First, a quote from Theodore Roosevelt:
The great fundamental issue now before the Republican party and before our people can be stated briefly. It is, Are the American people fit to govern themselves, to rule themselves, to control themselves? I believe they are. My opponents do not. I believe in the right of the people to rule. I believe the majority of the plain people of the United States will, day in and day out, make fewer mistakes in governing themselves than any smaller class or body of men, no matter what their training, will make in trying to govern them. I believe, again, that the American people are, as a whole, capable of self-control and of learning by their mistakes. Our opponents pay lip-loyalty to this doctrine; but they show their real beliefs by the way in which they champion every device to make the nominal rule of the people a sham. – March 20, 1912
Teddy was speaking not just of Democrats, but of those Republicans who also mistrusted the wisdom of the people. For all of Obama’s talk of the people, as a liberal his heart is not where his words are. By nature, someone who goes into someone else’s community to “organize” them is someone who – even if unwitting – has contempt for the common man. We Republicans must be the real party of the people – it is either restore ourselves to such, or die as a party.
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Palin is being hit hard by various McCain people who are clearly seeking to shift blame from themselves to Palin. Apparently, they didn’t heed McCain’s words of wisdom last night about how all the mistakes are McCain’s mistakes. McCain is a real man and a true gentleman – pity that some of his people clearly aren’t. Hurt feelings are natural after a hard-fought defeat, but forgiveness and love are the antidotes.
I also note that Palin is hated on the left, still. Why this should be is a bit of a curiosity – she remains, it would seem, a living challenge to the basic worldview of the left and they want her permanently out of national politics.
That won’t happen.
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Talking to a friend of mine who voted Obama, I got the opinion from her that now that Bush will be gone, Obama will get rid of the tax increases Bush imposed on her. This is a sweet and well educated lady – who is laboring under an amount of ignorance which is flabbergasting. It is, however, a level of ignorance we will have to overcome.
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While I expect the Obama Administration to be an unmitigated, Carter-like disaster, I am praying that it will be otherwise. After all, while double digit inflation, interest rates and unemployment would sweep us easily back into power, I’d prefer that my fellow Americans not have to endure that.
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If Rahm Emanuel is the Obama Chief of Staff then we already have our first Obama mistake. Don’t get me wrong – Emanuel is a smart man with many good political qualities, but he’s also a world-class jerk. If half the stories about his grating personality are true, then he’s someone most people couldn’t be with for a day without getting angry. The CoS needs to be a smoothie – with guts, but still someone who can make the West Wing machine run smoothly. “Rahmbo” isn’t that man.
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Russia’s growling about SDI is a gambit to see if Obama will abandon the program. Obama said he would, but now if he does it will appear to at least some in the world as weakness. We’ll swiftly find out if Obama has the backbone to be President.
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The terrorists really are happy Obama won – viewing his victory as an indicator that Obama will take a conciliatory line regarding groups like Hamas and Hezbollah (which someone should advise the new VP is still in Lebanon) and nations like Iran. Make no mistake about it, the world views Obama as proof that America is throwing up the sponge in the War on Terrorism. It will be up to Obama to correct this – and a terrible tragedy if he doesn’t.
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The American people have voted, and part of that vote is a vote for a swift end in Iraq – which is not such a big issue anymore as we’ve won there. As Commander in Chief during wartime, President-elect Obama can count on my unflagging support for his overseas military policy. Any criticisms I may launch will only be measured against their ability to help America emerge victorious. All conservatives should keep that in mind – don’t be like the kook left over the past 8 years; its now going to be the mission Obama sends them on (even if the mission is to withdraw) and if we support the troops, we must support the mission.
I hope that Obama keeps his pledges about Afghanistan and that the growing alliances with Georgia, India, Djibouti, Eritrea, etc mid-wifed by President Bush are given proper attention by Obama. While Obama is pledged to breath new life into our trans-Atlantic alliance, my hope is that he’ll realize, for instance, that India is worth a dozen France.
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We must pick our fights carefully – automatic opposition to whatever the President proposes is a leftwing tactic and unsuited to ladies and gentlemen. From what I’ve seen, many on the left are still bitter and wallowing in hatred – let them; pray they stop, but don’t let their misery infect you. Our job is to carefully select those battles which involve a core, conservative principle and which are winnable. An early read on such battles are “card check” (an anti-democratic, corrupt-union boss proposal which sounds like the scam it is), “freedom of choice act” (a difficult one to fight – how does one fight against freedom and choice, right? – , but it can be done if we counter with the “choice for life act”), “fairness doctrine” (this attack on free speech is coming, and we can score huge with it), energy policy (“drill baby, drill” wasn’t just a campaign slogan – the people want it, and if Obama balks at it and oil prices spike, we can reap a huge benefit).
Be vigilant and ready for the battle – but don’t think that every move by Obama is something sinister.
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The defeat of gay marriage is now a 30-State event – and even California in a Democrat year voted against gay marriage. We are a center-right nation, dear people, and the left forgets that at their peril (and the good news is they have already forgotten it, making our eventual come back that much easier).
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Be of good cheer, fellow GOPers and conservatives – from what I can see, the turnout wasn’t the stupendous vote the punditry said it would be; maybe there’s a lot left to count, but as of this moment I count 120 million votes…in 2004 there were 121 million. After every last vote is counted, we might match 2004’s totals or even slightly exceed it, but the supposedly stupendous turnout didn’t materialize. I was hearing estimates as high as 160 million votes on election day. Given that PUMAs and Obamacans probably cancel each other out, I suspect that a lot of GOPers failed to show up – perhaps not enough to give McCain the victory, but certainly enough stayed home to prevent it from being razor thin. In other words, can we but better motivate our side, we can win – even if we’re outspent 3-1 in 2012 as we were in 2008.
And keep that in mind – Obama did a bit better than Bush after spending 600 million dollars, having a completely in-the-tank MSM, an unpopular GOP incumbent, an unpopular war and a financial meltdown-cum-recession being blamed on his opponent’s side. The One did well, but he also lucked out – and he might not have that much luck on his side next time.
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