Hold on to your wallets…

Comments On This Article

1. Bribo wrote on: 5 November 9:34 am

   I’m trying to be optimistic. Really I am. Perhaps this will be the final nail in the race issue in this country. Hopefully the NAACP and Jesse Jackson will no longer be relevant.

   And maybe this is the kind of change the Republicans needed to get back to their conservative roots.

2. rocky wrote on: 5 November 11:04 am

   Think I’ll quit my job and go on welfare. No worries, Barrack will pay my mortgage and put gas in my car.

3. Squidly wrote on: 5 November 6:48 pm

   Jesse Jackson hasn’t been relevant for 2 decades.

   I’ll post later about what I think the Republicans need to do to “get back in the game.”

4. Mike K wrote on: 6 November 3:27 am

   Long post warning.

   You guys should be hopeful and optimistic. Obama is going to do a good job. He’s a good man who seems more genuine than the average politician, and I believe the things he says. Note that he doesn’t make “campaign promises”, he makes proposals. He puts out ideas. He knows a president doesn’t just step in and “do stuff”, he has to work with congress. So I admire Obama for being very careful with his words and for not saying, “When I’m president, I’m going to do this and that and the other thing.” Instead, he has said all along, “This is what I believe in, and these are the things I’d like to do.” I don’t consider that wishy-washy, I consider it realistic, and also humble. Goodness knows we’ve needed more humility in politics, especially in the top offices, for a long time.

   I’m not the partisan type, but I will say that the Republican party’s main problem is that they’ve let themselves get clumped in with the radical Christian right and other social conservatives, which seems to be to be the antithethis of what the Republican party has always stood for (small government, right? How is it smaller government to try and legislate how people can and can’t live their personal, private lives?). The more distance they put between themselves and the extremists, the more they will once again appeal to moderate people like me. So I agree with you Brian, to the extent that the Republicans need to get back to their FISCALLY conservative roots. They need to leave the social conservatism behind, because it’s a failure of a philosophy, always has been and always will be. It’s not what America is supposed to be about – the country was founded trying to get away from these types. I don’t know what the chances are of Republicans distancing themselves from it, or if that’s even desirable to many of today’s Republicans, but the fact of the matter is that it is not the government’s place to dictate values and lifestyles, and people like me are sick and tired of some religious zealot telling me I’m not a patriot because I don’t believe what he believes.

   You’re also right, Brian, in that black people can no longer say The Man is keeping them down. I think that’s one of Obama’s greatest triumphs, and I think he knows that. He has always downplayed his race, and I think he realizes that while this is a significant event with regards to civil rights and how far they’ve come, it is not something that defines him. I don’t see him as a black man nearly as much as I see him as just a smart man who I’m happy to have in the Oval Office. He’s not likely to play the race card.

   “Hold onto your wallets”? hehe…with all due respect, Bill, that awesome “conservative” George W. Bush has presided over the worst budget deficit in American history with no end in sight – maybe I should be hiding my wallet from HIM. Seriously, forget all that garbage from the campaign. Obama is no “socialist”, he doesn’t “pal with terrorists”, he doesn’t want to “redistribute income and wealth” and all that other nonsense that folks tried to stick on him during the campaign. It’s unbelievable how misleading some of that stuff can get. Look at the origins of those claims; they are all campaign propoganda. Don’t buy into it. Obama just wants to do what’s best for this country, and a big part of that will be moving away from Bush’s disasterous policies.

   If you’re still in doubt, ask yourself this: what is it that you’re afraid Obama could do that’s so terrible and bad, given the last 8 years of terrible policy from the executive branch, that would make things any worse than they are now? I could understand being “worried” about Obama if everything was going swimmingly right now, but they’re not. Bush was easily the worst president of our lifetimes, it’s folly not to admit that, so I think things can only go up from here.

   It’s time for everyone to work together and put behind us the divisiveness of the last 8 years. Take care guys.

5. rocky wrote on: 6 November 7:21 am

   Save me Jesus , Save me Tom Cruise ,Save me Oprah, Save me Barrack?

6. BillB wrote on: 6 November 8:22 am

   Well that was an impressive post, Mike… I wish you’d contribute more often (but to do that, I guess I’d have to post more often. Hrmm…something to think about there.)

   Here’s what I think RE: Obama. You certainly may be right. You could also be completely wrong. Which is more likely is hard to say, because Obama has very little record outside of a low level state position. What voting record he does have is hard, hard left, which doesn’t make the conservative amongst us all that comfortable.

   Pelosi, Reid, and Obama make up a rather scary triumvirate, and man of us fear the worst kind of San Francisco style liberalism is on it’s way.

   As a voter, you’ve clearly bought in to the style and flash. Obama is a polished speaker. He knows how to speak in generalities with high arching inspiring themes. Trouble is, he’s not really saying anything of substance. So who knows what tack he’ll take. It’s wishful thinking that he’s going to become all things to all people – a great unifier – particularly with the history of his votes, past associations, and Pelosi/Reid pushing him over the liberal cliff.

   Regarding the Republicans – I’ll get to them in a post in short order, but it is not as simple as abandoning the religious right. It’s a huge voting block that’s essential in nailing down the nomination. You cannot abandon the religious right (particularly early on) and win the presidency. The ideal president (for me) would be someone able to do what is necessary to secure that voting bloc and then minimizing or eliminating its’ influence on me while governing. More later, I’ve got to go to work and earn money while I still can under the Bush tax code.

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