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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

{sniff} Obama wins

"Will you put on the movie already?" I asked Lisa.

"No, I want to watch the election results," she said.

"Why? You can go on the internet and get county-by-county votes. Obama's got Ohio he's gonna win, put on the movie."

"Wait," she said.

And so I was forced to watch California slide, inevitably, into the blue and Obama being declared President. I suffered through local coverage of the Obama celebrations, with prim and proper reporters covering the downtown gala while the token black reporter was sent to cover an inner-city party, which to me reeks more of racism than a host of perceived slights.

I hate the result but I applaud the election as a monumental step for African-Americans, one that may help bury the lingering sins of the past. Still, it's sad that after all these years we could put a minority into office before a female even landed a nomination. The world changes, and it changes not at all.

"You're taking this well," Lisa said. "You must not be that upset."

"I've lost elections before," I said. 'Tis true - I was a Dem until '91, switching parties just in time to lose two more times.

Others were less practiced at the art. I took phone calls from friends in different parts of the country. One urged me to be 'careful' of pro-Obama violence on the way to work, which I told him was silly, while another joked of leaving the country and bemoaned the passing of the republic. Socialist was AWOL, no doubt busy passing out cigars 'redistributed' from the Bourgeois tobacco shop ;)

We then watched McCain's concession speech. I was very moved and finished watching it 100% convinced that the better man, if not the better candidate, had gone home vanquished. Has there ever been a more sincere and eloquent concession?

"Why didn't he speak like that during the campaign?," Lisa, who was never a fan of the man, said. "He'd have had a chance. I like him more than I ever did before."

I didn't/couldn't watch Obama take the stage, and so at that point we turned on the ever-present HGTV.

Watching the election results, local, state, and federal, was like watching Little Bighorn while wearing a Calvary uniform. Without question the Democrats have a reactionary mandate from America and can - or should be able to - push their leftist agenda through with ease.

While it's like saying the silver lining of dying from a stroke is that you don't have to worry about drowning, I'm glad the GOP is completely out of the loop, rather than just a visible but powerless minority. Whatever happens, good or bad, it will fall squarely on the Democrats, and should provide an equally reactionary turnabout down the road.

Now I'm going to go on record and say that I'll support the office of the President and hope for the best. I don't want to see him fail outright at the very least on foreign policy, as that would mean this nation has failed. Bush's opponents never understood that concept, as part of their makeup seems to be an inherent belief that America's sins will always outweigh her greatness; therefore seeing us fail was not a concern if it meant a Republican could go down in the process.

I won't stoop to the insulting, childish, and frankly ignorant commentary that the left has used to describe the Presidency in the last eight years. I promise you that.

But I'm going to lay something on the table. I think all these calls for 'unity' and 'let's put it behind us' are hypocritical bunk. It is akin to bringing eggs and rotten tomatoes to a play and bombarding the cast from before the lights go down until after the curtain falls, then taking the stage yourself and calling anyone with food in their hands a racist and an extremist.

Democrats spent eight years sowing seeds of hate and discord, and there will be plenty of people who are looking for payback over the next four years. The harvest may not be pretty, and they have no one to blame but themselves.

* * * *

I'd also like to thank the voters of Milwaukee for shooting themselves in their pocketbook by passing the Sick Leave referendum by a two-thirds majority. Never doubt a voter's ability to put aside reason if it means putting someone else's money in their wallet.

Someone needs to step up and rescue this city from itself. Where's a little 'hope/change/hope/change' when you need it?

8 comments:

Laura said...

I, too, was thinking that McCain should have spoken that eloquently throughout his campaign. I found myself quite moved by his words and more than a little bit disappointed that my candidate did not win. The hypocrisy you mention is indeed stunning. I see it all the time in San Francisco. Because of where I live and the intolerance, I do not usually talk about politics.

megryphon said...

We need to go back to Thomas Jefferson's legacy.
"If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy"

;^) Jan the Gryphon
http://gryph-wotd.blogspot.com/

Estela said...

Dan, I'm right there with you. I can't begin to explain how heartsick for this country I feel over the results of the election yesterday.

Dirk said...

Senator McCain showed the class he had during his concession speech. I found the calls for unity interesting too. It's been the Democrats that have been divisive & engaged in hate-speech & outright lies. I think it's hypocritical too.

Dirk
http://tsalagiman2.blogspot.com/

Joann said...

I'm SO SAD at the outcome, I really love McCain AND PALIN!! Oh well, Ce la Vie!!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Lisa and you...I think that McCain was eloquent and showed great class during his concession speech....He should have showed that class during the campain...

I wish Obama the best...The thing that interest me is we never said "great we have a German president", so why can't we accept Obama as a man, why is it any other way?

As far as sick pay goes, that to me should not be a law, but individualy applied.

Bernadette said...

I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you, while saying that you do have some good points...but I'm a Democrat with cajones, so I'll leave my comment ;) (not a card carrying Dem., but a majority of my views and votes lean left..I did vote for Cantor after all, he's been really good to us here in VA)

I hope that this doesn't become 4/8 years of racial comments. It's monumental to have a black president, there's no doubt about that, but there are so many issues that he has to face that I hope that racial divide doesn't become the forefront of this presidency.

..and yeah, I'm definitely guilty of griping about G-dubya..I never found him to be a person *I* could admire in any area and I expect that from a leader.

I say we give this the chance it deserves and hopefully come out the better for it in four years. ...and if not, you can smack me once for it..lol, just once!

alphawoman said...

Well well Dan. I am sorry that you only see the "seeds of hate" spread by the Democrats and closed your eyes to the past seven weeks of nothing but hate being spewed by the Rep. candidates...well, at least the VP candidate. I am glad this is behind us and I hope that the bitterness I read in this post is short lived. I would have felt scared if the Rep. had won because of Palin. If her PR person in Alaska was afraid of her then we all should breath a sigh of relief.

My BFF in FL supported the Rep. too, and I still love her too.