Posted by Jed Lewison on Tue Nov 4, 2008 at 3:00 AM Pacific

What's Next

Well, here we are, at the end of a campaign that we will remember for the rest of our lives. I think we will win tomorrow, but whatever happens, this all will have just been a prelude.

It will be a prelude because we didn't get involved in this campaign simply to win an election. We got involved in this campaign to change the direction of our country, and after the celebration of election night is over, the hard part begins.

Starting Wednesday, the manic pace of the campaign will be replaced with the slightly more sedate rhythm of governing. That will be a welcome relief, but governing is no less important than campaigning, and our voices are just as essential to effective governance as they were to effective politics.

Among the many mistakes of the Republican Party over the past eight years was an overreliance on a network of propaganda organs to maintain their political power. One of the disastrous consequences of that overreliance on propaganda was that the reality of Bush's policy decisions became less important than the spin his political people could put on them.

In a sense, FOX News, Matt Drudge, and Karl Rove acted as a massive bandage, covering up the festering sores inflicted upon America by the Bush Administration. Many of us knew those sores existed, but not until 2008 have they been fully exposed to a majority of American voters.

Imagine for a moment if Bush had somehow managed to win election in 2000 without the GOP propaganda network. If that had happened, he would have been forced to lead a more reality-based presidency -- and that means he would almost cerainly have been a more succesful president.

In the end, Bush's ability to cover up bad governance with good politics allowed him to continue bad governance without fear of being held accountable. We cannot afford to allow that to happen again.

Fortunately, the risk of that happening is pretty low. There is no analog of FOX News on the left, and we shouldn't strive to create one. That doesn't mean we don't want progressive voices in the media -- it just means that we don't want liars and propagandists to take over the airwaves, even if they are making the case for us.

For Barack Obama to be the extraordinary president that we all believe he can be, we must recognize that part of supporting him and his agenda will mean maintaining the willingness to offer up criticism when and if it is warranted. We'll be there, fighting for his agenda, but we'll also be keeping him honest, and keeping things real.

That's our obligation as citizens. That's what we must do if we we want to live in a functioning democracy.

We've seen what it's like when a President's supporters don't live up to their end of the bargain. We saw how things turned out. We won't make that mistake again.

Instead, starting on Wednesday, we will turn things around. We will change this country.

What's Next

Well, here we are, at the end of a campaign that we will remember for the rest of our lives. I think we will win tomorrow, but whatever happens, this all will have just been a prelude.

It will be a prelude because we didn't get involved in this campaign simply to win an election. We got involved in this campaign to change the direction of our country, and after the celebration of election night is over, the hard part begins.

Starting Wednesday, the manic pace of the campaign will be replaced with the slightly more sedate rhythm of governing. That will be a welcome relief, but governing is no less important than campaigning, and our voices are just as essential to effective governance as they were to effective politics.

Among the many mistakes of the Republican Party over the past eight years was an overreliance on a network of propaganda organs to maintain their political power. One of the disastrous consequences of that overreliance on propaganda was that the reality of Bush's policy decisions became less important than the spin his political people could put on them.

In a sense, FOX News, Matt Drudge, and Karl Rove acted as a massive bandage, covering up the festering sores inflicted upon America by the Bush Administration. Many of us knew those sores existed, but not until 2008 have they been fully exposed to a majority of American voters.

Imagine for a moment if Bush had somehow managed to win election in 2000 without the GOP propaganda network. If that had happened, he would have been forced to lead a more reality-based presidency -- and that means he would almost cerainly have been a more succesful president.

In the end, Bush's ability to cover up bad governance with good politics allowed him to continue bad governance without fear of being held accountable. We cannot afford to allow that to happen again.

Fortunately, the risk of that happening is pretty low. There is no analog of FOX News on the left, and we shouldn't strive to create one. That doesn't mean we don't want progressive voices in the media -- it just means that we don't want liars and propagandists to take over the airwaves, even if they are making the case for us.

For Barack Obama to be the extraordinary president that we all believe he can be, we must recognize that part of supporting him and his agenda will mean maintaining the willingness to offer up criticism when and if it is warranted. We'll be there, fighting for his agenda, but we'll also be keeping him honest, and keeping things real.

That's our obligation as citizens. That's what we must do if we we want to live in a functioning democracy.

We've seen what it's like when a President's supporters don't live up to their end of the bargain. We saw how things turned out. We won't make that mistake again.

Instead, starting on Wednesday, we will turn things around. We will change this country.

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