Change we Can Believe In?

Hate to be a damp squib, but...

I can't say I'm over the moon. I was more than a little spooked by the prospect that McCain could get in - well, more than that, that Palin could get in. I had visions of McCain stepping up to make his victory speech, clutching at his chest, collapsing to the ground...Doesn't bear thinking about really, and that worst-case scenario is now safely out of our minds. But in all the euphoria, I wonder how much 'change' Obama really will bring? He may mean well, he may desire to bring change (hell, Blair and Bush thought they were doing God's will!), but such high hopes and the realities are sure to be a long way apart. Concessions will be made, the real power will probably lie behind a team of backers and moneymen with their own interests to pursue. I disagreed with the way Obama voted on the bailout, and that doesn't fill me with hope for his economic policies. I'm not sure about his foreign policy either - yes, troops from Iraq, but US presence in Afghanistan is regarded as beyond criticism, and what would he do about Iran when pushed?

Incidentally, I don't know how the Green Party expected to get very far when their website was down just a few hours before the elections. Which is a real damn shame; people whose view, I think, if they stopped to think, would be a lot closer to the Greens than to Obama's, have been swayed by the rhetoric, the hype, the hope - perhapos most of all, the idea that an African-American could actually become president (which will, of course, allow people to say that all's well with the world, look what progress we have made, a black man sits in the White House, racism is over!). Not really too much change to believe on, on that evidence.