Reflections On The Election

First thank you to every one who voted and especially to those of you(you know who you are) who got out and did the leg work and donated your time and resources to make this possible. It's been a long hard road. It's been tried and now the Reagan Revolution is over. The world changes in 30 years and people eventually realize we must go forward. The Republicans have some work to do but I will write a separate post on that.

I don't usually vote for people that end up winning. As a matter of fact I think I have never voted for someone in a Presidential primary that even got the nomination. But tuesday I voted for all winners! I refused to vote at all for the state house. Here in wingnut world we had only one choice there and they were all Republicans. I am still in awe that we now have a Democratic representative in the US congress. How many decades has it been since this district has had that!? I have to say I voted for him reluctantly but I hope he exceeds my expectations. He is absolutely better than his conservative counterpart.

John McCain's concession speech was admirable. He was the only Republican that stood a chance in the election because he was...I stress “was”..different. If the McCain of 2000 would have maintained his principals this election would have been much closer. Unfortunately he pandered to the radical right and found out that this country is far more tired of conservative/neocon thinking than they anticipated. I had to laugh and feel disgust at the same time today. I heard commentators on Fox saying that Obama won by moving to the center and this is still a center right country. WHAT!!? The day before the same people were calling him socialist/Marxist and the most liberal person in the country. People have figured them out. They aren't fooling anybody but the people with the little rightist chip in their brain that gets programmed on a daily basis. They also said this was not a mandate to move left and he would be punished if he went that way. This was a mandate and they can maintain their illusion of a center right country if they want but it is now center left. Their inability to accept changing circumstances is biting them there too. The idea that he will be punished for doing what he promised to do is inane.

I think there are a number of factors that lead to this victory. Of course Geo Bush, his crimes against the people and country and a desire for something very different played a role. Secondly, the community organizer ran a great campaign. A welcome departure from what we have come to expect as Democrats. Howard Dean and his pushing of the 50 state strategy deserves credit too. Who would have ever thought that we could win Indiana. A state whos government was once controlled by the KKK for Gods sake! The McCain campaign was really bad. That leads me to the thing that I think was the primary motivator. People finally got an open, up front look at who and what the radical right really is.

I get really, really tired of the 'you hate America', 'you aid the terrorist' by disagreeing with us bullhockey. This year the name calling and monstrous beast of negativity and fear was clear for all to see. There's much about Sarah Palins wingnuttery that people didn't see but thank God she is dumb as a board and couldn't hide that although the campaign tried. People saw with their own eyes that they would say anything no matter how outrageous to destroy their opponent. In the politics of personal destruction the culprit was clear for all to see. Celebrity/messiah/Muslim and terrorist/socialist/Marxist/baby killer- just a few things he was called. All of that drowned out any policy or plan they may have had(although they didn't seem to have much of that). Their semantic game to the extreme and it worked against them this time. The funny part is many of them have no idea. Nobody is going to tell them either. They will blame it on the liberal media or some malarkey. That's ok with me. Be lost in the forest for as long as you want radical righties.

I am not sure if Obama will be a great President or not. That tale is yet to be told but his election has already had positive results if we can hang on to them. First the obvious. Someone besides a white male is President. So many more people now feel they count and can make a difference. Secondly, if you have seen the overseas reaction, they are as ecstatic as we are. To be the leader somebody has to be following. That's something the Bush crowd never comprehended. This election goes a long way toward the world giving us another chance. Thirdly, this was a people powered win. Grassroots won this, they donated much of the money and did the leg work. A refreshing change in a world of corporate government. This is only the beginning but lets hope our new President can convince people that they need to be involved if they want their country back. If you don't want government to do everything then we the people are going to have to get it done ourselves. I must admit to not feeling very patriotic or proud of my country for some time now. It didn't live up to the values that we profess. As a matter of fact in the last 8 years they didn't even try. They blatantly said it would put us in danger to preserve our liberties or work for peace instead of war or refrain from torture and on and on. I'm starting to get that proud of my country feeling again. I hope dearly that it continues. They very best part about the whole deal for me is this:

WE ARE ALL AMERICANS NOW!