A Day Late and a Dollar Short: Post-Election Thoughts

Everyone else has already said things that are far more profound than what I can add to the aftermath of a very interesting election, but in the interests of getting my own thoughts in order, I should probably weigh in.

But first, you have to love The Onion for giving us the right kind of insight. I thought this was funny:


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Here are some initial thoughts. Overwhelmingly, I'm glad it's over. I'm sick of having a president who no one respects. Though I can't deny that it's easy to find fault with how he's handled things, I also can't deny that he had the deck stacked against him since 2004. After he defeated Senator Kerry, he implored people on both ends of the spectrum to work with him to keep America moving. I'm fairly certain that he knew that he won by the skin of his teeth even in the midst of a declining approval rating. I'm also fairly certain that he would not have wanted to win if he knew that his victory would only ossify the resolve of the Democrats against him while at the same time set in motion a pattern of steady abandonment by his own party. Before we talk about what a debacle his second term has been, let's look honestly at how much support he's been given.

I'm prepared for the arguments of whether he deserved any support. I'll only say that when a president that we've elected hasn't done anything worthy of impeachment, spending all our time griping about why he's not the best president instead of figuring out how to get things done with him doesn't help and isn't his fault. Thank you, Nancy and Harry. I'll remind everyone that Republicans hated Bill Clinton. Hated him. Up until he perjured himself into lame-duck land and subsequently faced potential impeachment, he wouldn't have been able to get anything done and make himself the savior of the 90s that he's remembered as without bipartisan support. Once he backed off of the dumb ideas of his first two years, he was able to get stuff done.

That being said, as much as I am about 180 degrees off of President-elect Obama's politics, I'm pleased to live in an America that has no qualms about electing an African-American president. I sincerely hope that no nut out there tries anything stupid and that President Obama takes care for his security. It's the small fraction of nut jobs out there that make it scary for all of us.

I think it's appropriate that he is of mixed heritage. It's sort of symbolic of a society with mixed backgrounds, varied values, struggling to find an equilibrium that works for most of us. I like it. I'm interested as to how this will affect the general tone of race relations and discussions thereof. My understanding is that something like 61% of white America voted for Obama and that of the remaining 39%, 38% of them would have been happy to vote for an African-American were he merely a Republican. Obviously, that's a big stride for our country.

Here is my prediction: President Obama will preach patience as he struggles to get every one of his ideas for change. The tail end of his campaign saw a lot of attempts by his people to bring the expectations down a bit in attempt to bring his supporters back down to Earth. Given how emotional support for him has been, I'm not sure what that will mean for how he's viewed. I'm not sure that his grassroots support is ready to acknowledge that some of what he's proposed could take years. We'll just have to see if they're willing to bear with him. No doubt he'll be able to vilify Republicans along the way for hamstringing his efforts, and no doubt the media will be happy to oblige him in that effort.

I'm very curious as to how the transition in Iraq will happen. I suspect that even generals friendly to Obama will suggest that the withdrawl from Iraq proceed about on the course upon which it is currently set--gradual and dependant upon Iraq meeting certain milestones. Taking that into account, how accountable will a President Obama be held for his desire and promise to withdraw troops from Iraq immediately? It's interesting that this particular platform was quiet in the waning months of the campaign.

I'm interested how a President Obama will claim credit for the economy's eventual rebound. Apparently Wall Street has no large degree of confidence in what an Obama presidency will mean as we've seen the worst post-election slide since the 80s during the last two days. I believe the economy will rebound because I believe in the forces that are at play in our system. But I very much doubt that it will have anything to do with the bailout that's already happened (I know I feel bailed out. Don't you?) nor with any other efforts the government will make. Nonetheless, it will happen during Obama's tenure and so he'll gladly take credit for it. I'm very curious as to how that will all pan out.

I'm interested as to what shape the Republican party will take in the next little while. Republican big-wigs are talking about a need to drastically reshape the party's direction, image, and core. I heard some commentary (on ESPN of all places) that I'd tend to agree with: they don't need to reshape anything. They just need to come up with a better face than Senator McCain. I respect Senator McCain and I think he would have made an adequate though largely-unremarkable president, but he's certainly not transcendent. Democrats had similar woes when Senator Kerry lost, and I don't think that they've really reshaped who they are so much as they found a very compelling candidate at a time when the country has been starving for a compelling leader.

This is getting too long, so more will come later. I lost most of you about three paragraphs ago. :)