A New U.S. Politics and Society?

Abstract

“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.” Barack Obama’s claim in his victory speech that his tri- umph in the 2008 presidential election constituted a transformative event that heralded a new America was echoed in news headlines and editorials both in the United States and around the world. Phrases such as “historic,” “sea change,” “landmark,” “milestone,” and “defining” dominated commentaries on the election result. Millions of Americans, famous and unknown, concurred in this view that something monu- mental had occurred. Senator John Kerry, the defeated Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, claimed in his victory speech celebrat- ing his reelection to the U.S. Senate, “Tonight new dreams are born and old truths are affirmed. Tonight we enter a new America, the best America, the America of our highest hopes.” Spike Lee, the African American film director, described the election on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show as the “defining event of all human history.” He even sug- gested that human time should now be marked “BB” and “AB”: Before Barack and After Barack. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans took to the streets on election night to celebrate change. One report described an African American wandering round Washington DCs Eastern Market telling everyone, “It’s all changed, man.”¹