Election Reflection

There is no doubt the election of Barack Obama as President is one of thee most historic elections of all time. But truthfully this election was not about Obama or McCain this election was for many Americans about making the Republicans and President Bush pay for the last eight years.

 

The American people have had enough of politics as usual. And I would have to say that Barack made a convincing argument that he will change the way the game is played in Washington. The question is, does he have the backbone and fortitude to do it. To be honest I doubt it, his lack of experience in Washington and in politics in general I feel will allow many people to take advantage of him especially early on in his administration. I fear he is going to owe too many people outside and inside the beltway for his dramatic rise to the top and that he will be forced to promote the agenda’s of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and special interest groups, and we will see business as usual in Washington. I hope the Obama supporters hold him as accountable for his actions as President good or bad as they did for President Bush.

 

The fact of the matter is that with President Bush’s dismal approval rating that the Democrats should have won this election by a landslide in the popular vote as well as the Electoral College, but that wasn’t the case. The reason I believe this is that while the country wanted change they are not completely sold on what Barack is selling. They are unsure if he is going to be the radical liberal that his record suggests or is if he is going to be  the moderate that he promoted.

 

John McCain was flat out the wrong candidate for this race. He was basically what Bob Dole was in 1996, the difference is that if the Republicans actually would have ran better candidate then they likely would have won. John McCain would have been better suited to be the VP candidate for Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee. The Republicans in all aspects of the campaign failed. They failed in campaign management, they failed to articulate a clear message, and they failed to motivate the conservative base that reelected President Bush in 2004.

 

This election is by no means a mandate of the liberal agenda. Even with the liberal bias in the media this election was far from a landslide. This election was about rejecting the Republicans pandering to the middle left. The majority of Americas want smaller government, they want lower taxes, and they want a strong military. The fact is that the Republicans of 2008 are not the Republicans of 1994 and they have paid a price for it. In the next four years I hope that Barack Obama leads this country in a way that makes us stronger at home and abroad. President-elect Obama will either be the next John F. Kennedy or the next Jimmy Carter. Lets hope for the sake of all Americans it’s the more like Kennedy that Carter.