Posted by
Di_in_Cville on Wednesday, November 05, 2008 10:06:20 PM
Well, the Republicans have their work cut out for them. First of all, Obama won with 63 million votes. Bush won in 2004 with 62 million votes. So, Obama got close to 1 more million. So despite the way it worked out in the Electoral College, it's not that much more of an overwhelming vote than what Bush got in 2004. The other silver lining is that the Senate is not filibuster-proof.
The Republicans went wrong when they decided to give up their ideals and began spending money like crazy - they were no different than the Dems in that regard. And let's face it, John McCain was a weak candidate. We were not voting FOR him yesterday, we were voting AGAINST Obama - never a prescription for an electoral win. The New York and California primaries chose our candidate, blue states he would never have carriedin the general anyway. McCain was never OUR candidate. McCain was too moderate and not willing to fight for the Republicans, and as a result he allowed everyone to erroneously think that every awful thing that's going on is the Republicans' fault (which it's NOT). In fact, McCain spent more time fighting members of his own party than he did fighting the Dems. Despite what everyone wants to say, Sarah Palin gave him a new lease on the election he would not have had without her. The Republicans' downfall came about as a result of their selling out their ideals, and not standing up for Bush when he was unjustly maligned. They stood by and allowed the disparagement to happen without a word. The Republicans did not present a unified front. The Dems do a great job of keeping each others' backs, even when they're doing illegal or unethical things. Bush did neither, however, everyone wanted to run against Bush's "8 years of failure". Of course, no one ever specified what those failed policies are exactly. There's a great article on the WSJ about Bush, which I think is right on. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html
If the Republicans had fought the press and the Dems on this view, and worked more to focus on the positive things Bush had done. (i.e. We have not been attacked since 2001, the economy was good before the Dems gutted it with Fannie and Freddie, our role in trying to assist Africa in AIDS, etc), maybe Obama's argument of running against 8 years of failure might have rung false. Plus, a lot of really tough things happened on Bush's watch through no fault of his own. The Republicans totally wimped out. Republicans really betrayed each other by not standing up for each other and Bush. This gave everyone and the whole world the wrong opinion that we all agree that Bush is a failure and by extension, so are the Republicans. It's time for a party purge. We need to get rid of the RINO (Republicans in Name Only), and to get back to our roots of small, limited government, free market capitalism, the Constitution, and traditional family values.
The Dems can fool themsleves into thinking everyone voted for Obama for "change" and that he transcends race. But, I'm not sold, and neither were 55 million other Americans. At this point the only thing I will say about it is that if Obama were not an African American, his record (or lack thereof) would have kept him from getting as far as he has. People will want to say that he was elected despite his race, but I think he was elected BECAUSE OF his race. The only good thing about his election is that we can at long last show the African Americans in this country that it's not the biggoted, racist country they thought (think) it (was)is. Although I would argue that voting for someone because they are a certain race is just as racist as voting against someone because of race. The fact is that Obama had to jettison all of his left-wing associations, and his ideology (at least as he presents it on the campaign trail) in order to make himself electable. We'll see how open and honest he is about his aims for our country. Of course, the Dems are jubilant and are talking about how important unity is now - "we're not red or blue, we're Americans!". To that my response is I will unify with the Dems just as they unified with my party, and I will give Obama the respect and support that the Dems gave Bush.