The Iowa Caucuses & Hope & Not Staying the Course

Yesterday's Iowa Caucuses are a celebration of so called participatory democracy. It reminds 18Brumaire of small town 4 July parades with its floats, cheer leaders, marching bands, and much hoopla. Iowa kicks off the season of America's tribal rites leading up the nomination of a candidate for the presidency of the US. It magnifies the myths, the call to service to the nation, and re affirms the country's commitment to democracy. And Iowa began on the right foot on this every 4 year crusade for electing a president.
Barak Obama came in first among the Democrats elbowing for the top office, distancing his two rivals Hillary Clinton and John Edwards by a good 7 points. He spent us$9,7 million dollars on his campaign in Iowa, and his money paid off. Obama on one hand broke the taboo that a black man could be elected to the highest office of the land, as does Hillary's campaign as a woman running for the same position. John Edwards is the embodiment of the American dream, that a poor boy with cheek can overcome odds, improve his lot, and become president yet remaining true to his roots.
If Iowa says something, it is this: Americans want change; they no longer support the Bush staying the course. And change was on the lips of everyone among the Democrats running for their party's ointment as candidate for president. Change too was heard from Mike Huckebee the Republican winner who trounced the rich, soap cleaned hand Mitt Romney, who like weather vane on an old barn tuned his message to the shift in the wind, and who stood squarely for business as usual.
Obama and Huckabee spoke of hope, and the crowds cheered. [Huckabee like Bill Clinton comes from Hope, Arkansas.] Aside from the pieties of hope, a new wind, and change, when you scratch the surface Obama's hope and Huckabee's hope vary little. The two utter a prayer for a change without the hungry electors wanting to know more. Scratching the surface, in spite of minor differences, Obama and Huckabee are social conservatives and will tilt towards slightly more flexibility in domestic and foreign policy without rocking the boat and courting the establishment, the monied special issues, and the general status quo. Americans do want change; they hope that the Bush years will simply go away, but Americans are generally enthusiasts and naive, dare we say ignorant as cabbages, as politics. They intone slogans and think like Obama and Huckabee chanting a mantra of and for hope and change will like the magician's wand pull the rabbit out of the hat, and then everything will be hunky dory again. There is such a disconnect between the tribal practices of electing officials and the lives of the ordinary man and woman on main street that the soap bubbles of hope and change evaporate before their eyes after elections; these ordinary guys and gals then simply shrug shoulders and utter a pitiful cry, 'you cannot change city hall'...and slog on till the next presidental elections when hope and change are born anew and engage in the myths of yore with renewed enthusiasm.