Gloating
Hopefully this will be the last time that I gloat over this historic victory....
After the results were in last night I went to several international news websites for more perspective. In the South African Mail and Guardian, I read the reactions their reporter got off the opposition, like thisTexas Republican supporter:
"I do not know how I feel," she said. Then she found her voice. "My reaction is: what is America thinking? How could he get hold of the country? I am afraid our way of life is about to change drastically," she said.
Think how we felt TWICE over the last two years lady. The paper's analysts agreed with the feeling I'd had, which is that the Republican party needed a drubbing in order to rip the scales off its collective eyes and make them reassess.
Experts now predict the Republican party now faces a deep period of introspection. Fault lines are opening that might pit social conservatives against economic conservatives.
The only fear there is the power of denial.
But some people pinned the blame for McCain's defeat on circumstances beyond the campaign's control. They said the political environment was virtually impossible for them and then Obama had run a slick and professional campaign."It's been marketing. All around the one word 'change'. They used that to get all these people on their side," said local tech worker Marilyn Martindale.
That's why they call it getting beaten, lady. This wasn't luck, this was hard hard work. McCain could have run a professional campaign too but chose to dick around with bigotry and scare tactics and this is where it got him. He wasn't true to himself, he let himself get led around by the same dirt bags that deep-sixed his own campaign in 2000. I hope this discredits that style of politics for a couple of decades.
The rest of the world is looking on, and celebrating with us. Hell, they're stumbling over themselves to claim him as their own! It's like the world is breathing a sigh of relief, "Oh thank God, America, we were hoping you'd come to your senses!"
In the meantime, I hope our friends and neighbors wake up to the fact that Barack Obama is President of the United States and not supporting the President in a time of war is "unpatriotic" and "un-American". The Real America just got him elected to the White House and it's open to the rest of you if you want to come live here and prosper with us.
Comments
Honestly, the hard work was done by the Obama campaign months ago, during the primary. Any candidate backed by the DNC was going to win the presidency given the disaster that is the Bush administration. I agree that McCain's campaign was not well run. He should have stuck to the social, economic & political issues, rather than wasting efforts to highlight connections to various questionable acquaintances.
I echo your hope that this election will result in an end to that style of politics, but I doubt that it will.
Posted by: Houchens | November 6, 2008 9:06 AM
I have to disagree. I think the Obama campaign was disciplined throughout the general election campaign (although I agree with you that it is built from their primary strategy). They were steady and devoted their resources wisely, spreading them across many states. This is in contrast to the McCain folks who tried to play electoral Russian roulette, and failing at that started just fear-mongering (a low low move that I hope he gets to live with for his remaining days). I do agree that this sort of politics will not go away but hopefully it will lose some of it's luster and not be the first choice anymore.
Posted by: lo fat mo | November 6, 2008 9:59 AM
I didn't intend to imply that the Obama organization was not disciplined during the general election campaign; just that it didn't matter. It would have been difficult to lose in this political environment. That is evidenced by the gains of the Democratic party in the House, Senate, governors, and state legislatures. It was a banner year for the Democrats.
Posted by: Houchens | November 6, 2008 9:40 PM
Fair enough Houchens, I understand what you're driving at. These ARE catastrophic times and that leads people to want change but it still wasn't easy (think about 2004 which wasn't awesome either but the Dems managed to find a way to lose there too). Anyway that's all done and done now, the question is what happens next?
Posted by: Lo Fat Mo | November 6, 2008 10:32 PM