What Came Next?

Early in the Barack Obama campaign for president,
some were comparing him to the first black mayor of the City of Chicago:  Harold Washington.

But what came next?
Anyone familiar with Chicago's political history would not be inspired.  There was no coalition building that allowed Chicago's black population to sustain what many at the time thought would be increased political participation by a disenfranchised minority.

In fact, one might say it was only men like Barack Obama who benefited from the community outreach.  Not so much the community itself.  His career soared, surely, but there was not much change in the political structure of who was elected to high office in the city in the following Daley decades.*

Democrats who still care about their party now see the same thing playing out on the national level:  what comes next?  Post-President Obama, will we see another few decades without serious black representation at the national level?  Will the history-making election be the major change touted as the president's legacy, as is how Mayor Harold Washington's administration is primarily remembered?

Call me an Oliver Twist, but were it me, I'd want more.
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*(and now... Rahm Emanuel).

ADDED:  Legacy is important, and what -- or who -- follows the Obama presidential administration will be crucial in defining the course of the country in the coming years.

If Joe Biden overcomes his personal grief long enough to decide whether he will not retire from political office but make a credible run for the top slot, the election will be seen as a referendum on the Obama administration.

Hilary Clinton has left enough daylight between herself and the administration's first term to run as a more independent Democrat, not so solidly linked to the decisions made in President Obama's second term and the priorities shown (or not shown).  Presumably, she has enough distance too to criticize specifics and implementation, while still working toward upholding the overall policy goals and the Democratic legacy values of these opening rounds of the 21st century...

Is she a team player?  I'd say, Yes.
Not one of the boys, necessarily, but understanding her role as the party's leading candidate to follow-up President Obama's two terms.

If the Obama administration -- and the man himself -- fail in their role to continue the momentum his diverse democratic coalition promised in terms of future political power with the election of 2004, and subsequent re-election, it will be like the Harold Washington footnote in Chicago:  remembered for its history-making feat, but ultimately forgotten in terms of what was accomplished, boding ill for those interested in creating real change for the future.