4A - Wednesday, November 5, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 74C fivichioan [ wily I Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you." - The 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, in his acceptance speech last night. ROSE JAFFE E-MAIL ROSE AT ROSEJAFF@UMICH.EDU E I I ANDREW GROSSMAN EDITOR IN CHIEF GARY GRACA EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR GABE NELSON MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All othersigned articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. A 21st century Michigan Stem cell research will help state's economy and reputation F or the third election in a row, Proposal 2 asked Michigan voters to prove they are open-minded and willingto advance their state to the progressive forefront of this country. And for the first time, it looks like a majority of them has accepted the invitation. With almost all precincts reporting at press time, it looks like Proposal 2 - the ballot initiative seeking to allow otherwise- discarded embryos to be used for stem cell research - will nar- rowly pass. For a state trying to court the businesses that will move it into the 21st century, this is a strong affirmation that Michigan residents are ready to move forward, too. C D Though Proposal 2 looks like it will pass by a narrow majority, getting to this point was a tough fight. Bankrolled by ultra-con- servative organizations and thousands of shadowy donors who may never be identi- fied, the initiative's opposition tried shame- lessly to lie its way to victory. First, there was the claim that the initiative would allow human cloning; then the false argu- ment that it would raise taxes; and final- ly, the outrageous comparison between embryonic stem cell research and the rac- ist, tragic Tuskegee Syphilis Study. It would have been easy for people to believe these lies - or at least fail to see through the muddied waters. But to vot- ers' credit, they saw this initiative for what it really was: a question about whether we should simply discard the embryos from our fertilization clinics or use them for life- saving and economically beneficial embry- onic stem cell research. And they rightly chose the latter. Scientists in Michigan can now move for- ward with research into a biomedical area with almost limitless potential. In a biolog- ical sense, embryonic stem cells are liter- ally a blank slate - potentially able to form any other type of cell. By using embryos that would have been otherwise discarded, scientists can now potentially cure some of our worst diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Almost equally as important, Michigan's stumbling economy stands to gain. If the federal government loosens its restrictions on stem cell research - as many expect it to do now that Barack Obama is president and Democrats control both chambers of Con- gress - a lot of federal money could pour into Michigan to support this research. Along with that money, universities like our own can now attract and retain some of the most innovative faculty in the country, bringing jobs and brains to our state. On a symbolic level, passing this initia- tive also shows how serious Michigan is about opening itself up to new industry and the changing world. Though Gov. Jen- nifer Granholm has been trying to attract the high-tech businesses that will bring Michigan out of its Rust Belt recession, this message never rang true when Michi- gan residents were overwhelmingly voting against the progressive measures that show its open-mindedness, like same-sex mar- riage and affirmative action. Regardless, any day in which reason defeats fear and lies is a joyous one. Today is one of those days. Avoiding the easy path n day one, President Barack Obama will arguably face one of the most daunting situa- tions of any U.S. president in the past six decades. Everything is in shambles: our econ- omy, our interna- tional prestige, our ' military strength ' and, especially, I Americans' belief that their govern- GARY ment can fix these GRACA things. In -"four- years, Obama is expected to fix it all - or face the wrath of an electorate that doesn't often understand that some of these things take time. And a majority of Americans thought he has the skills and leader- ship to do it, despite his inexperience. That's a pretty strong mandate for a candidate who was barely known only two years ago. But this isn't a column about how bad things are or how Obama has the right stuff to turn it all around. This is a column about how the way Obama goes about doing these things will matter almost as much as what he does. Come Jan. 20, Obama will have one really easy way of doing business and one impossibly difficult one - and like any human would, I expect him to take the easy route, at the expense of unifying our country and protecting the Constitutioh. As you might have guessed, the easy route runs through the over- whelming Democratic majority in Congress. For at least the next two years, Obama will not only have a Democratic majority backing him up in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, he will only be a few Republicans away from a filibuster- proof majority in the Senate. And if the current Democratic Congress is any indication, there will be a lot of members willing to obey orders instead of use the pow- ers granted to them by the Consti- tution. Remember what happened with those once-lauded timetables and funding cuts for the war in Iraq? What about our $700 billion