(post-election) links

There’s been a bit too much election and political stuff on this blog lately, but I hope you’ll humor this collection of some favorite post-election reactions.

• In light of all the talk of Dr King’s dream being fulfilled by an Obama administration, Skye Jethani wonders about the nature of the dream. The election of an African American to the White House certainly fulfills part of MLK’s dream to see a society where people would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. But MLK dreamt of so much more. He wanted to see an America as morally good as it is technologically advanced. He hoped to see a society that valued people more than things; life more than making a living. And he longed for Christians who valued God’s will ahead of comfort and pleasure.
• Brian Walsh wonders if President Obama signals an end of American imperialism (a question with interesting assumptions and implications). But there’s a problem here. It is the problem of empire. Obama stands in the tradition of King by appealing to the founding vision of America and calling America to fulfill that vision. And he is right to believe that there can only be a vision for the future if that vision is rooted in memories that can engender and sustain such a vision. And he was politically wise to argue that we must reject the Bush legacy because it departs from the best of American traditions, the best of American promise. But what is that promise? What, beyond those three foundational words, is the heart of that tradition? If vision is rooted in memory, are some memories better than others? Might there be some memories that need to be re-evaluated if we are to proceed with hope and an alternative vision?
• Newsweek Magazine thinks this election indicates the weakening of Evangelicals as a reliable Republican voting bloc. Overall, the religious vote for Obama did not reflect a massive shift in ideology and priorities among evangelicals but rather muscle-flexing by a coalition of others of faith—including and especially African-American churchgoers and Latinos who tend to be both more religious and more socially conservative than the population at large. The pro-Obama faithful represent a wild diversity of the American religious experience, including mainline Protestants, church-shoppers, the curious, the spiritual but not religious, the heterodox (those who subscribe to several traditions), the intermarried, the community-minded, the intellectually provoked but skeptical, and the traditionalists. Indeed, it includes almost every committed person of faith except those whose church culture insists on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Catherine McNeil laments her need to explain her happiness at Obama’s election. The candidate for President that I have long supported won the election on Tuesday night. As should be expected, I am excited and rejoicing. But literally within minutes of the vote being called, and continuing until now, I have been bombarded by messages from friends who voted differently, predicting disillusionment, disappointment, cautioning against rejoicing too much, or putting my/our hope or joy in the wrong place.