2008 in review

by Ilse Genovese

What a momentous year it’s been! Well, that depends, who’s talking. After running a historic presidential election, PEBO—short for president-elect Barak Obama in blog-o-speak—will move to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The rest of us are happy to keep our old addresses [and jobs], thank you very much.
In September, with PEBO’s campaign in its final stretch, the financial crisis that had been building over the summer spread throughout the world. What started as prickly warning signs of an economic malaise in the U.S. turned by December into an officially declared recession. The housing market tanked, investors fled the dollar on mere whisper of tightening economy, and the banks, after blaming everybody but themselves for their greed, succeeded in persuading lawmakers to give them our money in exchange for their “toxic loans.” And while we’re talking about hands stretched out in supplication, let’s not forget private-jet-flying Detroit.
One doesn’t have to be a “doomocrat” to conclude that 2008 was a pretty tumultuous year; and neither does one have to be a “republigrin” to realize that 2008 was a “watershed” year for America. Almost two centuries after Illinois gave America Abraham Lincoln (see p. 56), another man from the Windy City goes with high hopes and even higher aspirations into the White House. Wall Street, through which all our economic fortunes are channelled, will never be the same, and neither will our unfettered exuberance with the plastic. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, currently under government conservatorship (whatever that means), will hopefully be soon fully privatized, so that the American dream of owning a home perseveres. Detroit too will have to change, drastically, if the once premier American automaking industry is ever to get closer to the top again.
Change is coming to America, and the seeds of that change, while sown many years ago, have pushed through the ground in 2008. One of those changes that burst into our lives in 2008 is the full harnessing of the Internet and personal devices in running political campaigns, and, more importantly, in ensuring that ordinary people have a direct say in politics—long after the campaigns have gone home.
The Internet is abuzz as we, the people, take a stance on almost anything that comes to our knowledge—Obama assembles a centrist administration? Good. America has always been a country of the middle—to wit, 52.8 percent of the popular vote went to Obama, and slightly less to McCain [a post-election note on pp. 35-36 maps out where this centrism might have played a decisive role].
Nobody likes bailouts. Capitalism is all about working hard and reaping rewards of that work; if you don’t, and don’t pay attention to what the consumer wants, your company goes belly up. It’s as simple as that; but, maybe not if one has worked for a company for a quarter of a century or longer and sees one’s retirement go up in smoke.
Obama’s vast recovery plan—to shore up the economy with public works and create jobs—is, not surprisingly, drawing both fire and applause. Its staggering cost sends shivers up many a “pay-as-you-go” spine. Improving roads, utilities, dams, and schools could, however, be welcome news for the geospatial community—it would mean greater demand for geospatial data and services. Anticipating that demand, NOAA’s oceanographers and the cadastral working group at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service had already started building up their capacity for fulfilling that demand [see pp. 10-14 and 23-31].
Obama said the public works program would address 21st century needs—from expanding broadband Internet access, to updating government buildings to making them more energy efficient, to improving information technology at medical institutions, to upgrading computers in schools. This is an investment in our national infrastructure not parallelled since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1960s; some of the changes needed to make this possible are already being institutionalized [see pp. 46].
Obviously, we need to move—as a nation—from rhetoric to action to make this gigantic economic stimulus work. We’ll do it—with hard work. And our Internet-savvy, Blackberry-toting president will hear from us—talking back to the presidents we elect is the prerogative of the world’s most advanced democracy. So, let’s welcome 2009 with our minds open and our sleeves rolled up. It promises to be as monumental as 2008—if not more.