By David Walter, Special Writer
Marked by cautionary words, five noted Princeton University professors discussed the presidential election at a day-after forum Wednesday.
But first came the applause — a spontaneous, minute-long standing ovation by the crowd following the mention of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, who on Tuesday became the first black elected president of the United States.
After the audience took their seats, the panelists described what they expected to see in an Obama presidency.
”He’s going to be tested — I think there’s no question,” Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, told a capacity crowd at the university’s Friend Center. “Now when Joe Biden said this, it was not regarded as a strong campaign move — and it wasn’t. But it was true.”
Terrorism will remain a major issue in American foreign policy, Dean Slaughter said.
”In particular, I expect that al-Qaida will do everything possible to put him in a position where he will have to order an action that will kill Muslims,” she said.
Senator Obama’s global popularity, Dean Slaughter said, makes such a situation especially likely.
”Because right now, a largely Christian nation just voted for the son of a Muslim man with a Muslim middle name. We’re looking a lot better in the Muslim world,” she said.
Dean Slaughter also pointed to increased threats from Iran and Russia as almost certain challenges. She said that those countries’ leaders might try to provoke international conflict in order to distract their citizens from economic problems at home.
”This is a time-honored move in the Russian playbook,” she said. “And it’s the perfect time for Iran to rattle its sabers and push.”
Dean Slaughter was nevertheless optimistic about President-elect Obama’s ability to improve the nation’s moral and strategic standing in the world.
”Fundamentally, power in an integrated network world comes from being the most connected,” she said. “It comes from exactly what he was able to do in his campaign — to create a vast network and mobilize it for money, for motivation, for votes.”
Princeton Religion and African-American Studies Professor Cornel West focused on the cultural impact of Sen. Obama’s upcoming presidency.
”Yes, it has something to do with breaking the glass ceiling, given the legacy of white supremacy in shaping the nation,” Professor West said. “The idea of a brilliant charismatic courageous black man with his brilliant Princeton graduate charismatic wife. Oh yes.”
But Professor West said that the symbolic significance of Sen. Obama’s win did not change the fact that very real struggles lie ahead.
”The question is, can we make the shift from the symbolic? (Symbols) are necessary but not sufficient conditions for addressing the circumstances that are still catastrophic this very moment for poor people and working people and the elderly and the disabled,” he said.
Sen. Obama faced a choice in how he wanted to lead the American people, Professor West said.
”Dear brother Barack Obama. … Will you be a great statesman like Abraham Lincoln and begin with a vision that you will have to revise and grow and mature?” he said.
”Or will you be a master politician shot though with opportunistic proclivities, like Bill Clinton? End up triangulating your way into mediocrity.”
Some panelists expressed caution even while celebrating Sen. Obama’s election.
”It made me think about moments like this when we come together, when we come across lines that divide us, when progressive forces defeat reactionary. It made me think that these tend to be very short-lived moments,” said Farah Jasmine Griffin, an English professor at Columbia University.
Princeton History Professor Julian Zelizer said that conservative ideas would remain strong in some areas even as the Republican Party finds itself in crisis. He noted the success of conservative ballot initiatives like California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage.
”I think one of the lessons when you have a sea change is that what happened in the 30 years before doesn’t all go away,” Professor Zelizer said. “Movements kind of layer over the past.”
Professor West stressed that American citizens will play a huge role in guiding the changes brought about by Sen. Obama’s victory.
”All great leaders are made by great movements and mobilizations and motions and momentum,” he said. “There will be no Barack Obama of greatness without the citizenry coming forward with visions of greatness — willing to serve, willing to sacrifice.”
Princeton Religion and African-American Studies Professor Eddie Glaude moderated the discussion.
