Local news weighs in on Obama

In our very own The Wichita Eagle, local newspaper, people’s expectations are being looked at for the new Barack Obama government. Some examples are:

“Leen Bakdash is proud of her new president-elect.
"I like that he had the courage to actually run for president even though he looks different than other people," said Bakdash, 10, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Syria.
"He just felt he wanted to be president," Bakdash said, "and he didn't let how he looks stop him."
With Barack Obama, an African-American, headed to the White House, people of color in Wichita and across the nation are examining their own opportunities and possibilities.
For some, there's now no excuse for minorities to fail. But others caution that it will take more than Obama's election to negate the legacy of discrimination in America.
The idea of "playing the race card" -- blaming personal failures on racial or ethnic discrimination -- is now ineffective, said the Rev. Kevass Harding, pastor of Dellrose United Methodist Church.
"I think our young people should see this election... as a time to say now, regardless of who you are or where you come from, you have an opportunity to be better than what you are today.
"With that, you have no excuses," said Harding, who is black..
Cathy J. Cohen, a University of Chicago professor of political science, counters that Obama's win doesn't automatically erase the effects of discrimination.
"It's not the end of racism, but it is a promising moment," said Cohen, who is African-American and the principal investigator for the Black Youth Project, which examines black youths' attitudes on politics and other subjects.”
Also:

“Obama beat the odds many minorities face, said Vanessa Martinez, an assistant principal at Horace Mann Dual Language Magnet School, where students in its K-8 classes overwhelmingly voted for Obama in mock elections.
"Many times, it's hard to break barriers with poverty, or not having an education, or even not having someone in your family who's a good example for you to follow," Martinez said.”.

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We see a variety of opinions of what is possible or not possible. According to the newspaper Revolutlion:

The Morning After the Elections:
The Promise of Change…and the Change We Need
You couldn’t miss it on Election Night. People actually pouring into the streets to celebrate the election of a president. Emotions ran high, and tears flowed.
And in the days after: people talking to friends and strangers alike of hope. Hope for a coming era of change from the horrors of the Bush years. Hope for overcoming racism. Hope for a new era of service to the common good.
Hope—hope that is founded on the real possibilities for fundamental change in this world—is indeed precious. Dedicating your life to something higher than the ethic of “I-want-mine” is so vital that the future of humanity actually depends on it. And overcoming—truly overcoming—the divisions of society based on inequality and oppression must be at the heart of any real movement for social change.
But now, in the dawn of the morning after, one must ask and honestly grapple with some basic and very serious questions.
Hope for what?
Service to what?
Unity around what goals and what values?
And victory for whom?

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