Obama and Indian Country

Wow! We have a new tag for blog posts: Obama!

An historic election has come and gone, and now President-elect Obama has begun the process of building a transition team and his incoming administration. What will be the outlook for Indian Country? Let's try to suss out some informed predictions.

First, Obama is an empty vessel, with little record to examine concerning Indian Country. As outsiders, we can pour much into that empty vessel, at least in terms of expectations.

Second, as we all know, Obama faces enormous expectations across the board. This certainly is the case in Indian Country. He has been set up (and has set himself up) to succeed or fail –- and not much in between. Such high expectations are impossible to fulfill.

Now, let’s look at the basics. In terms of a general philosophy, Obama lines up pretty well with a Clintonian view in at least two ways: government generally can play an important role in generating opportunities for greater legal, political, social, and economic equality, and the federal government should support initiatives that promote American Indian tribal self-determination and economic development.

Given that, what specifics can we point to in terms of what we can expect? We’ll address those in the next post.