"Why History Can't Wait"

A GREAT ARTICLE SUMMARIZING WHAT I EXPECT FROM AN OBAMA PRESIDENCY. IT'S WORTH YOUR TIME.

PICTURE: ANNE SAVAGE
Made of faces from Obama rallies, Savage calls this mosaic Out of Many, We are One. It is pieced together from the faces of 5,700 people who attended the rallies she covered.

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008
Why History Can't Wait (LINK)
By David Von Drehle (TIME MAGAZINE)

EXCERPT:
But crisis has a way of ushering even great events into the past. As Obama has moved with unprecedented speed to build an Administration that would bolster the confidence of a shaken world, his flash and dazzle have faded into the background. In the waning days of his extraordinary year and on the cusp of his presidency, what now seems most salient about Obama is the opposite of flashy, the antithesis of rhetoric: he gets things done. He is a man about his business — a Mr. Fix It going to Washington. That's why he's here and why he doesn't care about the furniture. We've heard fine speechmakers before and read compelling personal narratives. We've observed candidates who somehow latch on to just the right issue at just the right moment. Obama was all these when he started his campaign: a talented speaker who had opposed the Iraq war and lived a biography that was all things to all people. But while events undermined those pillars of his candidacy, making Iraq seem less urgent and biography less relevant, Obama has kept on rising. He possesses a rare ability to read the imperatives and possibilities of each new moment and organize himself and others to anticipate change and translate it into opportunity