In the wake of Obama's overwhelming victory, and Democratic gains in the House and Senate, conservatives are desperately trying to convince the world that these results are meaningless. "Democrats should not make the mistake of viewing Tuesday's results as a repudiation of conservatism," insisted John Boehner. "Barack Obama understands this is a center-right country," claimed Karl Rove. "This country remains every bit as center-right as it has for a generation," parroted Brent Bozell. And David Brooks dreamed of an Obama administration that understands "this was an election where the middle asserted itself." Drunk on self-delusion, a staggering GOP whistles past the electoral graveyard, missing the whole point of this election: the center has shifted, and positions that used to be considered "left-wing" -- on healthcare, on global warming, on corporate responsibility, on Iraq -- are now solidly mainstream.
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I just have this to retort: It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for us. Yeah.
This is the United States of America!
During the time of Reagan the pollsters were constantly commenting on how little the public supported his policies when compared to his personal popularity. And George Bush had no pro war majority in an advance of the attack on Iraq. He never had a majority with him on abortion rights, stem cell research or the elimination of social security.
But these past presidents were not elected on their merits but rather through fear and/or ridicule of their opponents. In 2008, the Rove, Atwater, Wirthlin fear machine did not work. Why? I believe, the public's fear for their own future, their children's, and their country's was t too strong, even for these masters of diversion.
My concern is that under different circumstances (i.e. 8 years of Obama economic prosperity) these techniques can and will come back. The Democrats may feel good (and they should) about 2008 without every understanding what has been in the past, and very well may be in the future, their undoing.
Perhaps in a post 2008 era, the public has become inoculated/immune to these diversions. Wouldn’t that be great! But I would feel better if the Democratic political strategists would finally enter the world of 21st century politics and garner the skills needed to respond on all levels.
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2008/11/sarah-palin-is-the-future-of-conservatism.html
In the very neighborhoods that fill my high school, I carried literature, reminders, ... to vote. And so Barack Obama was elected even by the county in which I was raised. It is nice to shed shame by doing a good thing, that will be right by us all.
I had something interesting happen as I was looking at behind-the-scene family photos as our new first family watched the returns. I thought to myself, "They're all black!" It was interesting to note that brief reaction... because I am sure many of us will have it at different times in the coming months, and then it will assimilate and just become an "it is what it is" moment... and in a bit more time, there will be absence of any notice. It is truly transformative and uplifting and bodes well for us as a society.
Obama gives us a gift by being such a superb and qualified next president. The other gift is an even more precious, intangible gift guaranteed to make us a better, stronger United States.
Law, international or otherwise, only works when it is voluntarily respected by most and when violators are few. And law is only voluntarily respected when it is applied equally, without fear or favor, to all and is perceived as such. No person, and no nation, has any legitimate right or power to demand obedience to, and protections from, the very same laws it cynically and situationally violates in its own myopically perceived interests. Otherwise, we are left with the Social Darwinism of "might makes right"
globally and nationally, and all the barbarism and chaos that that inexorably brings.
If they worked a straight wage job like many of us do, they would have been dropped kicked out the door for their actions and behavior.