Well first let's give credit where credit is due. Obama is an amazingly good communicator and his ability to inspire people is exceptional. He is a leader. (my problem is with where he is leading). I also think his race helped him. It turned out the minority vote strongly and a lot of people wanted to vote for him to prove to themselves and the world that we are not racists
Second the Republicans have not given the voters any reason to love them. many of our best and brightest were corrupted by Washington and developed the arrogance of power. They discarded Republican principles in order to win reelection.
George Bush made some big mistakes. That turned the nation against him. Don't get me wrong I believe he is a good man and he did not get credit for a lot of the good things he did but lets face it he made some errors. I will argue forever that what we did in Iraq was just but in hindsight it was a mistake to do it. ( a full discussion of that may be a separate post). Then he mishandled the dam thing for 6 years. We lost the PR war when it came to "rights of Terrorists" I am not sure why we lost on that but it has had negative consequences for us. I could go on but fairly or not the American Public lost confidence in the President and that negatively effected the whole party.
Lastly Poor timing. An economic disaster occurred at the wrong time. Lets face it the party in power when the bubble bursts gets the blame whether they deserve it or not and I have seen both Democrats and Republicans burned by that.
Considering this perfect storm McCain didn't do half bad.
Some of these things we can fix. So enough Post Mortem. Get up off the ground. The next job is to design a blueprint for success.
3 comments:
It wasn't so much the rights of terrorists as it was that Americans, in general, are not comfortable with torture. (I bet there may even be some republicans, not many, but some, that were uncomfortable with this too). That was where the PR was lost. To frame it up as "aggressive interrogation" didn't work very well.
To say Bush made a some mistakes is like saying that Hurricane Katrina was just some rain. This man destroyed our country and our standing in the world. Along with The Dick Cheney, this administration brought down not only our economy, but our economy for years to come. Take a look at that massive debt that will never, ever, ever be paid. (I wonder what China will want in return for giving us back all our own money that we spend over there).What happens to that? Do we just decalre bankruptcy and start over?
It wasn't just an election lost, it was a repudiation of that type of ideology all across the country. Losing North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada and Florida is a clear statement that your favored policies of taking from the poor to give to the rich will not work any longer. Just like the American people will no longer tolerate a campaign based on fears and smears.
John McCain gave an impassioned and inspired concession speech. Where was THAT John McCain during the campaign? Instead of that one, we got a pit bull with lipstick. That shine didn't last too long, did it. Once she showed that she was way out of her league on not only knowledge, but class, her numbers plummeted. Her negatives did matter to the electorate and that showed also.
In the end, it is fairly simple.
Oh where to start where to start.
First I am glad now that Goldwater retired you are over here. I was getting bored talking to myself so welcome.
Torture. legally I can kill someone to save a life. This has always been the case and is true today. But I can not torture a terrorist to stop a terrorist act that might kill hundreds or thousands. Would you torture someone to save your family? I would. I would do a lot worse then what they were doing to our guests in Gitmo. That torture can not be used for that limited purpose is not only a self defeating position but it is legally and morally indefensible.
This economy has nothing to do with this administration. This administration and McCain suggested
regulations that would have if not prevented at least blunted the meltdown. Democrats blocked it.
The Bush Tax cuts which Obama is going to do away with is what prevented a major economic crisis after 9/11.
The massive Debt is a bad thing (although not impossible to pay down) and Republicans and Democrats deserve equal blame for that.
It was not a repudiation of an ideology because the Republicans where not following their ideology.
That was part of the problem (more on that to come in a post)
No one took from the poor to give to the rich but spoken like a true socialist.
You better hope the American people will tolerate smear and fear campaigns or your party will have nothing to run with.
As to Sarah Palin.
You do not have an 85 % approval rating in the state you govern if you do not have some smarts.
If only Governor Corzine was that much out of his league.
Yeah...Alaska...they re-elected a convicted felon to the Senate and he didn't even have to campaign. Says a lot about that mentality..don't you think?
Thanks for the welcome....
Post a Comment