Hard Choices And Challenges Follow Triumph

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Obama's Hometown Rejoices in Historic Win

In downtown Chicago, tens of thousands of supporters young and old gathered in Grant Park to celebrate Sen. Barack Obama's election night victory.

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Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R) said the senator from Illinois can claim a personal mandate but should not assume the results signified an ideological election.

"You have to distinguish between the Obama machine -- ACORN, labor unions, MoveOn.org -- and the personality, which is Oprah Winfrey, Paul Volcker, Warren Buffett and Colin Powell," he said. "One of the most important decisions Obama will make is which Obama will govern."

That tension may roil an Obama presidency, but throughout his campaign, Obama has shown an ability to ride above those contradictions and potential conflicts. Through his ability to inspire Americans of different backgrounds and with disciplined, mostly mistake-free campaigning, Obama outmaneuvered and outlasted his rivals. He will need to employ those same skills as president to expand the coalition that elected him.

Democratic pollster Geoff Garin said Obama's mandate, as put to the voters, was a mandate to be a different president than George W. Bush. "That covers a lot of ground," he said. "There's certainly a mandate in terms of leadership style to have a politics that is more inclusive."

Garin argued that Obama enjoys a mandate for a more activist government that can regulate the excesses of the private sector. "But having said that," Garin said, "the public still has a lot of skepticism about the efficiency and effectiveness of government."

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, argued that "no crisis should go to waste," meaning that the depth of the country's problems create an opportunity for the next president to offer big solutions on issues like energy and health care.

Emanuel is under consideration to become White House chief of staff, but he said his comments represented his own view, not Obama's. Though arguing for a bold approach, Emanuel cautioned against attempting to do everything at once. Finding the balance between a big and ambitious agenda and a legislative strategy to reach those goals over time will be Obama's responsibility.

Obama advisers, who agreed to talk about the future only on the condition that they not be quoted, said they are well aware of the dangers of interpreting the results as a mandate for unabashed liberal government.

One top adviser recalled what happened after the Democrats regained control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections and suggested they were ready to end the war in Iraq and enact a bold Democratic agenda. "We're all wary of the lessons of 2006, when expectations were raised so high prematurely," he said.

This adviser said Obama knows that he must move strategically to balance his pledges to govern inclusively while promoting a progressive agenda. "It's up to him to educate people on a strategy to move forward." Part of that strategy, he added, will be persuading people to be patient about the pace of change.

Obama advisers take seriously the senator's rhetoric about governing in a bipartisan fashion. They are ready for potential conflict with some Democratic constituencies or with some liberal Democrats in Congress, whose pent-up demand for action may clash with Obama's priorities, and are prepared to say no.

Obama has yet to truly confront the realities of a domestic platform that calls for significant increases in federal spending and a fiscal problem that has worsened dramatically. Given the projected spending of $700 billion for a financial rescue package and hundreds of billions more for an economic stimulus package that Democrats say is needed, the deficit could approach $1 trillion or more next fiscal year, even without any of Obama's other priorities.