bank bailout? In both cases, Congressio- nal Democrats were pretty good at being toothless when they had every reason not to be. Couple that unprecedented sup- port in Congress with the executive branch's already bloated amount of power, and we might as well just king Obama instead of inaugurate him. That's not to sayI think Obama will intentionally stretch the Constitu- tion's limits or avoid the tough checks from Congress. He has spoken time and time again about how he believes the Bush administration's constitu- tional excesses in the war against terrorism have chiseled away at our most important document. And as a constitutional law professor, Obama respects the Constitution - hell, he has spent a lifetime studying it. I worry that Congress won't have the gall to challenge an Obama administration, and Obama won't have many bipartisan paths for doing business. For both Obama and Congressional Democrats, tak- ing the easy way out will just be too tempting. A lot of my worries hinge on what the remaining Republicans in Con- gress will look like. As best as any- one can guess, they will be a radical group. Several pundits, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, have astutely observed that the Congressional Republicans who abandoned their seats this year were from the relatively moderate wing of the party. Left behind in the House are the entrenched Republi- cans from Newt Gingrich's Republi- can revolution. In the Senate, there will be representatives from only the safest Republican states. At least in the House, these repre- sentatives haven't been particularly well known for their ability to work with others. They're betterknown for throwing wrenches into the system. Just look at how House Republicans doomed their own party's presiden- tial nominee by blowing up the bank bailout he helped construct. With nothing to lose, these people can be ruthless. And these are supposed to be the representatives Obama forms bipar- tisan relations with - people willing to sacrifice our economy and one of their own for ideology? How do you realistically work with that? Why bipartisanship will be a lot harder than Obama thinks. The truth is most people don't. You ignore these people when they aren't being reasonable, especially if you're a pragmatist like Obama who is tired of blindly ideological solutions. And when that doesn't work, you let your colleagues go a little further - maybe allow them to effectively corner the ideologues out of important policy- making processes like Hillary Clin- ton did in 1993. Or maybe you use your executive powers a little more broadly. That is tempting to do. And Ihavea feeling Republicans won't make it any less tempting come January, when the most obnoxious of them will take the reigns of the party. I hope Obama has the patience to resist the temptation. Gary Graca is the Daily's editorial page editor. He can be reached at grgraca@umich.edu. 6 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Nipa Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh, Brian Flaherty, Matthew Green, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke, Shannon Kellman, Edward McPhee, Emily Michels, Kate Peabody, Matthew Shutler, Robert Soave, Eileen Stahl, Jennifer Sussex, Imran Syed, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Margaret Young SATYAJEET DESHMUKH I Restoring America's prestige When your grandparents reminisced about historical milestones like John F. Kennedy's election in 1960 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964, you probably hoped you would get to see his- tory in the making sometime during your life- time. Well, you just did. For the first time in America's 232-year history, its people elected a black president, Barack Obama. Besides this historic value, what makes Obama's election even more special is the fact that so many students contributed to it. Col- lege students should take pride in the fact that they led America down a path it had never taken before. People should also beproud that they've injected a much-needed dose of change into the country's highest office, a change with consequences that will be felt well beyond the shores of the United States. It is no secret that the last eight years under George W. Bush have been a foreign policy disaster for the United States. Eight years of blatant interventionism, countless instances of hypocrisy, unwarranted economic arm-twist- ing and two largely aimless wars have made the United States akin to a middle school bully. It comes as no surprise then that the internation- al community closely followed this election. A poll reported by Newsweek magazine conclud- ed that there's more interest in the U.S. presi- dential election in Japan than in the United States itself. Countries like Pakistan, Uganda, Kenya, Indonesia and numerous others have shown what international radio broadcaster Voice of America has called "unprecedented interest" in the election. When Obama visited Germany in July, a crowd of nearly 200,000 gathered to listen to his speech in Berlin. Compare that to the larg- est crowds he drew at home: the 100,000 peo- ple who went to see him in St. Louis and then in Denver. This shows what kind of weight the president of the United States carries inter- nationally. After eight years of the Bush doc- trine, the world wants a president who will solve problems without creating bigger ones - a president who won't impose U.S. military strength on smaller, less powerful nations. In the words of Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim, the world today needs to see the United States represent "a more universal political attitude." By electing Obama, Americans have elected a manwho believes inthe power of negotiation, which is wiser than unilateralism no matter what his critics say. They have elected a man who will try to transform America's interna- tional image from a bully into a friend. To his credit, John McCain fought a hard battle. Unfortunately, he had little success in convincing people that he was much different from Bush. What's even more unfortunate is the fact that despite being a seasoned politician, he showed bad judgment on numerous occasions. His joke-gone-bad fiascos, his numerous on-air gaffes, his campaign suspension gimmick and most of all, his choice of an unqualified, out-of- the-blue running mate took the attention away from his glorious career and experience as a U.S. Navy officer and a senator. With Obama at its helm, America looks pre- pared to head in a new direction. Even though his success as president remains to be seen, you can at least be proud of the fact that an effort to bring change has been made. America voted without prejudice to try and get the country back on track. Americans should be proud that they did what the international community also thought was best and showed the world why the United States calls itself the greatest democracy in the world. Satyajeet Deshmukh is an Engineering sophomore. I MATTHEW SHUTLER I Hillary in 2016 i4 Contrary to the prevailing attitude of the country, there is more than one influential Democrat walking under our spacious sky. Don't get me wrong, I supported Barack Obama as much as any 17 year old could without actually being able to vote for him, and he was certainly deserving of his party's nomination and last night's win. But truth be told, S was always more of a Hillary Clinton guy. I don't know if it was her pantsuits or her policies, but sometime during her campaign she won me over. So now that Obama has been elected to lead our country into the future, it's important to remember everything that Clin- ton has accomplished. Clinton fought valiantly throughout the Democratic primaries and put "18 million cracks" in the glass ceiling that has stopped many women from even running. For this reason, she is among the most influential candidates in history. She has received wide praise for her efforts - Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said it best: "Sen. Clinton has advanced the cause of women in government and her candidacy has been a very positive tonic for the country and had a very wholesome effect on the political process." After months of fighting and debating, Clinton bowed out of the race as the woman with the largest number of supporters in our country's history, not to mention the second highest of any Democrat after the nominee him- self. This shows the promise and determination Clinton possesses and the millions upon millions of hopes that were placed on her shoulders. It would be a shame if she didn't give these people another fight. Unfortunately, this strong and commanding voice for our nation says the chances of another run for the White House are slim. "Probably close to zero," Clinton said when asked about running for president again. She also gave a similar answer to whether she would want to be nominated to the Supreme Court, saying: "I have no inter- est in doing that." However, let me point out that "close to zero" does not mean "zero." I can only hope that Clinton gives the matter further consideration. While her White House aspirations seemed to have cooled, her aspirations to help the country are still red hot. "I'm not seeking any other position than to be the best senator from New York that Ican be," Clinton said on "Fox and Friends." Nevertheless, while I must respect her decision, I would like to express my hopes that the future will bring about another change in this New York senator. Her cour- age, voice and character are completely unique and what I feel our country will need in the future. She exemplifies the spirit of our country: never giving up and fighting for what you believe in. Furthermore, all Clinton supporters, whether men or women, young or old, working class or not, should contin- ue to back her. Under the new leadership of Obama, Clin- ton will have the opportunity to help our country in more far-reaching and long-lasting ways. By standing behind President Obama as he takes office, Clinton supporters are in turn standing behind the beliefs that were funda- mental to her campaign. With the theatrics of this politi- cal year finally coming to an end, we all must do what we believe is right for the country. And with her position as a New York senator - she was re-elected in 2006 - Hillary Clinton says she looks forward to working in Congress with an Obama administration. A senator now and, hopefully - it's a small hope, but it still exists - a president inthe future. Scan live with that. Is it time for Hillary to hang up her now infamous pant- suits? I certainly don't think so. In any case, I would like to be the one to jumpstart her next campaign. Vote Hillary Rodham Clinton for president in 2016. Matthew Shutler is an LSA freshman. I I LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be less than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. Letters are edited for style, length, clarity and accuracy. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedoily@umich.edu.