Institute Holds Election Talks in New York and at UNC

The 2008 election certainly felt like one of the longest, most convoluted presidential elections ever. The candidates held numerous debates months before the first caucuses and primaries. The nomination season itself held several surprises, including the unexpected pick of Sarah Palin as the GOP’s vice presidential candidate.

In a twist few pundits predicted, the fall’s financial crisis pushed Iraq off the table as an issue and made it an election about the economy. The end result: Barack Obama became the United States’ first African-American president and North Carolina turned blue by the slimmest of margins, fourteen thousand votes.

The Institute for the Arts and Humanities held two events this fall that tried to make sense of it all: an intimate gathering at the home of IAH Advisory Board member Caroline Williamson and her husband, Robert, and an election panel discussion in Hyde Hall featuring prominent faculty.

New York

A week after the election, on Nov. 10, UNC History Professor Dick Kohn led a conversation at the New York home of Caroline and Robert Williamson, who have hosted several IAH events in the past. 

More than 20 friends and supporters of the Institute discussed how the election played out and wondered what we might expect of an Obama administration. The room was just about evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, and the range of topics included the economy, health care and foreign policy. 

Kohn presented a view of Obama as a deal-maker who will govern from the middle to get things done. He suggested that the group most likely to be disappointed by Obama is the left wing of the Democratic Party. 

Regardless of political affiliation, the general sense in the room was certainly that much needs to be done, and everyone hoped that Obama could be successful. Differences surfaced when the group debated the chances of his being successful—and what he would actually need to do to claim success.

The Institute expresses our thanks to the Williamsons and to Professor Kohn for a great evening that proved lively, informative and thought-provoking.

Carolina

 On Nov. 20, the IAH co-hosted with the UNC Odum Institute for Research in Social Science a post-election panel featuring professors James Stimson (political science), Sarah Shields (history), Ferrel Guillory (journalism and Program on Public Life) and Joseph Jordan (director, The Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History). 

(Photo: Guillory (left) and Shields (right) took notes while Jordan shared his thoughts.)

Among the topics the panelists and an audience of 50 discussed were whether Obama and the Democrats had received a “mandate,” the significance of the youth vote, why foreign policy played so small a role in the campaign, the future of the Republican party and how to gauge what effect Obama’s race had on voting patterns. 

Stimson argued that 2008 was a year in which “any reasonable” Democratic candidate should win, citing as factors both the Iraq War and the economy, dating back to the housing bubble’s collapse in 2007.

Shields, who spent time in Syria last year, was shocked at the lack of focus on the Iraq War. Instead, Shields saw that the Middle East and Islam came up as domestic rather than international issues, exemplified by the focus by some on Obama’s middle name—Hussein. 

"The efforts to Islamicize him became really important during this campaign," Shields said.

While Jordan lauded Obama's victory, he expressed concern that Americans would complacently accept the election as a sign that racism has disappeared.

Among Guillory’s points was Senator John McCain’s grace in defeat and the historic nature of the election. "McCain and others, but led by McCain, have done a good job—and a graceful job—in the aftermath of the election, so there’s been a sense of healing,” he said. “Whichever way you voted, there’s a sense of history… I think people are glad to be part of history.”

As the lively conversation drew to a close, the group agreed that we should reconvene one year later to examine the first year of Obama’s presidency. Watch for an “Assessing the Obama Presidency” event at the IAH next fall. We hope you’ll join the conversation.