for America — on a national and also a local level. Obama did not overtly make race one of his campaign themes, positioning himself instead as a candidate for all the people. But of course it was the undercurrent all along. And it is amazing to me that in the short span of my life so far, attitudes have so dramatically changed. When I was a junior in college, I went from Barnard College, Columbia University, with nine other young women on an exchange program to study segregation. The year was 1961, and five of us went to Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga., then an all-black college. The other five went to the all-white Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. I was with the group that went to Wake Forest, and I saw a beautiful campus with lovely young men and women who clearly even then wanted change. That is why they participated in the exchange with a New York City college to begin with. We went down by train, trailing ethnic and religious diversity unknown on their campus, and they welcomed us. We remained for two weeks. It was as much an education for us as it was for them in the way things were. And how they needed to be changed. Now here I am, my generation and the generations still with us who have come before, witnesses to this new day. We can only marvel. On the local level, for the first time since 1935, the New York State Legislature and governorship are all in the hands of one party. This concentration of power in one party makes the American public nervous — as it should. There is a fall off of checks and balances that can only be surmounted by a vigilant public. But for the moment it presents an opportunity to improve on the system in Albany that has been accused of being broken. Will the public good triumph? Only if people of good will stay involved beyond election day — even this most revolutionary election day.