As much as I disagree with most of what I guess about Obama's politics (I have to guess because he is so non-specific), I confess that I got teary-eyed during his victory speech. His victory represents many wonderful things: change, hope, progress in racial attitudes, and a big smackdown of neo-con big brother government.
But it won't be long (sooner for some, longer for others) before the romanticism of his victory fades to politics as usual. As he starts naming his cabinet picks and staff advisors, we'll start to see if there's real change in store or if they are just more of the same old party hacks. I guess to most people, this is real change no matter what else happens. But to me, it's just change on the surface. Meet the new boss, (pretty much the) same as the old boss. Real change can't happen without significant rethinking of our overall approach to foreign policy, monetary policy, individual and economic freedom, self-responsibility, and more, and I don't expect that to happen.
What I really expect from Obama is some sort of socialist New New Deal. I predict we'll start hearing "New Deal" a lot, starting in the next few days. Then, for me, the romanticism of the Obama election will be gone.