(no subject)

History in the making.

(Edit: in looking at this more closely and trying to name the caricatures, I think they mixed up Eisenhower and Truman in chronology...)



Another big change (I'm guessing we have to wait until January for the climax):
IsObamaPresidentYet.com

(no subject)

Okay, so I'm going to do one of those conversation-posted-to-LJ thing. 8 years of LJ, and I think I've only done this a couple times:

Me: I figured my jalapeno chicken recipe would get a lot of hits, because it's not high cuisine, it's something a housewife would make.

Her: I couldn't make that.

Me: That's because you're not a housewife, you're a trophy wife.

Her: Ha! Boy, did you get gypped.


Personally, I think the chicken turned out pretty lovely, and so did the wife.

History

People who follow politics are much like people who follow baseball -- there are all sorts of statistics that mean everything, and mean nothing. Statistics are meant to be broken.

Still, it's fun to spout them off:

Obama is, obviously, the first African-American (1st generation, yet), elected to the presidency. As Vice Presidents, even in the days of Cheney's power, are widely considered to be "not worth a bucket of warm piss" (as quoted by FDR's VP John Nance Garner, with the "spit" euphemism sneered at by Garner, who called journalists who used the toned-down versions "pantywaists"), the real second in command has always been considered Secretary of State. The last three Secretaries (in order of appointment) have been a woman, a black man, and a black woman, so it's somewhat of a logical statistical progression to figure a near-future president would be female or black or both. One can't deny the train of acceptance the US has shown recently when it comes to brilliant people, as opposed to appearances or background.

Obama is the first Senator elected since Kennedy, though with two Senators running, this was inevitably historic.

Obama is the first non-Southerner and non-Californian elected since Kennedy, though this was also inevitably historic (unless you consider Arizona as part of the South, which can be argued).

This is the first election since Truman's decision to retire (and his VP's loss of the primaries) that a sitting President or Vice President hasn't run for the presidency.

George W. Bush is the only modern President who has had lower public approval ratings than Truman, the most despised President while still in office. An argument could be made that Lincoln's VP-to-Prez Johnson -- the first President to be impeached -- might have been more hated while in office, but polling wasn't a science back then. History will have a very interesting outlook in 50-100 years.

When the last Democrat was first elected President (Clinton), Obama was too young to run for President.

Obama is the first Democrat since Carter to get more than 50% of the vote, and continues the trend of the last election (both of Clinton's elections were less than 50% of the popular vote, and W's first election was famously so).

As Clinton and W. have both learned, there is a ticking bomb when it comes to Congress matching the party of the President. With Obama being handicapped by the shrinking economy, and Congress' approval rating being even lower than Bush's, Obama will have to make a case in the next two years that he needs a Democratic Congress, or (historically) he may find himself with a hostile Congress.