Our Work Will NOT Be Done Once Obama is Elected President

The furor over Barack Obama's switch (flip-flop?) on FISA should serve as an early warning to progressive activists everywhere, that our work will not be done once he gets elected to occupy the Whitehouse. For one thing, a look at the web page Progressive Punch shows that he only has an 88.05% lifetime progressive rating (below Hillary Clinton's 90.82%). This means that there will probably many more issues over which many of will want to take him to task (universal health care comes to mind).

I write this because I remember what happened back in '92 when Bill Clinton beat another Bush. When Clinton was elected after 12 years of Republican administration, it seemed that everyone relaxed and even went to sleep. The common thinking was that, with a Democratic President and both houses of Congress controlled by Democrats, life was good.

Unfortunately, the Republicans did not go to sleep. They mounted fierce and even irresponsible attacks, that were not answered by the somnolent Democrats. The result was that two years later, the Democrats woke up to a Republican-controlled House and Senate; and the country has been suffering for it ever since.

Let us not forget Senator Obama's own words:

I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ablility to bring about real change in Washington . . . I'm asking you to believe in yours.

Or as Howard Dean put it in his inimitably blunt style: "You have the Power."

So, after November 4, let us celebrate our great victories for a little while; but then let us get back to work.