There's a tendency to get caught up in all the symbolism of Obama. But I realized the reality of things reading this piece--stem-cell research is coming folks. Damn.
UPDATE: Link fixt. Thanks guys.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
A President who is smart and believes in science. Huzzah!
FWIW, stem cell research is already here. Its just not federally funded. The ban on federal funding had an accidental benefit: A huge injection of private capital into academic science.
Interesting article, but I think you meant to link to the WaPo piece, I think it is, that actually discusses stem cell research and a number of other things that can/will be reversed immediately on taking office.
Here's the WaPo piece. It's encouraging to think the transition team is already making their list and checking it twice.
Executive Orders and various departmental regulatory schemes enacted or unenforced can effect government and the public in destructive ways regardless of existing legislation. In short this will be Bush's real legacy; Katrina, SEC, NOAA, FERC, Mines, Labor, power plant emissions standards, and on,on,on.... It is the kinda stuff that is off most folks radar, except for when a plant or refinery blows up. Long live the memory of Hecka-of-a-job Brownie; the kind of symbolism from Bush you can believe
Currently,Bush and Co are trying to expose the Grand Canyon and related areas to the free market via regulations. If this seems bad, give some thought to Bush's pardon list. Yep, TNC! You have got a tiger by the tail on this one getting "caught up in all the symbolism of Obama" It will soon be lost in the no drama President Obama.
I had much the same reaction when I read an excerpt from that piece, except I think even more so. I posted about it in my blog and two people said they'd done the exact same thing. As someone who turned 18 shortly before the 2000 elections, these feelings are pretty much entirely new to me. I had no trouble processing that Obama won the election, but it still hasn't sunk in that he's going to be President very soon. Someone being on my side in power is something I've never really felt before. It's incredibly overwhelming.
From the linked WaPo story: "A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes . . . . "
Question: how do 48 people work in "virtual solitude?"
Just to show you, T-NC that yours is not the only writing I nit pick.
I'm a fundraiser in higher education. And this statement is totally wrong. The exact opposite happened.
Private capital was ALREADY in academic science. That's part of MY job--to identify sources and figure out which ones are appropriate for my school. For private sources interested in stem cell research, they knew damn well where they had to go.
What the stem cell ban did was totally waste billions and billions of dollars. That sucked up private dollars and not the research itself, because of the necessity of building duplicate bricks and mortar---because the stem cell ban meant that
research could not be held in any facility that had ANY federal money in it. The only way to use private stem cell money is to have totally private facilities and duplicate services and facilities.
and just think! because white racists care more about economics than being racists, they voted obama in!
you should be ashamed of your washpost piece. that was a slam on every white person.
So, 'Pissed Off:' did you read the entire article?? For example:
"The favored rallying cry of black people is that we are not a monolith. How fascinating that some of us could only belatedly extend the same courtesy to white Americans."
"Those of us who overestimated racism would be smart to think about why we were so wrong. Those of us who are tempted to claim this victory solely for ourselves need to temper our enthusiasm and meditate on what we've learned . . . ."
T-NC: your piece was good; nothing to be ashamed of, for sure.
gwangung is right. It's been a terrible hardship, not working for free and having women colleagues. I only hope our suffering can end soon.
Thanks Karen. I appreciate that.
i sure did, karen.
and guess what you left off: the very next, most damning sentence, to wit:
The lesson isn't that racism is dead but that people are complicated, that even the most virulent racist may well have a 401(k) and kids he'd like to send to college. Though fear may haunt him, anyone can be touched by a good crazy.
i stand by what i said.
@karent--
to add--TNC is saying that it was "crazy-good" for white people to vote for Obama, and that the did so for economic reasons.
he admits to over-estimating racism, yet he does NOT say not as many people aren't racist as he imagined, just that white people are "complicated" and that they put economics first. that's why they voted for obama.
that's the real sad thing. thanks again from all us white folks. not.