Coming Soon: The 21st Century

[David Morris]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901897.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008; Page A15

Social and political epochs rarely end precisely on schedules provided
by calendars. Many historians date the end of Europe's 19th century to
1914 and the outbreak of World War I. What we call "The Sixties" in
the United States, with its ethos of reform and protest, ended with
Richard Nixon's landslide reelection in 1972 and the winding down of
the Vietnam War.

In the same way, the outcome of this year's election means that 2009
will, finally, mark the beginning of the 21st century.

It comes as we face parlous economic conditions and a slew of new
threats. Nonetheless, we should view this as an opportunity to embrace
the words of one of Barack Obama's favorite presidents. "As our case
is new, so we must think anew, and act anew," Abraham Lincoln declared
in 1862. "We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our
country."

[...]

Barack Obama will have as free a hand as history ever allows to chart
a new course and to define a new era. He may or may not succeed, but
the country was right to seize the opportunity he offered to put the
previous century and its assumptions behind us.