El significado del posible triunfo de Barack Obama

Es una revista inglesa fundada en el siglo XIX, pero no deja de provocar. Ha apoyado abiertamente el liberalismo desde su creación, por ello respalda desde libres mercados y elecciones libres a la libertad legal para comprar drogas (si ya el tabaco y el alcohol son legales, ¿por qué no la mariguana?) o de casarse con quien uno quiera, así sea del mismo sexo. Y en su edición de hoy The Economist apoya la elección de Barack Obama a la presidencia de Estados Unidos. Me gusta mucho el encabezado: ya es tiempo... Un lector de Andrew Sullivan afirma que la elección de Obama no solo sería el fin de ocho años de atroz conservadurismo, sino que sería el fin de la guerra civil de Estados Unidos, que aunque termimó militarmente en 1865, sus efectos aún resuenan en la sociedad americana. Copio un fragmento:

I realize this may sound harsh; I do not think Bush is a racist, for instance (quite the contrary), and I am very aware of the progress made in this country since I was young, including in the South; nevertheless, this election is clearly about race, about who and what we are as a nation, as a people, as a family (I would throw California's Prop 8 squarely into this battle too).

So let's be clear - it is not "boomer warfare" which has distorted our politics, or made rational politics so elusive since the 60's: it is something far deeper, something far older, something which has been with us from the beginning in this country, and which we in turn brought with us from the Old World; something which in fact traces back to the very origin of humanity - spiritually, psychologically, politically, evolutionarily. That depth is what gives the American story its pathos and its importance. That is why the world watches us: to see if we can work it out - to see if there is hope.

And that's why January 20, 2009, is so important: the day Barack Obama is sworn in as our 44th president will mark the third, and I believe the final defeat of the forces of repression and division in this country, and the actual end of the American Civil War.